ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia House members voted 159-13 on Tuesday for a school safety bill that supporters say is aimed at preventing a school shooting like the one in September that killed two teachers and two students at Apalachee High School.
But some lawmakers remain uneasy about its proposed creation of a statewide student database of disciplinary, mental health and law enforcement information to evaluate students who might commit violence. And although the House also passed a bill Tuesday to give a tax incentive to people who pay for gun storage devices or training, Democrats say the Republican-majority General Assembly isn’t doing enough to control guns.
Republican House Speaker Jon Burns of Newington gave House Bill 268 a strong push, making the unusual move of stepping down from the dais to give a speech supporting the measure.
“I believe this legislation will usher a new culture in our school systems, where we run towards our children facing struggles with mental health,” Burns said, saying the bill aims to reach troubled children before they turn to violence.
The measure now heads to the Senate, which has thus far taken a less comprehensive approach than the House’s 64-page bill. One Senate measure that has advanced out of committee calls for more limited information sharing but would also make adult prosecution the default for more crimes where children aged 13 to 16 are charged.
Besides the database, the House bill also mandates quicker transfers of records when a student enters a new school, creates at least one new position to help coordinate mental health treatment for students in each of Georgia’s 180 school districts, requires police agencies to report any time a student has threatened harm to someone at school and sets up an anonymous reporting system statewide.
The push to share information is driven by the belief among many that the Barrow County school system didn’t have a full sense of the warning signs displayed by the 14-year-old accused in the shooting. Officials have said creating the database will require more legal work to make sure federal privacy laws regarding health data and educational records are obeyed. But opponents say they fear the data will create a blacklist that may treat racial or religious minorities unfairly.
“There isn’t nearly enough on mental health and there’s too much on surveillance and overcriminalization and the invasion of privacy of our students and their families,” said Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, a Smyrna Democrat.
The bill calls for each school system to set up a behavioral threat management team that’s meant to intervene when school officials learn that students have threatened violence. The state would develop guidelines for how school districts should assess threats, with the team focusing on credible threats. Those teams could turn to the database for more information about a student under scrutiny. Students who threatened violence would be removed from in-person classes while school officials decide on a response.
House Education Committee Chairman Chris Erwin, a Homer Republican, said the bill would prevent violence.
“Save a life today, vote for this bill,” Erwin urged House members.
The measure also includes suicide and violence prevention classes for older students, calls for an assessment once a student is absent for a certain number of days
House Democrats supported House Bill 79, which would provide tax incentives for people who buy gun safes or gun locks or get gun training. But Democrats said Tuesday that’s not enough even as the bill passed 165-8, moving on to the Senate. They want a law that would require adults to lock up their guns when children are present.
Officials say Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High’s accused shooter Colt Gray, bought his son an assault-style rifle and gave him easy access, even though Colin Gray knew or should have known that his son was a danger to others.
“Nothing should haunt us more in this chamber than a missed opportunity and nothing should shame us more than failing to learn from our mistakes,” said Rep. Michelle Au, a Johns Creek Democrat.
