Senate committee advances school-safety package, guardianship evaluation changes, flood-disclosure and post-conviction relief bills; all pass by committee vote

A Senate committee meeting that served as the chamber’s final hearing advanced four committee substitutes on a unanimous committee vote and sent the measures back to the House for further action.

The most extensive discussion centered on House Bill 268, a multi‑section school‑safety package that combines provisions from a previously passed Senate measure with new requirements for student behavioral training, school emergency mapping, records transfers and expanded reporting to help schools and law enforcement coordinate responses to violent incidents.

The substitute retains a Senate‑passed mapping requirement and adds an array of behavioral‑health and reporting measures intended to identify and intervene with at‑risk students earlier. Senator (Chair) Kauser, who presented the substitute with Representative Holt Persinger, said the bill seeks to balance safety with privacy by removing a proposed permanent threat database and mandating limits and procedures instead. “We will be disclosing that when a kid transfers. That will help the new administration know what they’re dealing with,” Kauser said, describing the five‑business‑day transfer requirement for education records and a list of items those records must include.

Why it matters: The package couples physical‑safety measures — required school schematic “mapping” for first responders and an emergency notification mechanism — with mental‑health interventions ranging from statewide student‑training requirements to newly funded local student‑advocacy specialists. Sponsors described the components as complementary: prepare law enforcement logistically, teach staff and students to recognize warning signs, and speed record transfer so receiving schools can act on known histories.

Key provisions outlined by the sponsors include: - A requirement that each school system develop standardized school mapping data so law enforcement can navigate facilities during a response, with GEMA to promulgate rules. - A five‑business‑day requirement for transferring education records (including IEPs, disciplinary records and any adjudications for serious delinquent conduct) when a student enrolls in a new school. - State grants to fund at least one student‑advocacy specialist per local school system (scaled by system size) to coordinate behavioral‑health trainings and interventions. - Two hours annually of student behavioral‑health awareness training for school staff and two hours of student training (one hour on suicide awareness/prevention and one hour on youth violence prevention), with training approvals by DBHDD. - An anonymous, 24/7 reporting system for threats and a required procedure for reporting excessive absenteeism to DFACS when students are absent 30 consecutive days without explanation.

Sponsors said two contentious elements originally in the House version were removed from the substitute: an S3 database intended to track potentially dangerous student behavior and a mandate to place threat‑management teams in every school. Senator Kauser said those items proved legally and politically complex and were withdrawn to protect students’ privacy and due‑process concerns.

Also on the agenda, the committee advanced three other bills after testimony and brief debate.

House Bill 36 — guardianship evaluations Representative Jeremy Leverett’s House Bill 36, carried in the Senate as a committee substitute, expands the list of licensed professionals who may provide independent evaluations used in probate guardianship and conservatorship proceedings. The substitute adds several license types to the list of evaluators and includes language expressly stating that the presence of a developmental disability alone is not sufficient to grant guardianship or conservatorship.

Judge Kelly Wonk and other probate court judges testified the court system faces a backlog and difficulty finding qualified evaluators under current law, sometimes with tight statutory deadlines for emergency evaluations. Supporters argued an expanded evaluator pool will help courts obtain independent evaluations promptly. “We are trying to find a qualified individual to do that evaluation within 72 hours in some emergency cases,” Judge Wonk said.

Disability‑advocacy groups, led by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, opposed adding marriage‑and‑family therapists (LMFTs) and licensed professional counselors (LPCs) to the statutory list, saying those professions typically do therapeutic work rather than the long‑term cognitive and neuropsychological assessments appropriate for life‑altering guardianship decisions. Charlie Miller, legislative advocacy director for the council, urged the committee to remove LMFTs and LPCs from the bill, stressing guardianship “restricts fundamental rights” and must be approached cautiously.

Several witnesses from the mental‑health professions testified that LMFTs, LPCs and clinical social workers receive comparable graduate‑level training and supervised clinical experience, and that the scope of the required court evaluation (interview, observations, record review and a factual report) aligns with their training. Representative Leverett said he codified and clarified existing procedural protections, including an explicit right for proposed wards and their counsel to challenge evaluator qualifications and the sufficiency of evaluations during the court process.

House Bill 618 — flood disclosure and anti‑lien measures Representative Campbell presented a committee substitute for HB 618 that narrows and clarifies mandatory seller flood‑disclosure language and adds provisions targeting fraudulent liens filed to extract money at closing. Anne Brodie of American Flood Coalition Action testified that Georgia ranks high for flood‑related homeowner costs and that targeted disclosure laws tend to increase flood‑insurance uptake.

The substitute tightened the definition of “flooding,” limited disclosure obligations to the seller’s own knowledge during their ownership, clarified the rule applies to 1‑ to 4‑family residential sales, and removed a civil‑remedies section in favor of an unlawful‑act provision. Jeff Ledford described the anti‑lien portion (derived from a separate House bill) to deter predatory, fraudulent liens that attempt to extract funds at closing; Senators amended the substitute to require recovery of reasonable attorney’s fees rather than “any attorney’s fees.” The committee passed the substitute as amended.

House Bill 582 — post‑conviction evidence for survivors of domestic violence The committee also passed a substitute for HB 582, a bill sponsored from the House to allow certain post‑conviction presentations of evidence showing a defendant was subjected to family or dating violence or child abuse and that such evidence may be considered for mitigation or sentence reduction. Advocates and a legal director from the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence described the legislation as a way to provide post‑conviction relief for survivors whose convictions arose from abuse‑related circumstances; the committee passed the substitute unanimously.

Votes at a glance - HB 268 (committee substitute, LC492396S) — Motion to pass by committee substitute; seconded; approved by unanimous committee vote. (Sponsor: Senator Kauser / Rep. Holt Persinger) - HB 36 (committee substitute) — Motion to pass by committee substitute; seconded; approved by unanimous committee vote. (Sponsor: Rep. Jeremy Leverett) - HB 618 (committee substitute, LC492384S) — Motion to pass by committee substitute as amended (insert “reasonable” attorney’s fees); seconded; approved by unanimous committee vote. (Sponsor: Rep. Campbell) - HB 582 (committee substitute) — Motion to pass by committee substitute; seconded; approved by unanimous committee vote. (Sponsor: Chairman Gunter / others)

What’s next: Each committee substitute will return to the House for consideration of the Senate substitute language, and further floor action is required before any bill becomes law. Sponsors said they intend continuing work on technical clarifications and protections raised in committee testimony.

Ending: Committee leaders thanked witnesses and staff for the work invested in negotiating the substitute language and adjourned the committee after advancing the calendar.