HB 629: Education; remove requirement of having a licensed physician in automated external defibrillator programs

Georgia law currently requires every K-12 public school to keep an automated external defibrillator (AED) on site and involve a licensed physician or other medical board-authorized person to oversee training, notification, and maintenance for the program. This bill removes that physician oversight requirement entirely. In its place, the bill adds a parallel set of requirements for bleeding control kits, defined as kits approved by the American College of Surgeons and available through the Georgia Trauma Commission's Bleeding Control Kit Program. Schools would have to train staff, notify local emergency services, maintain the kits, include bleeding emergencies in their written emergency action plans, and cover bleeding control in required practice drills alongside cardiac emergencies. The bill also amends O.C.G.A. § 20-2-218 so that the state's duty-free lunch and planning period law can no longer be waived by strategic waiver, charter, or completion special school agreements. The physician-removal and bleeding kit changes only take effect if the General Assembly specifically appropriates funding for them; the lunch/planning period change applies starting the 2026-2027 school year.

• Removes the requirement that a licensed physician or Georgia Composite Medical Board-authorized person oversee a school's AED training, notification, and maintenance program.
• Adds a new definition and requirements for 'bleeding control kits,' including training, emergency medical services notification, and maintenance obligations for schools.
• Requires school emergency action plans and internal response teams to cover severe bleeding emergencies, not just cardiac arrest.
• Expands required practice drills so schools must address both cardiac and severe bleeding emergency scenarios starting in the 2025-2026 school year.
• Bars school systems from waiving the state's duty-free lunch period and planning period law (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-218) through strategic waiver, charter system, charter school, or completion special school agreements.
• Makes the AED and bleeding control kit changes effective only if the General Assembly appropriates specific funding for them.

Georgia public K-12 schools and their staff, especially members of internal emergency response teams; the Georgia Composite Medical Board and licensed physicians who currently oversee AED programs; the Georgia Trauma Commission and Regional Trauma Advisory Committees; the Department of Education; and teachers who benefit from duty-free lunch and planning periods.

Schools would no longer need a physician's involvement to run their defibrillator programs, potentially easing an administrative burden, while gaining new obligations to stock and train staff on bleeding control kits for emergencies like severe injuries. Teachers would also keep guaranteed duty-free lunch and planning time regardless of a school's waiver status, since districts could no longer opt out of that protection.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-775, removing the requirement for physician or medical board-authorized oversight of a school's AED program.
• Section 1 adds a definition of 'bleeding control kit' tied to American College of Surgeons approval and the Georgia Trauma Commission's program.
• Section 1 requires schools to notify local emergency medical services of bleeding control kit locations and maintain and replenish the kits after use.
• Section 1 expands the required written emergency action plan and internal response team duties to cover severe bleeding alongside cardiac arrest.
• Section 1 requires at least two emergency action plan practice drills per year, starting in 2025-2026, covering both cardiac and bleeding emergencies.
• Section 2 adds a new subsection (h) to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-218 making the duty-free lunch and planning period law immune from several types of school system waivers.
• Section 3 makes Section 1 effective only if the General Assembly appropriates specific funding for it, tied to the relevant fiscal year; Section 2 applies starting the 2026-2027 school year.

1. 2026-03-31Senate Tabled (Senate)
2. 2026-03-27Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
3. 2026-03-27Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
4. 2026-02-09Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
5. 2026-02-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
6. 2026-02-06House Third Readers (House)
7. 2026-02-03House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
8. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)

• Lee Hawkins (R, HD-027)Primary sponsor
• Sharon Cooper (R, HD-045)
• Mark Newton (R, HD-127)
• Gerald Greene (R, HD-154)
• Karen Mathiak (R, HD-082)
• Chuck Payne (R, SD-054)

1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 6, 2026

   166 yea, 0 nay (2 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #483

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 31, 2026

   39 yea, 10 nay (2 not voting, 3 absent)

   Motion To Table Remaining Legislation On The Rules Calendar: Senate Vote #912

• school safety
• student health
• defibrillators
• teacher planning time
• emergency preparedness