Georgia CommonsHouse · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 549: Peace officers; extend time frame for which reimbursement of total training expenses by a subsequent employer may be sought
Last action July 1, 2026 · Effective Date
House Bill 549 changes how long a new police department has to reimburse a peace officer's prior training costs when it hires that officer away, extending the window from 15 months to 36 months and spelling out exactly what expenses count.
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 Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Under current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 35-8-22), if a peace officer is hired by a new law enforcement agency within 15 months of finishing required training, the new agency must reimburse the officer's original employer for the full cost of that training. If the officer is hired between 15 and 24 months after training, only half the cost is owed, and after 24 months nothing is owed. House Bill 549 extends the full-reimbursement window from 15 months to 36 months and eliminates the old half-reimbursement middle tier entirely. It also defines for the first time exactly what counts as reimbursable training expense: the cost of equipment and materials from the training school, salary paid during the basic training course plus housing, meals, and transportation during that course, and up to 90 days of salary paid during a field training program. Salary paid during training generally is no longer automatically included unless it fits these categories. The change takes effect once the Governor signs it.
What the bill does
- Extends the period during which a new employer owes full reimbursement for a peace officer's training from 15 months to 36 months after the officer finishes training.
- Removes the previous rule that only half the training cost was owed if the officer was hired 15 to 24 months after training.
- Defines reimbursable training expenses as equipment and materials costs, salary and housing/meal/transportation costs during the basic training course, and up to 90 days of salary during field training.
- Removes the council's former role in setting reimbursement standards based on actual expenses incurred by individual departments.
Who it affects
Peace officers who move between Georgia law enforcement agencies, the state, counties, and municipalities that pay for officer training, and the police and sheriff's departments that hire officers away from other agencies and may now owe reimbursement for a longer period after hiring them.
Why it matters
Agencies that hire an officer away from another department would face reimbursement obligations for three years instead of 15 months, potentially raising the cost of recruiting already-trained officers. Officers changing jobs sooner after training could see their new employer bear a larger, more clearly defined training bill.
Key provisions
- Section 1 rewrites subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. § 35-8-22, changing the reimbursement trigger window from 15 months to 36 months after training completion.
- Section 1 eliminates the former 15-to-24-month half-reimbursement tier and the automatic inclusion of salary paid during training in the reimbursement amount.
- New paragraph (2) limits reimbursable costs to equipment and materials from the approved training school, salary and living costs during the basic training course under O.C.G.A. § 35-8-9, and up to 90 days of field training salary.
- Section 2 repeals conflicting laws.
From the bill
“Up to 90 days of salary paid during the time the peace officer participated in a field training program.”
Discussed in meetings (10)
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.
Senate Public Safety Committee, February 2, 2026
From 0:31:01 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill would extend from 15 to 36 months the period during which a subsequent employer must reimburse an officer’s original agency for initial training expenses. The sponsor said agencies found the existing period too short to recover costs, including salary, academy time, field training and equipment. The sponsor also said the bill defines reimbursable expenses and has support from affected law enforcement and training stakeholders. The vice chair asked whether officers leaving for federal jobs offering a $50,000 signing bonus might personally owe reimbursement. The vice chair said the issue would be discussed with the Senate sponsor; no resolution or amendment was adopted during the discussion. The committee approved the bill unanimously.
Senate Rules Committee, March 9, 2026
From 0:11:15 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill would clarify and extend the period during which an agency hiring a peace officer must reimburse the officer's previous agency for training costs. The sponsor said the change would protect taxpayer investment, support workforce stability and establish a clear reimbursement process, and said relevant law enforcement agencies supported it. A committee member voiced support. No vote was recorded.
Senate Rules Committee, March 10, 2026
From 0:16:14 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair described HB 549 as addressing reimbursement of peace officer training expenses. A committee member explained that when one agency pays for an officer's academy training and another agency soon hires that officer, the new agency would reimburse the training costs. The member said agencies had experienced officers leaving soon after receiving paid training. Another member asked how long the reimbursement requirement would apply. The responding member said they had not read the bill and had only heard that the period might be three years, leaving the exact deadline unconfirmed. No vote or calendar placement was shown.
Senate Rules Committee, March 12, 2026
From 0:11:03 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The presenter said HB 549 would require an agency hiring a recently trained police officer to reimburse the agency that paid for the training. The presenter initially described a six-month period. When a member asked how long an officer would have to stay before reimbursement was no longer required, another committee member initially repeated six months, then corrected the answer to three years. The presenter also said the clock would start after training was completed and the officer was released to duty. No vote was taken.
Senate Rules Committee, March 16, 2026
From 0:37:06 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The chair briefly identified HB 549 as a peace officer reimbursement bill. No provisions were explained, and no questions or vote followed.
Senate Rules Committee, March 20, 2026
From 0:28:53 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor renewed a request for consideration, saying the bill had been presented previously. No explanation of its provisions, questions or calendar decision followed.
Senate Rules Committee, March 23, 2026
From 0:26:17 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor presented HB 549 as a police officer training reimbursement measure and identified a senator expected to carry it. No explanation of its specific changes, questions or vote followed.
Senate Rules Committee, March 25, 2026
From 0:43:01 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: A committee member selected HB 549 for the calendar. No provisions were discussed. The committee unanimously approved the calendar package containing the bill.
Senate floor session, March 27, 2026 (legislative day 38)
From 7:43:11 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Tabled)
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said HB 549 would extend from 15 to 36 months the period during which an agency hiring an officer must reimburse the agency that sponsored the officer's basic training. The sponsor said reimbursement would cover actual training costs and up to 90 days of salary during field training. The sponsor reported support from the Georgia Chiefs of Police and Georgia Sheriffs' Association. One member voiced support. The Senate passed the bill 47-2.
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 422
- House Date Signed by Governor (House)
- House Sent to Governor (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
Show full history (21 actions)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Recommitted (Senate)
- Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Devan Seabaugh (R, HD-34)
- Lauren McDonald III (R, HD-26)
- Derrick McCollum (R, HD-30)
- Eddie Lumsden (R, HD-12)
- Bill Hitchens (R, HD-161)
- Brian Prince (D, HD-132)
- Timothy Bearden (R, SD-30)
Votes
- House voteMarch 6, 2025
164 yea, 0 nay (12 not voting, 4 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 27, 2026
26 yea, 22 nay (3 not voting, 3 excused)
- Senate voteMarch 27, 2026
47 yea, 2 nay (0 not voting, 5 excused)
Topics
- peace officer training
- law enforcement hiring
- police reimbursement rules
- Georgia law enforcement funding