ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Gov. Brian Kemp signed a slew of bills Monday centered around education and the state’s workforce.

On the steps of the Georgia State Capitol, the governor, joined by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and House Speaker Jon Burns, spoke on legislation geared toward empowering parents and educators.

“As the parents of three daughters, Marty and I know just how important it is to keep our children safe and to give them the best possible start in life,” Kemp said. “That’s why I’m proud to sign these bills that will further safeguard our classrooms, both from those with violent intentions and from out-of-touch political agendas.”

Among the bills signed were:

SB 1 prohibits students from competing on teams that traditionally consist of players from a specific gender. The bill also requires restrooms, changing rooms and sleeping areas to be designated to only one gender at a time. The bill, named for former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, drew controversy from the LGBTQ community for targeting trans student-athletes at the local and collegiate level.

“Girls should not have to share a playing field, a restroom, or a locker room with boys and vice versa,” said Kemp. “I know I learned a lot of valuable lessons about life on the football field or baseball diamond growing up and it’s not right to ask kids today to forgo those lessons when facing someone biologically stronger and faster than them or someone who cannot compete on the same level.”

HB 81 creates an interstate compact for school psychologists. The bill aims to address the burden around hiring and retaining these specialists.

HB 307 consolidates statutory requirements on dyslexia screening to the Georgia Early Literacy Act.

HB 235 allows public school and university educators to be excused from work if they are donating bone marrow or organs.

SB 82 incentivizes local boards of education to approve charter school petitions while preventing school systems from unfairly attempting to shutter these school options.

SB 123 requires schools with high rates of student absences to establish an attendance review team that works to address the root cause of the problem and create solutions.

HB 268 addresses school safety. Among the mandates, it requires schools to maintain relevant mapping and have panic button technology available to teachers and administrators. It also requires school boards to offer an anonymous reporting program, among other things. Nicknamed “Ricky and Alyssa’s Law,” the law is named in part for Richard Aspinwall, a coach at Apalachee High School who died in the September attack last year.

“It’s a good start for his memory,” said Aspinwall’s father Richard at Monday’s bill signing. “It happens all over the country. This is a start here in Georgia and the rest of the country needs to follow up with the same thing.”

The law is also named in part for Alyssa Alhadeff, a student at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who died in a 2018 shooting there that killed 17 people.

Georgia became the eighth state to pass a version of Alyssa’s Law, requiring mobile panic buttons in schools.

“If Alyssa’s Law were there in 2018 my daughter would still be alive,” said Alyssa’s father, Ilan Alhadeff. “In the Apalachee shooting they used the panic button, and it saved lives. So we have crystal-clear evidence here in Georgia that it saved lives.”

The governor also signed legislation Monday afternoon having to do with the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), which his office says will strengthen Georgia’s workforce. Those bills are HB 217, SB 180 and SB 193.

HB 217 reforms the TCSG’s Dual Achievement Program and extends the pilot program another five years. SB 180 lets apprenticeship sponsors and employer sponsors to participate in the TCSG’s High Demand Apprenticeship Program and receive funding for the successful completion of apprenticeships. SB 193 establishes an adult workforce high school diploma program within TCSG to award diplomas to participants between the ages of 21 and 40.

“As the No. 1 state for business, Georgia has seen record-breaking jobs and investment come to communities in every part of the state,” Kemp said in a statement. “With the bills I signed today, we’re taking further steps to prepare Georgians to walk through those open doors. I’m proud to sign these bills with so many of the men and women whose work every day is building the workforce of tomorrow.”

Last week, Kemp signed Senate Bill 68, which he named as one of his key legislative priorities before the 2025 Georgia General Assembly.

The tort reform law makes it harder to sue businesses for things that happen on their property, a concept known as premises liability.

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