A number of Georgia House committees convened to address issues related to public safety, education, and law. Some bills were focused on creating new House committees, while others sought to directly address issues facing Georgians.
First, the House Technology and Infrastructure Innovation Committee passed House Resolution (HR) 817. HR 817 creates a new House Study Committee on the governmental use of drones and unmanned aircraft from foreign adversaries.
The committee would focus on how drones collect, transfer, and store data. It would also determine what kind of security risk these drones could potentially be.
Second, the House Human Relations and Aging Committee passed HR 816. This bill creates a House Study Committee focused on an at-risk population abuse registry.
This new registry would track those who work with at-risk populations and commit abuse, but don’t face criminal action. The new committee would help align Georgia’s safety policy with other states.
Third, the House Education Committee discussed more resolutions and a couple of bills. They began with HR 711. This bill creates a House Study Committee on student attendance in pre k-twelfth education.
The new study committee focuses on chronic absenteeism among students. HR 711 passed on to the Rules Committee.
The committee moved on to Senate Bill (SB) 179. This bill requires the academic and disciplinary records of each transferring student to be provided within five days.
SB 179 also requires students to take a computer literacy class to graduate high school. The bill passed to the Rules Committee.
The House Education Committee concluded with HR 887. This resolution creates a House Study Committee on reducing and prioritizing mandates for Public School Administrations.
The main focus is easing administrative burdens and revisiting local control. It easily passed to the Rules Committee.
Finally, the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee discussed SB 268. This bill makes it a crime to interfere with the duties of first responders.
SB 268 protects first responders by requiring people to stand 25 feet away. Bystanders are also not allowed to harass the first responder in any way. SB 268 easily passed to the Rules Committee.
