The Georgia House on Wednesday unanimously passed Senate Bill 17, a rules-committee substitute that requires public school systems to implement mobile panic-alert systems and maintain updated facility mapping intended to help first responders locate incidents in schools.

Representative Holt Persinger, who presented the bill on the floor, described the measure as clarifying and expanding the verification process for school mapping and adding relevant public-safety and school personnel to the list of officials who may annually sign off on mapping accuracy. Persinger said the change updates earlier school-safety provisions and “adds relevant public-safety agencies, school safety personnel, and school administrators on the list of people that can sign off on the accuracy annually.”

Members raised questions about operational integration and data protection. Representative Ramon asked whether the mapping system relied on a single vendor or multiple providers and how the technology has worked elsewhere; Persinger said local school systems may use different providers and that many systems already include mapping under the school-safety plans passed in 2023. Representative Whip Park (floor title used in the debate) asked how the information would be secured and whether additional encryption or protections would be required; Persinger replied that the data are already protected under existing school-safety law, and he noted that the bill was intended as an amendment and cleanup to the 2023 school-safety statute.

Representative Park further asked about a provision that provides immunity from civil liability for certain errors in mapping; Persinger said the immunity language is designed to protect local entities for accidental errors in mapping and to facilitate deployment.

The bill’s text, as read on the floor, requires that no later than July 21, 2026, each public school implement a mobile panic-alert system capable of notifying law enforcement and school officials; the bill also requires integration “including but not limited to” next-generation 9-1-1 systems when those systems are in place. Representative Persinger acknowledged that some portions of “next-generation 9-1-1” infrastructure are still being developed and said the bill looks forward to integration once those systems are available.

Representative Betsy Hollen spoke in support of the bill on the floor and described the personal anxiety shared by parents and students about school safety drills and active-shooter preparedness; she said those realities motivated her support for practical safety measures that improve response capability.

The House adopted the rules-committee substitute and passed the bill on a recorded vote, yeas 171, nays 0.

What this means
- Local school systems will be required to implement panic-alert systems and maintain facility mapping; the systems must be capable of integration with public-safety answering points and next-generation 9-1-1 when available.
- The bill includes immunity language for local boards and school employees tied to mapping errors, a point that prompted questions on the floor.
- Members requested additional clarity about data-security measures and encryption; floor presenters referred members to protections included in the 2023 school-safety law but did not add new statutory encryption requirements in SB17.

Ending
Representative Persinger said the bill was intended as a clarification and technical update to prior school-safety law. With final passage, implementation responsibility rests with local school systems and public-safety answering points to coordinate signoff, integration and security measures.