SB212: SB212 "Quality Basic Education Act"; disclosure of public student directory information to political candidates or persons or groups acting on their behalf; prohibit

Georgia schools sometimes share student directory information with outside groups, such as military recruiters or organizations that inform students about voter registration. This bill amends the Quality Basic Education Act (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-310) to specifically forbid schools from giving that student directory information to political candidates, campaign committees, political action committees, or political organizations, or to anyone acting on their behalf. People who come onto school property to help students register to vote or sign up for Selective Service must now sign a written statement promising not to pass student information to those political groups, unless they are school staff doing official duties or attending a public event. The bill also toughens Georgia's election law (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-561) by making it a felony to disclose confidential voter registration information to unauthorized people, punishable by one to ten years in prison or a fine up to $100,000. A new campaign finance provision (O.C.G.A. § 21-5-16) bars candidates and committees from recruiting minors to fraudulently set up campaign events on school property when such events are otherwise banned. The law takes effect as soon as the Governor signs it or it becomes law without his signature.

• Prohibits schools and school employees from disclosing student directory information to political candidates, campaign committees, PACs, or political organizations.
• Requires anyone who helps students register to vote or for Selective Service on school property to sign a written attestation that they won't share student data with political groups, with exceptions for school staff and public events.
• Makes it a felony, punishable by 1 to 10 years in prison or a fine up to $100,000, to disclose confidential voter registration information to unauthorized persons.
• Adds a new campaign finance rule banning candidates and committees from soliciting minors to fraudulently organize school campaign events that are otherwise prohibited.
• Keeps in place the existing rule requiring schools to give military recruiters the same access to campus and student directory information as other career-information groups.

Public school systems and staff, students and their families, outside individuals or groups that help students register to vote or for Selective Service, political candidates, campaign committees, political action committees and organizations, and anyone who handles confidential voter registration records.

Political campaigns would lose a source of student contact information from schools, and people volunteering on campus for voter or Selective Service registration would face a new written pledge and possible scrutiny. Misusing confidential voter data now carries felony prison time and large fines, and using minors to stage unauthorized campaign events on school grounds becomes explicitly illegal.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-310 to bar schools and anyone acting for them from disclosing student directory information to candidates, campaign committees, PACs, or political organizations.
• Section 1 adds a requirement that anyone informing students of voting rights or Selective Service obligations on school property must attest in writing they won't share directory information with political groups, exempting school staff and public-event attendees.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 21-2-561 to make disclosing confidential or exempt voter registration information to unauthorized persons a felony carrying 1 to 10 years imprisonment or a fine up to $100,000, or both.
• Section 3 adds new O.C.G.A. § 21-5-16, prohibiting candidates, campaign committees, or PACs from soliciting anyone under 18 to fraudulently organize a school-property event for political purposes when such events are otherwise prohibited.
• Section 4 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law without his signature.
• Section 5 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-05-14Effective Date 2025-05-14
2. 2025-05-14Act 313
3. 2025-05-14Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
4. 2025-04-10Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
5. 2025-04-02Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
6. 2025-03-31House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-03-31House Third Readers (House)
8. 2025-03-25House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)

• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)Primary sponsor
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Mike Hodges (R, SD-003)
• Billy Hickman (R, SD-004)
• Todd Jones (R, HD-025)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2025

   32 yea, 20 nay (2 not voting, 2 absent)

   Motion To Engross: Senate Vote #161

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2025

   33 yea, 19 nay (2 not voting, 2 absent)

   Passage: Senate Vote #218

3. PassedHouse voteMarch 31, 2025

   98 yea, 66 nay (5 not voting, 11 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #363

4. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2025

   53 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 2 absent)

   Agree To House Substitute: Senate Vote #416

• student privacy
• election law
• campaign finance
• school policy
• voter registration