HB 1051: Lanier Johnson-Hunt Student Protection Act; enact

Georgia law already requires local school systems that use school resource officers to have a written agreement with law enforcement covering their role in discipline and student privacy. This bill, called the Lanier Johnson-Hunt Student Protection Act, adds new requirements to that agreement. By October 1, 2026, those agreements must state that a law enforcement officer cannot be asked or allowed to step into a school disciplinary matter unless it involves suspected criminal conduct or an immediate threat to a person's safety or school property. Local school boards would also have to adopt, by October 1, 2026, a policy letting students and parents file complaints against officers for violating the agreement or using excessive force, with investigation and appeal steps similar to complaints against teachers. Substantiated complaints must be reported to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council for investigation. The Department of Education's deadline for publishing model agreement language moves from August 1, 2025 to August 1, 2026.

• Bars law enforcement officers in schools from intervening in disciplinary matters unless there is suspected criminal conduct or an immediate safety threat, starting October 1, 2026.
• Requires local school boards that use school-based officers to adopt a written complaint policy for students and parents by October 1, 2026.
• Requires complaint procedures for officers to be substantially similar to existing procedures for complaints against teachers or administrators, including investigations, hearings, and appeals.
• Requires local school systems to report substantiated complaints against officers to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council for further investigation.
• Pushes back the Department of Education's deadline for publishing model agreement language from August 1, 2025 to August 1, 2026.

Local school systems and boards of education that employ or assign school resource officers, the police officers and agencies who work in schools, students and their parents or guardians who may file complaints, and the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, which would investigate substantiated complaints.

The bill would change how discipline works day to day in Georgia schools with police on campus, limiting officer involvement to serious safety or criminal issues rather than routine discipline, and giving students and families a formal way to challenge officer misconduct.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Lanier Johnson-Hunt Student Protection Act.'
• Section 2 amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-1183 to add a new subsection (c) requiring collaborative agreements to bar officer intervention in discipline except for suspected crimes or immediate safety threats, effective October 1, 2026.
• Section 2 changes the Department of Education's model language publication deadline from August 1, 2025 to August 1, 2026.
• Section 2 adds subsection (e) requiring local boards to adopt complaint policies for students and parents against school officers by October 1, 2026, modeled on employee complaint procedures.
• Substantiated complaints must be reported to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, which investigates under Chapter 8 of Title 35.
• The new complaint policy requirement applies to complaints arising on or after October 1, 2026.
• Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2026-01-29House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-01-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-01-27House Hopper (House)

• Bryce Berry (D, HD-056)Primary sponsor
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-067)
• Eric Bell (D, HD-075)
• El-Mahdi Holly (D, HD-116)
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)

• school resource officers
• student discipline
• school safety
• education policy
• police accountability