House committee backs HB 268 to expand threat-assessment teams, create GEMA-managed S3 student database

The House committee voted to give HB 268 (LC492304S) a due-pass recommendation after a daylong discussion focused on school safety policies and student records. The bill, sponsored by Representative Persinger, would require schools to share relevant student records within five days of transfer requests, establish behavioral threat assessment teams (BTAM) at the school level, create an S3 database managed by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA) to log credible threats, provide grants to fund qualified behavioral health coordinator positions at the system level, and increase penalties related to terrorist threats.

Why it matters: Supporters said the package is designed to identify students who pose credible threats and get them services early, and to ensure receiving schools have timely access to a students history of credible threats and related interventions. Critics and some members pressed for clearer due-process language about how a students case can be closed in the database and for protections against disproportionate reporting of Black and brown students.

Representative Persinger summarized the bills main provisions at the start of the hearing: "HB 268 requires all relevant student records, including education and disciplinary records, to be shared with the receiving school upon transfer within 5 days of the request of those those records." The bill would also "require schools to adopt behavioral threat assessment teams," create an anonymous reporting app that meets standards, and establish the S3 database under GEMA to log credible threats, Persinger said.

Committee members sought clarifications and changes. Several members asked for an explicit process to remove, or document closure of, a students case in S3 after the student has completed recommended services or no longer meets the threat criteria. Multiple members preferred language describing a "removal" or "case closure" process rather than framing the change solely as an appeal of the initial assessment. Legislative counsel recommended adding a responsibility for the Office of Safe Schools to develop a closure process in coordination with the State Board of Education and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). The counsel read proposed language that would require the office to "develop in conjunction with the State Board of Education and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities a process for a student or his or her parent or guardian to request the closure of such student's case on the S3 database." Committee members agreed and the amendment was adopted.

GEMA deputy director Linda Kriblay said the S3 database would not be a general "list" of complaints but would record only cases that local BTAM teams have elevated as credible threats. "It's gotta be a verifiable credible threat," she told the panel, and she said local teams also close cases and document resolution in the S3 record when interventions succeed.

Members also discussed what demographic and background data would be retained and reported from S3. One lawmaker asked whether the system would track the race, gender and grade level of students who become subjects of elevated incidents; Persinger and other witnesses said the information would be inherent in the student record once a case is elevated and would be available for review. Concern was raised repeatedly that anonymous reporting could be abused and disproportionately affect Black and brown students; other members defended anonymous reporting as necessary to encourage tips. A motion to replace multiple references to "anonymous" reporting with the word "private" failed on a voice vote.

The bill funds system-level "behavioral health coordinators" rather than placing counselors in every school; a committee member sought and received clarification that the grant structure reimburses positions at the school-system level based on student population, and does not itself create a counselor in every school.

Committee discussion also covered who may access the S3 records. Officials said access would be limited to those with a legitimate educational or safety need: local BTAM members, school administrators with appropriate purview, and law enforcement on a need-to-know basis. Witnesses said BTAM teams are multidisciplinary and that training for those teams would be expanded and continued under the bill.

Votes at a glance: the committee approved a friendly amendment requiring the Office of Safe Schools to develop and publish a process for a student or parent to request closure of a case on the S3 database; it rejected an amendment to replace the word "anonymous" with "private" in reporting provisions; and the committee gave HB 268 a due-pass recommendation by voice vote. The record shows the committee approved the bill as amended and recommended it for further action.

The measure now moves on in the House process as a due-pass recommendation from the committee; the transcript does not record a final floor vote or timelines for further consideration.

Sources and provenance: Committee discussion and the text quoted above were presented during the hearing on HB 268 (LC492304S). The sponsors introduction and the committees votes appear in the hearing transcript for LC492304S.