The Senate Rules Committee approved a rules-committee substitute for Senate Bill 148 (LC610264S) that combines several education-related measures, the committee confirmed during its meeting (date not specified).

The substitute packages four main parts: a pilot program to study development of outdoor learning spaces on elementary and secondary school property; a change to language on automated external defibrillators in elementary schools; a provision addressing teacher personal leave days; and a provision adding hunting-safety instruction for grades 6–12. Committee members approved the substitute by voice vote after the committee presentation.

The presentation said the original Senate Bill 148 is now located in section 2 (pages 2–3 of the substitute) and remains a pilot program studying outdoor learning spaces on school property. The presenter described section 3 as Chairman Hawkins’s House Bill 629, which would have required automated external defibrillators in elementary schools but said the substitute strikes a paragraph (lines 86–89) related to that requirement.

Chairman Leverett explained why the committee proposed removing that paragraph: “I guess primarily because we have so many elementary schools, it’s difficult to find enough, medical staff to be there. And the automated machine, to be there. And the automated machines basically instruct you on their use as you use it. So we don’t feel that that’s necessary.”

The substitute also incorporates House Bill 127 (Brent Cox’s bill), originally described as increasing teachers’ personal paid leave from three to five days; the presenter told the committee the substitute changes that numeric provision and sets the leave at three days in the rule substitute. Section 1 of the substitute incorporates Representative Cannon’s House Bill 451, which passed the House on March 6 and adds hunting-safety instruction for grades 6–12.

A motion to approve Senate Bill 148 by substitute LC610264S was made and seconded and passed by voice vote; the committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript excerpt. The committee later placed the substitute on the committee’s supplemental calendar for further consideration.

The substitute combines language already approved in other committees and from the House; the committee presentation characterized the package as an effort to consolidate several measures that had cleared committee stages into a single vehicle for floor consideration.

No formal amendments to the substitute were recorded in the excerpt. Committee discussion in the provided transcript focused on the contents of the substitute and the practical considerations underlying the AED language and the leave-day adjustment.