by Ty Tagami | May 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Schools across Georgia will have to figure out how to pry cellphones from students’ hands next year now that a new ban will be taking effect.
House Bill 340 prohibits personal communications devices in public school classrooms from kindergarten through eighth grade.
The ban goes into effect in the summer of 2026. Gov. Brian Kemp signed the legislation last week after it passed the Georgia General Assembly with broad bipartisan support earlier this year.
A handful of school systems have already implemented local bans, including Marietta City Schools.
Marietta Superintendent Grant Rivera was among the leading proponents for a statewide ban, telling lawmakers in March that he’d seen dramatic changes in middle school, where students were talking with each other rather than hunching over screens.
“It impacts academics, it impacts their well-being, it impacts their relationships,” Rivera said at a legislative hearing. He said disciplinary issues were down, as well.
School districts have until January to write policies and procedures for locking up students’ phones from the first bell in the morning to the last one in the afternoon.
They must implement those policies by July 1, 2026, with hundreds of thousands of students affected when school starts that fall.
School leaders welcome the legislation. John Zauner, executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association, called the ban a well-meaning attempt to remove a major distraction during the school day.
“Cellphones in the hands of youngsters are definitely a distraction,” he said.
Fulton County School System, one of the largest school districts in Georgia, is already preparing.
“These new restrictions were already planned for the upcoming school year, and the new law affirms the direction we were taking to reduce distractions and strengthen student learning,” a district spokesman said. School board members will vote on the new policy in June. It not only would ban use during the school day through eighth grade, but also would prohibit use in high schools during instructional time.
While the idea of a statewide ban is popular, some have expressed concern about being unable to reach their children during an emergency, such as a school shooting.
That’s why the bill’s chief co-sponsor, Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, didn’t push for a ban in high schools. But he and others expect the K-8 ban to spread to high schools in the future, after middle school students and their parents become accustomed to it.
Hilton said in an interview Monday that high school is more complicated, and it will take time to study implementation there and to develop a cellphone-free culture.
“I think this bill begins an important conversation that’s going to lead to a cellphone-free environment in grades 9 through 12,” he said.
That culture is deeply embedded. Hilton said that when Kemp signed HB 340 on Friday, lawmakers instinctively pulled out their smartphones to capture the moment. And Hilton said that when he was presenting his bill on the floor of the House of Representatives, his colleagues couldn’t resist the moment.
“My phone starts to light up,” he said. “People are calling, texting — and it’s my colleagues in the House having fun with me. It was distracting.”
by Dave Williams | May 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed a package of bills Monday aimed at strengthening Georgia’s workforce.
House Bill 192, which the General Assembly passed this year with just two “no” votes, codifies into state law the Georgia MATCH program, a direct university and technical college admissions program created in 2023.
Under the program, every high school senior in Georgia receives a personalized letter from the governor listing the public universities, colleges and technical colleges he or she is academically eligible to attend. The letters go on to explain how students can claim a spot being held for them at the institution of their choice.
Enrollment in the University System of Georgia has increased by 6% since Georgia MATCH was launched, while technical college enrollment has grown by 9%, Kemp said Monday during a bill signing ceremony at the state Capitol.
The legislation, which was introduced as part of Kemp’s legislative agenda for this year, also requires the state Department of Education to tailor its curriculum offerings to prepare students for careers in high demand among Georgia employers.
“We have made incredible progress in aligning our business and education stakeholders … helping all Georgia students succeed no matter their zip code,” Kemp said.
The governor also signed Senate Bill 85, creating a college scholarship program for current or former foster children.
“This law removes financial barriers that too often force foster youth to abandon their college dreams,” Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said Monday.
House Bill 38 will ease the requirements for income-eligible students who already have earned most of their credit requirements to qualify for the need-based financial aid they need to complete their degrees.
House Bill 172 will increase the limits on loan forgiveness provided to veterinary students who have completed their degrees and plan to specialize in animals raised for human consumption.
by Ty Tagami | May 12, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – John King, Georgia’s insurance commissioner, has joined the Republican primary election in hopes of unseating Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff next year.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement last week that he would not be running for the Senate opened the door to a host of potential candidates. Days later, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter of St. Simons Island became the first Republican to enter the race.
King, a major general in the U.S. Army National Guard and a former police chief, is the first official elected statewide to join the race. He won the election for insurance and safety fire commissioner in 2022 after Kemp appointed him to the position in 2019.
The native of Mexico is the first Hispanic to have won statewide office in Georgia.
King came to America at age 17 and enlisted in the National Guard, rising from private to major general when he retired in 2023. He was deployed to Afghanistan, Africa, Bosnia, and Iraq. Over four decades in law enforcement, he rose from beat cop in Atlanta to police chief in Doraville.
In his announcement Monday, King emphasized these roles, his statement saying he “was shot and stabbed in the line of duty.” King also underscored his ties to President Donald Trump, noting that he was deployed to the southern border during Trump’s first term and co-chaired Trump’s 2020 campaign in Georgia.
Despite his statewide election success, King could struggle with national name recognition, which plays a role in campaign fundraising. Ossoff has proven a prodigious fundraiser, bringing in more cash than any sitting U.S. senator.
