Georgia CommonsHB 554: APEX Now Program; enact
Last action February 24, 2025 · House Second Readers
House Bill 554 would create the 'APEX Now Program,' a statewide system connecting Georgia students and school staff to mental health crisis support, including a 24-hour hotline and telehealth services, after violence, threats, or disasters.
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 Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds.
In plain language
Georgia currently has no single statewide system for quickly connecting students and school staff to mental health help after a crisis like a shooting threat, an act of violence, or a natural disaster. This bill would create the APEX Now Program inside the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to fill that gap. The department and the Department of Education would jointly write a mental health crisis plan by January 1, 2026, covering crisis response teams, available mental health workers, and training for school staff. The bill also sets up a 24-hour hotline for reporting risks of violence or suicide and for referring students to care, guarantees students a mental health consultation within 24 hours (urgent cases) or five business days (nonurgent), creates an electronic parental consent system starting the 2025-2026 school year, and directs the Department of Administrative Services to contract with at least three statewide telehealth providers. It also grants legal immunity for good-faith referrals and protects school staff who make them from retaliation.
What the bill does
- Creates the APEX Now Program within the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to coordinate mental health support after school crises.
- Requires the department and the Department of Education to jointly develop a mental health crisis plan by January 1, 2026, covering staffing, deployment, and training.
- Establishes a 24-hour online and phone hotline for students and school staff to report violence risks or refer students for mental health help, with anonymous reporting for students.
- Guarantees students referred for care a consultation within 24 hours for urgent cases or five business days for nonurgent cases.
- Directs creation of an electronic parental consent system for mental health services starting in the 2025-2026 school year.
- Requires the state to contract with at least three statewide telehealth mental health providers and grants legal immunity and job protection for good-faith referrals.
Who it affects
Public school students and their parents, school personnel and administrators, local education agencies (school districts), the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Department of Education, the Department of Administrative Services, and mental health telehealth providers who contract with the state.
Why it matters
Students and staff facing threats, violence, or disaster would gain a direct hotline and guaranteed timelines for mental health consultations rather than relying on ad hoc school responses. Parents would get a formal consent process, and schools and providers would take on new coordination, contracting, and training responsibilities.
Key provisions
- Subsection (a)-(b) names the program and defines key terms like 'department,' 'local education agency,' and 'school personnel.'
- Subsection (d) requires a joint mental health crisis plan between the department and Department of Education, distributed to all local education agencies and legislative education committees by January 1, 2026.
- Subsection (e) establishes an always-available hotline for referrals and reports, limited to coordination and referral rather than direct treatment, with anonymous reporting guaranteed for students.
- Subsection (f) sets consultation deadlines (24 hours for urgent referrals, five business days for nonurgent) and lets local education agencies designate preferred providers.
- Subsection (g) requires an electronic parental opt-in consent system starting with the 2025-2026 school year.
- Subsection (h) requires the Department of Administrative Services to select at least three statewide telehealth contract providers meeting specific criteria, such as language access and insurance billing ability.
- Subsection (i) grants civil and criminal immunity for good-faith referrals and bars retaliation against school personnel who make them.
- Subsection (j) restricts how appropriated program funds can be spent, excluding reimbursement of insurance copayments.
From the bill
“There is established within the department the APEX Now Program, which shall provide support for mental health services to students and school personnel experiencing incidents of violence, threats of violence, natural disasters, and other crisis situations”
“Reports to the hotline by students shall be accepted anonymously, and the department shall not record any personally identifiable information from students.”
“No school personnel making a referral in good faith under this Code section shall be subject to adverse employment consequences, disciplinary action, or retaliation in any form by a local education agency.”
Status timeline
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
- Todd Jones (R, HD-025)
- Chris Erwin (R, HD-032)
- Bethany Ballard (R, HD-147)
- Lydia Glaize (D, HD-067)
- Holt Persinger (R, HD-119)
Topics
- student mental health
- school safety
- crisis response hotline
- telehealth services
- parental consent