--- title: HR 859. House Study Committee on Inclusive Educational Settings for Students with Disabilities; create collection: bills id: 2025-2026/hr859 cite_as: HR 859, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr859 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr859.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr859/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71851 date: 2025-04-02 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-08-28 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr858.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr860.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 129 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr859.md?full=1 bill_number: HR 859 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: House bill_type: resolution status_date: 2025-03-28 last_action: House Second Readers sponsors: - Marvin Lim - Karen Lupton text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/HR859/2025 upstream_id: 2016639 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - special education - students with disabilities - inclusive classrooms - Georgia legislature study committees - education policy --- # HR 859. House Study Committee on Inclusive Educational Settings for Students with Disabilities; create ## Text 25 LC 62 0210 House Resolution 859 By: Representatives Lim of the 98th and Lupton of the 83rd A RESOLUTION Creating the House Study Committee on Inclusive Educational Set tings for Students with1 Disabilities; and for other purposes.2 WHEREAS, inclusive educational settings can offer substantial short- and long-term benefits3 for students with disabilities; and4 WHEREAS, such benefits include being more likely to be enrolled in secondary and5 postsecondary education and live independently as adults; and6 WHEREAS, such benefits also include improved performance on lan guage and math7 assessments, greater growth in the classroom, improved attendan ce, and less behavioral8 issues in the classroom; and9 WHEREAS, students with disabilities have traditionally struggle d to access inclusive10 educational settings due to misconceptions regarding the capabi lities of students with11 disabilities, leading to educators continuing to separate stude nts with disabilities from12 students without disabilities; and13 H. R. 859 - 1 - 25 LC 62 0210 WHEREAS, students with disabilities in inclusive educational settings have either neutral14 or positive benefits for students without disabilities; and15 WHEREAS, there is a need to examine the data and benefits of inclusive educational settings16 for students in Georgia.17 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:18 (1) Creation of House study committee. There is created the House Study Committee19 on Inclusive Educational Settings for Students with Disabilities.20 (2) Members and officers. The committee shall be composed of seven members of the21 House of Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of22 Representatives. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall designate a member23 of the committee as chairperson of the committee.24 (3) Powers and duties. The committee shall undertake a study of the conditions, needs,25 issues, and problems mentioned above or related thereto and recommend any action or26 legislation which the committee deems necessary or appropriate.27 (4) Meetings. The chairperson shall call all meetings of the committee. The committee28 may conduct such meetings at such places and at such times as it may deem necessary or29 convenient to enable it to exercise fully and effectively its powers, perform its duties, and30 accomplish the objectives and purposes of this resolution.31 (5) Allowances and funding.32 (A) The legislative members of the committee shall receive the allowances provided33 for in Code Section 28-1-8 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.34 (B) The allowances authorized by this resolution shall not be received by any member35 of the committee for more than five days unless additional days are authorized. Funds36 necessary to carry out the provisions of this resolution shall come from funds37 appropriated to the House of Representatives.38 H. R. 859 - 2 - 25 LC 62 0210 (6) Report.39 (A) In the event the committee adopts any specific findings or recommendations that40 include suggestions for proposed legislation, the chairperson shall file a report of the41 same prior to the date of abolishment specified in this resolut ion, subject to42 subparagraph (C) of this paragraph.43 (B) In the event the committee adopts a report that does not i nclude suggestions for44 proposed legislation, the chairperson shall file the report, subject to subparagraph (C)45 of this paragraph.46 (C) No report shall be filed unless the same has been approved prior to the date of47 abolishment specified in this resolution by majority vote of a quorum of the committee. 48 A report so approved shall be signed by the chairperson of the committee and filed with49 the Clerk of the House of Representatives.50 (D) In the absence of an approved report, the chairperson may file with the Clerk of the51 House of Representatives a copy of the minutes of the meetings of the committee in lieu52 thereof.53 (7) Abolishment. The committee shall stand abolished on December 1, 2025.54 H. R. 859 - 3 - ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the resolution. Quote the text, not the summary. A House resolution would create a seven-member study committee to examine how Georgia schools include students with disabilities in general classroom settings and report back by December 2025. ### Plain-language summary This resolution creates the House Study Committee on Inclusive Educational Settings for Students with Disabilities. The committee would have seven members of the House of Representatives, appointed by the Speaker, who would also name a chairperson. The committee's job is to study the conditions, needs, and problems around placing students with disabilities in inclusive classroom settings alongside students without disabilities, and to recommend any action or legislation it thinks is needed. Members would receive standard legislative allowances (O.C.G.A. ยง 28-1-8) for up to five meeting days unless more are approved, paid from House funds. If the committee approves findings by majority vote, the chairperson would file a report with the Clerk of the House before the committee is abolished on December 1, 2025. ### What it does - Creates the House Study Committee on Inclusive Educational Settings for Students with Disabilities, made up of seven House members chosen by the Speaker. - Directs the committee to study data, benefits, and barriers related to including students with disabilities in general classroom settings. - Allows the committee to recommend legislation or other action based on its findings. - Sets legislative allowances for committee members for up to five days of work, funded through the House of Representatives' budget, unless more days are authorized. - Requires any approved findings or recommendations to be filed as a report with the Clerk of the House before the committee ends. - Abolishes the committee automatically on December 1, 2025. ### Who it affects The seven House members appointed to the committee, students with disabilities in Georgia's public schools, their families, and the educators and school districts who make decisions about classroom placement and inclusive education practices. ### Why it matters The resolution itself does not change any law or school policy. It sets up a temporary legislative committee to gather information on inclusive education for students with disabilities, which could later shape proposed legislation affecting how Georgia schools serve these students. ### Key provisions - Paragraph (1) creates the House Study Committee on Inclusive Educational Settings for Students with Disabilities. - Paragraph (2) sets committee membership at seven House members appointed by the Speaker, who also designates the chairperson. - Paragraph (3) charges the committee with studying inclusive education conditions and problems and recommending legislation if appropriate. - Paragraph (5) limits paid allowances to five meeting days unless additional days are authorized, funded from House appropriations. - Paragraph (6) requires committee approval by majority vote before any report can be filed with the Clerk of the House. - Paragraph (7) abolishes the committee on December 1, 2025. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2025-03-28) - Last action: House Second Readers (2025-04-02) - Sponsors: Marvin Lim, Karen Lupton - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/71851 > The history, votes, and amendments (129 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/hr859.md?full=1