ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia lawmakers have passed what could be the final piece of school safety legislation for this session.

On Monday, House Bill 268 was overwhelmingly passed by the House and Senate and sent to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for him to sign into law.

House Bill 268 was the last of the Speaker of the House Jon Burns’ priority legislation.

“As legislators, we have no higher calling than to provide every student across our state with a safe and secure learning environment,” said Burns.

Burns picked State. Rep. Holt Persinger, who represents Winder — where the deadly Apalachee High School shooting happened last year — to carry the bill.

At a news conference on Monday, Persinger was left tearing up as his emotions of the day caught up to him.

“It’s been a long, hard road since Sept. 4. We’ve been working on this almost every single day. I’m just glad to be a part of it,” said Persinger.

On Tuesday, Atlanta News First talked with him about what it’s been like since the shooting that rocked his community. Persinger’s wife works for Barrow County Schools.

He remembered her call informing him and about the shooting and how everyone jumped into action to help.

“I mean, I hope nobody else ever has to deal with this. You don’t want this,” said Persinger.

Persinger said it became clear the state needed to make a change. The bill contains mental health and safety improvements for Georgia schools.

Schools will need to submit electronic maps to law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal levels to help them respond in case of a shooting.

The legislation requires schools to hire student advocacy specialists. These are people who will work to identify troubled students and work with them.

Persinger points to the suspected shooter’s mental health as a driving factor.

“I think his truancy or absenteeism and moving a lot on these kids, that and there was obviously family issues all just identifying those and seeing and and reaching out to those students, being involved and helping get mentors or something like that involved in their life,” said Persinger.

The original bill included a statewide database to track students who make terroristic threats, so their record will follow them from district to district.

The database was disagreeable to some Democrats who said it could be used to profile students, while some Republicans argued the database infringes upon privacy rights.

Layla Renee Contreras, an alum of Apalachee High School, was disappointed that the database provision was not included in the final bill.

“This is something the Apalachee families and community wanted,” Contreras said. “We want to make sure this tragedy is not in vain.”

On the day of the shooting, Contreras went to the school to help her sister and mother, who were inside. Like Persinger, that experience inspiring her to work towards meaningful legislation to make sure another shooting doesn’t happen in Georgia.

“His wife being here, I had her in Westside Middle School growing up here,” Contreras said. “He does care about this community, and it’s home.”

The bill will head to the governor’s desk for final approval.

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