Georgia CommonsHouse · Engrossed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 419: Education; require possession of opioid antagonists by institutions within University System of Georgia
Last action March 31, 2026 · Senate Tabled
A Senate substitute for HB 419 replaces its original opioid antagonist proposal with a package of changes to Georgia's promise scholarship (education savings account) program, special needs scholarship reporting, and student attendance reporting.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Comm Sub version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
The bill as introduced would have required University System of Georgia institutions to keep opioid antagonists like naloxone on campus. The Senate Education and Youth Committee substitute reprinted here removes that subject entirely and instead rewrites several parts of Georgia's education code, mainly the promise scholarship program (O.C.G.A. Title 20, Chapter 2B), which lets eligible families use state-funded accounts for private school tuition and other approved education expenses. The substitute tightens rules for private schools that are still working toward accreditation, requires online learning programs used with account funds to be physically located in Georgia, and repeals the State Board of Education's authority to approve extra qualified expenses, leaving that solely to the education savings authority. It also changes how account money is delivered (quarterly allocations instead of payments), lets the authority deduct up to 5 percent from accounts to cover administrative costs if state funding falls short, expands required fraud audits, and revises reporting deadlines and content for the scholarship program, the special needs scholarship program, and student attendance data. It also updates which public schools are excluded from the annual list of lowest-performing schools. The Act would take effect once signed by the Governor or becomes law without signature.
What the bill does
- Removes the bill's original subject (opioid antagonists at University System of Georgia institutions) and substitutes unrelated education savings account and reporting changes.
- Requires private schools still seeking accreditation to give the education savings authority yearly written proof of good-faith progress, and bars them from enrolling scholarship students if accreditation takes more than two years.
- Repeals the State Board of Education's power to approve extra qualified education expenses for promise scholarship accounts, leaving that authority only with the education savings authority.
- Changes how promise scholarship funds move: from quarterly 'payments' to quarterly 'allocations,' and removes the prior rule letting schools get a partial tuition payment to reserve a student's spot.
- Allows the education savings authority to deduct up to 5 percent annually from active scholarship accounts to cover administrative costs if the legislature does not fully fund them.
- Requires the authority to conduct fraud detection audits of at least 5 percent of scholarship accounts every year and expands what must appear in annual program reports.
Who it affects
Families using or applying for Georgia's promise scholarship (education savings account) program, private schools that enroll scholarship students (especially those still becoming accredited), the Office of Student Achievement, the Department of Education, the education savings authority, and local school systems tracking student attendance data.
Why it matters
Families relying on promise scholarship accounts would see changes in how and when funds reach schools, tighter rules on which private schools qualify, and a possible administrative fee taken from their accounts if lawmakers underfund the program. Reporting changes would also affect what data the public and legislature see each year about the program and school attendance.
Key provisions
- Section 1-1 shifts responsibility for the student attendance and school climate compliance report from the Department of Education to the Office of Student Achievement and changes the reporting schedule from even years by November 1 to every year by July 1.
- Section 2-1 expands the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship annual report to include demographic breakdowns and information on medical or behavioral conditions schools can accommodate.
- Section 3-1 requires online learning programs counted as qualified education expenses to be physically located in Georgia and requires schools still becoming accredited to submit annual proof of progress toward accreditation.
- Section 3-3 sets a two-year limit for a private school to become accredited while enrolling scholarship students, after which it becomes ineligible to enroll new participating students.
- Section 3-4 changes promise scholarship funding from quarterly 'payments' to quarterly 'fund allocations' and removes the prior partial reservation-payment option for schools.
- Section 3-5 requires the education savings authority to conduct fraud detection audits covering at least 5 percent of scholarship accounts annually.
- Section 3-5 lets the education savings authority deduct up to 5 percent annually from each active account to cover administrative costs not covered by state appropriations.
- Section 3-7 adds new categories of public schools excluded from the annual list of lowest-performing schools, including state-wide attendance zone schools, charter schools, special schools, and virtual-only schools.
From the bill
“the education savings authority shall be authorized to deduct from each active account a pro rata share of each account not to exceed 5 percent annually”
Discussed in meetings (12)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House Higher Education Committee, February 11, 2026
From 0:24:59 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 419 would place dispensers for Narcan, an opioid overdose medication, beside automated external defibrillators at universities and technical schools. The sponsor said the measure would protect institutions from liability, including when supplies run out, and would rely on community funds and donations rather than impose a financial burden on schools. One committee member said opioid overdoses had affected the member's community in Hall County. The committee voted by voice to send the bill to the Rules Committee with a recommendation to pass. No opposition was heard.
