Committee advances substitute creating memorial fund for teachers, shortens definition of "active violence"

A House substitute to create a memorial fund for public school teachers and employees killed or disabled in the line of duty advanced out of the House Higher Education Committee on Wednesday.

A committee member presenting for Chairman Petrie explained the substitute includes a memorial fund for public school teachers and public school employees killed or disabled in the line of duty. The substitute shortens the bill’s definition of “active violence” to read “a willful act of violence.” The presenter said the prior draft had included a qualifier excluding acts committed by school teachers or school employees and that the committee had removed that qualifier because “if this a tragic event happens and this is applicable, it doesn't really matter where the violence came from.”

The substitute also includes language to create a voluntary checkoff on state tax returns and a Department of Driver Services (DDS) option to allow Georgians to contribute directly to the memorial fund, the presenter said.

Robert Aycock of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators addressed the committee in support of the substitute, thanking lawmakers for the language. The presenter said the committee moved the substitute forward with a due-pass recommendation to the rules committee by voice vote.

The transcript records the substitute as LC 610178S and the committee’s motion to forward the measure with a due-pass recommendation; committee members indicated approval by saying “aye” during the voice vote recorded in the hearing.