Georgia parties have differing ideas in response to Apalachee shooting

Gov. Brian Kemp has included $50 million in his amended budget for K-12 public schools to obtain school security grants. Among lawmakers, the strongest consensus has formed around legislation that would compel school districts to maintain and share more extensive information about students — something Republicans and Democrats in both chambers support.

However, more splits have emerged as talks go deeper. Senate Republicans want more physical security around schools, such as police officers and metal detectors, while House Republicans are pushing for schools to develop plans that assess and thwart potential threats as well as encourage anonymous reporting of suspicious behavior.

Neither are advocating for more restrictions of firearm use, which both House and Senate Democrats say is needed to stop more deadly attacks.

What is most likely to pass

Both the House and Senate Republicans, as well as Democrats in both chambers, have proposed legislation that would encourage better record sharing about students between school districts. Gray’s grandmother said she was unable to get him care despite his history of mental health challenges, according to The Washington Post.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

A plan backed by House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, would call for critical information about a student to be available for school administrators, mental health counselors and law enforcement within a few days of a child arriving at their new school.

State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming, has proposed creating the new felony offense of “terroristic threat of a school or terroristic act upon a school.” Senate Bill 61, sponsored by Dolezal, would also require information related to school safety be shared between schools and law enforcement and among school districts.

“There’s a breakdown,” Dolezal said. “There’s kind of a lack of communication between law enforcement and the school system. This kind of opens that up a little bit where it requires law enforcement to inform the school district (of important information).”

But state Rep. Lisa Campbell, D-Kennesaw, is concerned with protecting student privacy.

Under one of Democratic state Sen. Emmanuel Jones’s bills, there would be a statewide database, housed in the state Department of Education, that captures threats to safety made on school property or impacting school campuses.

“The priority, in our opinion, should be devoting some of (Kemp’s allocated money) to creating a statewide database,” he said “so that we can identify those kids within our school systems that need essential services.”

The Senate’s priorities

Standing beside a poster that read “SENATE SECURE” in intertwined letters on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch said his caucus would propose legislation that supported the “physical, economic and emotional” security of students.

“Our caucus is prioritizing the security … of our state’s greatest blessing: that is our children,” Gooch, R-Dahlonega, said. “We will protect them because they cannot protect themselves. Their innocence must be guarded so their futures remain unlimited.”

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Part of that protection includes safety technology and emergency alert systems, said state Sen. Jason Anavitarte. The Dallas Republican is sponsoring Senate Bill 17, which would require local school systems to implement a panic alert system to ensure real-time coordination between first responders in the event of a school security emergency. Apalachee High School had such a system in place when last fall’s mass shooting happened.

SB 17 requires public schools to install the panic alarms to speed police response times during emergencies. A similar version of this bill passed the Senate last year but didn’t make it out of the House.

Anavitarte said “Alyssa’s Law,” the name given to SB 17, would save lives. “Because of the alert system that was enacted (at Apalachee High School), that’s what notified public safety to know there was a crisis on campus,” he said.

Anavitarte is also sponsoring Senate Bill 47, which would establish an 11-day tax holiday for firearms, ammunition and accessories, including gun safes. It has been sharply criticized by Democrats.

The House’s approach

Meanwhile, House Speaker Jon Burns unveiled a package of priorities on Monday he said would protect students from harm.

Students and staff would be encouraged to anonymously report concerning behavior to an app. The bill proposes penalizing parents whose kids make threats and requires school threats to be treated as felonies.

The legislation doesn’t explicitly mention technology such as metal detectors, which Burns had noted he wanted in a letter he wrote last fall.

In addition, schools would be required to produce a threat management plan that assesses the physical structure of the campus for potential safety concerns as well as available resources for students struggling with mental health needs.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Kevin Tanner, commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, told a combined group of Senate and House education committee members Monday that he appreciates legislative support for mental health and the Georgia Apex program, which places licensed counselors in schools.

But challenges are deeper.

“Just putting additional dollars in the Apex program will not solve the problem,” he said, “because we just do not, as a state, have enough licensed clinicians in Georgia to handle the workload.”

Unlike his Senate counterparts, Burns has been willing to discuss gun safety legislation, so long as it is “reasonable.” It’s unclear what he would consider “unreasonable” gun safety measures.

Last year, the House passed a bill, sponsored by state Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, that would have provided a tax credit to gun owners to purchase safe storage equipment and lock away their weapons. Newton has revived the legislation this year, filed as House Bill 79, and Burns said he supports its passage.

The Democratic angle

Georgia Democrats have long seen gun restrictions as an answer to curbing gun violence, but as the minority party, their legislation has had nearly no impact.

State Rep. Michelle Au said she applauds Burns’ attention to school safety and even agrees with many aspects of his proposals, especially in focusing resources on student mental health.

“However, I think it’s a notable omission to have a package like this that does not directly deal with gun violence prevention,” the Johns Creek Democrat said in a news conference Tuesday.

Au has filed House Bill 1, which makes it a crime to store firearms improperly around children.

“I think this issue and the issue of gun safety needs to be this house’s top priority,” she said.

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

In addition to Jones’ and Au’s bills, Democratic state Sens. Elena Parent, David Lucas and Nikki Merritt have also filed legislation that they say would prevent future shootings.

Some of those measures include mandating a 10-day waiting period before making gun purchases, prohibiting firearm access for anyone convicted of family violence, and instituting so-called “red-flag” laws that would notify gun sellers if someone seeking to purchase a weapon has been hospitalized for a mental health crisis.

Senate President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy, a Macon Republican, said the shooting at Apalachee last year was “devastating.”

“We’re going to make sure that we continue to do what we can do … so that children know they’re in a safe school environment, that parents that are dropping their children off at school know they’re dropping their children off at a safe location and, finally, to make sure that the administrators and the teachers that go to work every day to teach our children are doing so in a safe environment,” he said.

Reporter Cassidy Alexander contributed to this story.