House Rules Committee, February 17, 2026
From 0:58:57 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 666
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill would place opioid antagonists at universities and technical colleges, limited to buildings with automated external defibrillators. The sponsor said it would provide civil immunity and that communities, rather than the institutions, would supply funding. No questions or decision followed.
House Rules Committee, February 18, 2026
From 0:36:52 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The committee placed HB 419 on the day's floor calendar under modified structured rules without stated opposition. There was no discussion of its contents.
House floor session, February 18, 2026 (legislative day 20)
From 1:37:19 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 690
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 419 would require opioid overdose medication dispensers beside automated external defibrillators in university and technical college buildings. The sponsor said buildings without a defibrillator would not need a dispenser. The sponsor explained that the medication helps restore breathing during an opioid overdose and said the bill provides immunity for institutions and people administering it. According to the sponsor, community funding would pay for the dispensers and service, leaving no budget impact on universities or technical colleges. There were no questions. The House adopted the committee substitute without objection and passed the bill 165 to 0.
Senate Higher Education Committee, March 24, 2026
From 0:07:35 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 419 addresses fentanyl and opioid poisoning deaths around colleges by allowing opioid-overdose medication in university and technical college buildings with existing automated external defibrillators. In response to the chair, the sponsor confirmed that participation would be optional and funded through community resources. The sponsor also described liability protections for people administering the medication and said the chancellor supported the proposal. A witness representing the American Addiction Recovery Association and Georgia Council for Recovery urged approval, citing an average of 200 overdoses daily nationwide and describing overdose and fentanyl poisoning as the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18 to 45. The committee initially deferred action. The chair later included the bill’s provisions in the combined substitute for HB 1413, which the committee unanimously recommended as amended.
Senate floor session, March 25, 2026 (legislative day 37)
From 2:32:14 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Withdrawn & Recommitted)
Summary by Georgia Commons: A senator requested moving HB 419 from Higher Education to Education and Youth. The clerk described requirements for opioid overdose reversal medicine at University System of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia institutions, including supplies, storage, authorized administration and liability protections. The Senate approved the reassignment without objection.
Senate Education and Youth Committee, March 26, 2026
From 1:14:02 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter said the substitute to HB 419 would address reporting and administration for the Promise Scholarship, Special Needs Scholarship and chronic absenteeism. The presenter said it would require progress toward accreditation by participating private schools, improve information about participating students and available spaces, and clarify exclusions from the lowest-performing-schools list. The presenter said that portion repeated language previously considered in SB 445. The presenter also described more detailed Special Needs Scholarship reporting and attendance reports covering statewide and local trends, outcomes and student groups. In discussing absenteeism, the chair described it as missing more than 10% of school days and connected attendance to literacy. Asked whether the substitute still expanded eligibility through a kindergarten-to-first-grade change, a Georgia Student Finance Commission representative said that provision had been removed. Members held a show-of-hands vote on a motion to approve the substitute, but the final result was not expressly announced.
Senate Rules Committee, March 30, 2026
From 0:43:47 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: A presenting legislator said HB 419 contained cleanup language for the Promise Scholarship program and the Governor's Office of Student Achievement, rather than the subject shown on the selection sheet. In response to the chair, the presenter said the original sponsor had permitted the changes and identified a Senate floor carrier by role. It was selected on behalf of an absent member, and the committee unanimously approved the calendar containing it.
House Higher Education Committee, April 1, 2026
From 0:24:56 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair presented the opioid-antagonist provisions from HB 419 as part of HB 1300, saying the language covered the Technical College System of Georgia and the University System of Georgia. The chair said the committee had approved the proposal the previous year, that it had not advanced out of Rules, and that the committee had approved it again this year. The chair said the combined package used the same language. There were no substantive questions or a separate vote on HB 419.
Status timeline
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Withdrawn & Recommitted (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
Show full history (13 actions)
- House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Lee Hawkins (R, HD-27)
- Matthew Gambill (R, HD-15)
- Chuck Martin (R, HD-49)
- Mack Jackson (D, HD-128)
- Danny Mathis (R, HD-133)
- Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
- Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
Votes
- House voteFebruary 18, 2026
165 yea, 0 nay (3 not voting, 9 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 31, 2026
39 yea, 10 nay (2 not voting, 3 excused)
Topics
- education savings accounts
- promise scholarship program
- private school accreditation
- school reporting requirements
- student attendance