Day 27: Bills Pass Chambers on Final Legislative Day Before Crossover, Including Hearing and Vision Screening, Cursive Instruction, Antisemitism Reporting, & Maternity Leave
- Mar 4
- 5 min read
The 27th day of the 2026 Legislative Session was dominated by lengthy floor sessions in both chambers. The House worked late, while the Senate abruptly adjourned shortly before 5 p.m., leaving several bills on the calendar.
Friday, March 6, is Crossover Day, the deadline by which a bill must pass its chamber of origin to remain eligible to progress during the remainder of the legislative session.
Senate Passes Antisemitism, Cursive Writing, and Student Political Groups Bills
The Senate passed the following bills, which now move to the House for consideration:
SB 523 by Sen. Goodman (R-Cogdell) which would require public schools and institutions of higher education to treat antisemitism in the same manner as they treat religious discrimination. The bill mandates that the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) appoint a statewide K-12 Title VI Coordinator by Sept. 29, 2026. This coordinator would oversee the receipt, monitoring, and investigation of complaints of discrimination in public schools. Based on the coordinator’s findings, GaDOE may recommend corrective actions to public schools, and the State Board of Education (SBOE) is authorized to withhold funds to schools that fail to comply with these recommended actions. SB 523 also states that its provisions should not be construed to infringe on constitutionally protected free speech rights. A floor amendment was offered to explicitly include several other religions in the same manner as antisemitism, but the amendment failed. The bill passed with a vote of 50-2.
SB 425 by Sen. Marty Harbin (R-Tyrone) requires all schools serving students in grades three, four, or five that receive state funding provide instruction in cursive handwriting to all students no later than third grade. The bill passed with a vote of 43-9.
SB 552 by Sen. Ben Watson (R-Savannah) the True Patriotism and Universal Student Access (TPUSA) Act states that students are to engage in political activities and expression as well as form partisan or nonpartisan groups or activities before, during, and after the school day. The bill also prohibits public schools with a limited open forum from denying access or discriminating against student groups based on the content of their speech, including political, philosophical, or ideological viewpoints. Finally, the bill states that students are able to wear clothes and accessories that display political messages or symbols to the same extent as other types of messages are allowed in a school's dress code. The bill explicitly states that it does not limit the authority of a public school or its employees or agents to maintain order and discipline on school premises, to protect the well-being of students and staff, and to assure that attendance of students at meetings is voluntary. A floor amendment was offered that would allow school districts to create policies allowing for any student to have a single excused absence to take part in a political protest. The amendment failed, and the bill passed with a vote of 46-7.
House Passes Bills to Expand Maternity Leave, Mandate Vision & Hearing Screeners and Several Other Education Bills.
The House Passed the following bills, which now move to the Senate:
HB 1118 by Rep. Sandy Donatucci (R-Buford) seeks to create a new form of leave for qualified state and local school employees called "maternal birth leave," providing 120 hours of paid leave to mothers following childbirth. This leave could only be used in the three weeks immediately following childbirth and would precede the use of any other paid paternal leave. An employee must have completed six months of continuous employment to be eligible for maternal birth leave. Hourly employees must have worked 700 hours during those six months. The bill passed with a vote of 170-0.
HB 1284, or the Gakobe Milton Act, by Rep. Deborah Silcox (R-Sandy Springs) would require high school diplomas to be awarded to students diagnosed with terminal medical conditions and receiving end-of-life care. The bill outlines the process and procedures for requesting and awarding these diplomas and states that, while every effort should be made to award the diplomas before the student’s death, they may be awarded posthumously. The bill passed unanimously.
HB 1402 by Rep. Leesa Hagan (R-Lyons) would require public schools to administer vision and hearing screeners to all students in grades Pre-K through third grade. Schools are required to notify parents if their child fails a screening and report specific information regarding screener results to the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH). The bill would provide a one-time grant of up to $15,000 to local school systems to purchase needed screening equipment. Grants would be subject to appropriation. HB 1402 also mandates that local school governing authorities provide written notification to the parents of children who do not achieve grade-level reading proficiency. Parents may opt out of the screeners. The bill passed with a vote of 172-1.
HB 1302 by Rep. Matthew Gambill (R-Cartersville), the Education and Workforce Strategy Act, is a workforce development initiative of Gov. Brian Kemp. The bill renames the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) the Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Strategy (GOEWS) and expands the agency’s role in aligning education, workforce development, and data governance across state agencies regarding the state’s federal Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act and Perkins plans. The bill ends the Alliance of Education Agency Heads and establishes a new statewide education and workforce planning process, the Education Data Governance Board, to coordinate cross-agency data sharing and workforce development policy alignment.
The bill renames and revises the state’s apprenticeship initiative as the Top State for Talent Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Program and designates the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) as the state apprenticeship agency. TCSG would collect and track data on all apprenticeship programs registered in Georgia. During the committee process, after pushback from several groups representing trades that offer their own apprenticeship programs, the bill was modified to address their concerns by allowing those offering apprenticeship programs to report only their program information to TCSG for apprenticeship coordination, rather than having the agency operate the programs. The effective date for the apprenticeship reporting requirement was also moved to Jan. 1, 2027, to allow more time for implementation. The bill passed with a vote of 172-2.
HB 1220 by Rep. Bethany Ballard (R-Warner Robins) exempts students with an IEP, a Section 504 plan, or a diagnosis of dyslexia, autism spectrum disorder, speech language delay and disorder or other identified condition from the requirement to attend a public school for six weeks to be eligible for a private school voucher awarded by a Student Scholarship Organization (SSO). Students whose parents are active military personnel stationed in Georgia would also be exempt from the six-week attendance requirement. The legislation includes language, suggested by PAGE, requiring participating private schools to disclose medical or behavioral conditions they accommodate. The bill passed with a vote of 106-63.
House Judiciary Juvenile Committee Passes Bill to Allow Sharing of GPS Monitoring Data with Schools
The House Judiciary Juvenile Committee passed HB 1445 by Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick) which would require the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to share near-real-time GPS monitoring and exclusion violations of juvenile offenders with local law enforcement and school systems upon their request for such information. Before sending this data, the DJJ must verify that the juvenile offender is physically located within the state or applicable school district.
Upcoming Schedule
Thursday, March 5 - Committee Workday
House Education, 1 p.m., 506 CLOB
House Retirement, 1 p.m., 415 CLOB
Friday, March 6 - Day 28/Crossover Day