Still, King drew a veteran GOP strategist to his campaign. Dan McLagan, who worked for Gary Black’s campaign in the U.S. Senate primary won by Herschel Walker, is handling communications for King.
by Dave Williams | May 9, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp and his allies in the General Assembly say they’re determined to prevent foreign adversaries from doing business with state agencies.
Toward that end, Kemp signed legislation Friday requiring the Georgia Technology Authority to establish and maintain a list of companies and products produced and/or sold by citizens or governments the U.S. Commerce Department has designated as foreign adversaries. State agencies will use the list to govern purchasing decisions.
House Bill 113 was part of Kemp’s legislative agenda for this year. It cleared the Georgia Senate unanimously and passed the state House of Representatives with only a smattering of “no” votes.
“We will keep our state government free from interference,” Kemp vowed Friday during a bill signing ceremony at the Georgia Capitol.
The governor also signed a series of other bills aimed at reforming the process the state uses to license businesses in Georgia.
Under House Bill 579, the director of the Professional Licensing Board Division will have the authority to approve applications for new and renewed business licenses, bypassing lengthy board reviews of qualified applicants.
“This reform is about getting government out of the way,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose office oversees business licensing. “By modernizing outdated regulations, we’re unlocking doors for qualified Georgians to contribute to our economy without sacrificing public safety or standards.”
Other bills aimed at streamlining state government Kemp signed on Friday include:
- Senate Bill 96, which gets rid of state agency boards that either have become inactive or perform duplicative roles.
- House Bill 148, which creates two additional pathways for obtaining a certified public accountant’s license.
- House Bill 322, allowing the Georgia Board of Dentistry to license applicants already licensed in another state, country, or territory.
- House Bill 630, streamlining the process for licensing used car and used car parts dealers.
- House Bill 635, easing the three pathways to license residential and commercial general contractors.
- Senate Bill 125, which decouples the pathway to licensing professional engineers and land surveyors.
More comprehensive legislation known as the “red tape rollback” introduced into the state Senate on behalf of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones didn’t make it through the General Assembly this year. Senate Bill 28 would have required the state to produce an analysis of any proposed rule that could cost the public or local governments at least $1 million to comply with during its first five years and prohibited state agencies from implementing such rules without legislative approval.
by Dave Williams | May 9, 2025 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA – By the middle of the next decade, Georgians may be able to travel between Atlanta and Savannah by high-speed rail, avoiding traffic and expensive air fares.
The state Department of Transportation has launched a study of the feasibility of connecting the two urban centers with an intercity passenger rail line. The agency held the first “stakeholder” meeting online in January to begin gathering public feedback on the project, with more planned later this year.
If that first session is any indication, Georgians are enticed by the idea, said Clement Solomon, director of the DOT’s Intermodal Division. The meeting drew more than 4,000 public comments, Solomon said.
“There’s definitely interest,” he said. “It could potentially reduce the challenges we have today.”
The idea of bringing intercity passenger rail to Georgia goes back decades and takes up voluminous studies. Various projects have been held out as giving travelers an alternative to growing traffic congestion along the state’s interstate highway corridors.
Besides the Atlanta-to-Savannah proposal, the DOT also is participating in studies involving potential passenger rail lines that would run from Atlanta to Charlotte, N.C., and from Atlanta through Chattanooga, Tenn., and Nashville to Memphis.
“We need to have ways to connect our communities,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said. “Rail is really the way for us to be able to connect.”
The new study of an Atlanta-to-Savannah rail line is in the early stages. Planners have yet to decide which of several potential routes to use, where stations should be located, or which technology to employ.
The DOT also hasn’t identified funding sources for the project, beyond $10 million in planning money for the study – an $8 million grant from the Federal Railroad Administration secured by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and a $2 million state match.
Solomon said the DOT is considering three options for the routes: building it along existing rail lines, building a new line completely separate from existing lines, or going with a combination of new and existing track.
That decision will go a long way toward deciding where to build stations. Cities the study is considering as potential station locations include Augusta, Athens, Macon, Milledgeville, Statesboro, and Vidalia, in addition to the ends of the line in Atlanta and Savannah.
Solomon said the DOT likely will opt for high-speed rail as the preferred technology because that’s what the public wants. High-speed trains can travel at speeds of least 125 miles per hour, cutting travel times.
“People want to get there,” he said.
Solomon said choosing high-speed rail would have a major impact on locating stations along the route.
“(High-speed rail) reduces the number of stations,” he said. “If you have 10 stations, it defeats the purpose of high-speed rail.”
Bert Brantley, president and CEO of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, injected a note of caution in the planning for intercity passenger rail. He noted the potential of a high-speed rail line to disrupt freight rail traffic moving in and out of the Port of Savannah, the lifeblood of the region’s economy. Indeed, how freight rail and passenger rail would coordinate along the same tracks has served as an obstacle to previous passenger rail projects that haven’t come to fruition.
“It’s not the no-brainer people might assume,” Brantley said. “We have to be very careful. We don’t want to create a benefit that comes at the expense of jobs, growth, and new investment.”
Under the timeline set for the DOT feasibility study, initial planning will take place this year through 2027, with the agency deciding such issues as the route, station locations, and the technology that will be used. If the project is deemed feasible, an environmental impact study will begin in 2028.
