HB56: HB56 Education; grants to spouses of law enforcement officers, firefighters, and prison guards who are killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty; provide

Georgia already runs the Public Safety Memorial Grant, a tuition assistance program for children of law enforcement officers, firefighters, and prison guards killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. This bill rewrites that program (O.C.G.A. Section 20-3-450 and related sections) to also cover spouses of those workers, and to add emergency medical technicians and Department of Transportation highway emergency response operators to the list of covered jobs. It raises the maximum grant from $2,000 per year (capped at $8,000 total) to $18,000 per year, capped at $72,000 total per person. The bill also creates a brand new grant program for children and spouses of public school teachers and public school employees who are killed or permanently disabled by an act of violence while on duty, with the same $18,000 per year and $72,000 lifetime caps. It updates the state income tax return and driver's license donation programs that fund these grants, moving the relevant dates to 2026, and lets people whose loss predates the bill still qualify.

• Expands the existing Public Safety Memorial Grant program to cover spouses, not just children, of law enforcement officers, firefighters, and prison guards killed or permanently disabled on duty.
• Adds emergency medical technicians and Department of Transportation highway emergency response operators to the list of workers whose families can qualify for the grant.
• Raises the maximum grant from $2,000 per year and $8,000 total to $18,000 per year and $72,000 total per eligible student.
• Creates a new grant program for children and spouses of public school teachers and public school employees killed or permanently disabled by an act of violence while on duty.
• Updates the state income tax return and driver's license voluntary donation programs that help fund these grants, shifting the relevant start date to 2026.
• Allows people to qualify even if the death or disability that makes them eligible happened before the bill's effective date.

Spouses and children of Georgia law enforcement officers, firefighters, prison guards, EMTs, and highway emergency response operators who are killed or permanently disabled on duty, plus spouses and children of public school teachers and employees killed or disabled by violence at work. The Georgia Student Finance Authority, Department of Revenue, and Department of Driver Services administer the programs.

Families who lost a spouse or parent to a line-of-duty death or disabling injury could receive substantially more college tuition help, up to $72,000 total instead of $8,000, and spouses who previously could not qualify at all would become eligible. School employees hurt or killed by violence on the job would gain a new benefit that did not exist before.

• Section 1-1 updates the income tax return and driver's license donation programs (O.C.G.A. Section 20-3-316.2) to include spouses and school violence victims and moves the applicable tax year to 2026.
• Section 2-1 rewrites the purpose section (O.C.G.A. Section 20-3-450) to state the grant program now covers spouses, not just children, of covered workers.
• Section 2-2 adds definitions for emergency medical technician, highway emergency response operator, and in the line of duty, expanding who counts as covered (O.C.G.A. Section 20-3-451).
• Section 2-3 raises the grant amount from $2,000 per year and an $8,000 lifetime cap to $18,000 per year and a $72,000 lifetime cap (O.C.G.A. Section 20-3-452).
• Section 2-4 revises eligibility rules to include spouses and the newly added job categories (O.C.G.A. Section 20-3-453).
• Section 3-1 creates a new Subpart 7C and Code Section 20-3-466 establishing a separate grant for families of public school teachers and employees killed or disabled by an act of violence in the line of duty, with the same $18,000 per year and $72,000 total caps.
• The new school violence grant defines permanent disability narrowly, covering loss of both eyes, both hands, both legs, certain lower-extremity injuries, or organic brain damage from trauma after July 1, 2001.

1. 2026-01-12Senate Recommitted (Senate)
2. 2025-03-27Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
3. 2025-03-27Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
4. 2025-03-10Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
5. 2025-03-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
6. 2025-03-06House Third Readers (House)
7. 2025-02-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
8. 2025-02-20House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)

• Jesse Petrea (R, HD-166)Primary sponsor
• Devan Seabaugh (R, HD-034)
• Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
• Steven Sainz (R, HD-180)
• Eddie Lumsden (R, HD-012)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2025

   172 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 5 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #218

• education grants
• first responders
• public school safety
• tuition assistance
• law enforcement benefits