New GA Laws Combat Human Trafficking, Support Education

ATLANTA, GA — Gov. Brian Kemp had a busy week with signing multiple bills into law, including legislation that combats human trafficking and supports military veterans.

Here's a summary of Georgia's latest bills signed into law, per Kemp's office:

Education Legislation (signed Tuesday)

Senate Bill 233: Gives students in underperforming schools greater freedom and choice in their education

Sponsors: Senator Greg Dolezal, signed by senators Matt Brass, Shawn Still, Ed Setzler and Steve Gooch

Purpose: Creates a promise scholarship of $6,500 for each participating student that can be used towards qualified education expenses including tuition, fees, textbooks and tutoring among others. Allows students to attend a public school outside of their resident system without needing the approval of said system and increases the tax credit for donations to the Georgia Foundation for Public Education.

"Students qualify for the scholarship if they meet requirements including having been enrolled in a public school for two consecutive enrollment counts (unless they would be entering kindergarten), being zoned for a school in the lowest 25 percent of all public schools, with priority for participation being given to economically disadvantaged students and students who were previous participants."

House Bill 318: Moves the Office of Charter School Compliance from the Georgia Department of Education to the State Charter Schools Commission

Sponsors: Rep. Scott Hilton, signed by Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones and representatives Matt Dubnick, Brad Thomas, Mesha Mainor and Todd Jones

Purpose: Allows them to assist local school systems in their role as charter school authorizers.

"Additionally, the criteria for low-wealth capital outlay grants are changed to give districts more time to plan their use of the funds."

House Bill 409: directs school systems to consider not having stops where a student would have to cross a roadway with a speed limit of 40 miles per hour or greater.

Sponsors: Rep. Lauren Daniel, signed by representatives James Burchett, Trey Kelley, Matt Reeves, Rob Everett and Stacey Evans

Purpose: Increases the penalty for passing a stopped school bus to $1,000. Allows charter schools to utilize teachers or other staff who are employees of an education service provider as long as the school’s board maintains the authority over their selection and dismissal.

HB 409 follows "the death of 8-year-old Addy Pierce, who was struck by a motorist as she boarded her school bus."

House Bill 1122: provides state charter schools that have over 1,000 students, funding for a superintendent

Sponsors: Rep. Scott Hilton, signed by Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones and Representatives Matt Dubnick, Bethany Ballard, Segun Adeyina and Todd Jones

Purpose: Gives state and local charter schools funding for principals.

"It also allows for children of part-time charter school employees to attend the school their parent teaches at and low-level local system employees to serve on the board of a state charter school."

Senate Bill 351: requires the Department of Education and local boards to adopt policies on social media, cyberbullying and internet usage

Sponsors: Sen. Jason Anavitarte, signed by senators Randy Robertson, Matt Brass, John Kennedy, Steve Gooch, and Shawn Still

Purpose: Requires social media companies verify that their users are at least 16 years of age or older unless they receive approval from an individual’s parents to use the service.

"It also requires websites whose content is comprised of over a third of material that is harmful to minors to verify that their users are age 18 or older."

Senate Bill 395: Prohibits school visitors or personnel from possessing an opioid antagonist such as Narcan and directs schools to maintain a supply

Sponsors: Sen. Clint Dixon, signed by senators Sam Watson, Larry Walker, Brian Strickland, and Sonya Halpern

Purpose: Allows opioid antagonists to be sold in vending machines and directs certain government buildings to maintain a supply of at least three doses.

"A portion of this bill is named Wesley's Law, named after Wesley Gay and was advocated for by Wesley's parents, Laura and Larry Gay."

Senate Bill 464: Creates the School Supplies for Teachers Program to financially and technically support teachers purchasing school supplies online

Sponsors: Sen. Clint Dixon, signed by senators Chuck Payne, Shawn Still, Shelly Echols, and Jason Anavitarte, amended by Sen. Billy Hickman

Purpose: Creates an executive committee of five voting members within the literacy council. Limits the number of approved literacy screeners to five with one being the option available to schools for free.

Legislation Supporting Military Veterans, Service Members and Spouses (signed Wednesday)

House Bill 880: Allows spouses of military service members to start work under a license they hold in another state and the supervision of an existing Georgia entity after applying for expedited licensure by endorsement.

Sponsors: Rep. Bethany Ballard, signed by Majority Whip James Burchett, Chairman Shaw Blackmon, and Representatives Brian Prince and Steven Sainz

Senate Bill 449: Creates 12-month provisional practice allowance for military medical personnel while a license application is pending

Sponsors: Chairman Larry Walker, signed by President Pro Tempore John Kennedy, Majority Caucus Chair Jason Anavitarte, Majority Leader Steve Gooch, Chairman Chuck Payne along with many other members of the Georgia State Senate

Purpose: Creates a new Advanced Practice Registered Nurse license and establishes a new licensing system for APRN licenses.

House Bill 995: Clarifies that K-12 educational institutions are able to administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery during school hours, but are not required to do so.

Sponsors: Chairman Josh Bonner, signed by representatives Chas Cannon, Bethany Ballard, Steven Sainz and Will Wade

Senate Bill 389: Removes a requirement to annually print and distribute the military code to save taxpayer dollars and protect the identities of military officers

Sponsors: Chairman Chuck Payne, signed by Chairwoman Kay Kirkpatrick, Chairman John Albers, and Senators Mike Hodges and Bo Hatchett

Legislation Combatting Human Trafficking and Supporting Victims (signed Wednesday)

House Bill 993: Creates the felony offense of grooming of a minor

Sponsors: Rep. Alan Powell, signed by representatives Tyler Paul Smith, Jason Ridley, Derrick McCollum, J. Collins and Trey Rhodes

Purpose: Prohibits the defense from prosecution for offenses relating to visual mediums depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on the basis that the visual medium was created, adapted or modified to show an identifiable minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

House Bill 1201: Defines the term “commercial sexual exploitation recovery center”

Sponsors: Rep. Houston Gaines, signed by Representative Tyler Paul Smith, Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones and representatives Deborah Silcox, Soo Hong and Katie Dempsey

Purpose: Allows human trafficking survivors that received first offender or conditional discharge status the ability to vacate such status for certain crimes, so long as the crime was a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.