Georgia CommonsSenate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
SB 148: Public School Property and Facilities; outdoor learning spaces pilot program; provide
Last action July 1, 2026 · Effective Date
Senate Bill 148 lets Georgia schools teach hunting safety in grades six through 12, creates a pilot program for outdoor classroom spaces, eases defibrillator oversight rules, and raises the personal sick leave school staff can use each year from three to five days.
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
This bill makes several unrelated changes to Georgia's education laws. Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, local school boards may offer hunting safety instruction in grades six through 12, using standards the State Board of Education must adopt by April 1, 2026, and curriculum based on Department of Natural Resources hunter education courses taught only by DNR-certified instructors. The bill also lets the Department of Education run a pilot program, starting in the 2025-2026 school year, to test outdoor learning spaces at selected elementary and secondary schools, funded partly by private and local money, with results reported to House and Senate education committees after three years. It removes the requirement that a licensed physician or Georgia Composite Medical Board designee oversee each school's automated external defibrillator (AED) program, and it drops the requirement to report AED use to that physician. Finally, it raises the number of accumulated sick leave days school personnel may use each year for personal or professional reasons from three to five.
What the bill does
- Authorizes local school boards to offer hunting safety instruction in grades six through 12 starting in the 2026-2027 school year, using DNR-certified instructors.
- Requires the State Board of Education to adopt content standards for hunting safety instruction by April 1, 2026.
- Creates a Department of Education pilot program to develop and study outdoor learning spaces at selected schools, running at least three years with an evaluation report to legislative education committees.
- Removes the requirement for a licensed physician or Georgia Composite Medical Board designee to oversee each school's automated external defibrillator program.
- Eliminates the requirement to report clinical AED use to a supervising physician.
- Raises the number of accumulated sick leave days school personnel can use for personal or professional reasons each year from three to five.
Who it affects
Local school boards and the State Board of Education, students in grades six through 12 who may take hunting safety classes, Department of Natural Resources-certified hunter education instructors, schools selected for the outdoor learning spaces pilot, school internal AED response teams, and teachers and other school personnel who use accumulated sick leave.
Why it matters
Schools would gain new options: teaching hunting safety and testing outdoor classroom designs, potentially with outside funding. AED programs would no longer need physician oversight, shifting responsibility to internal school teams, and school employees would get two extra paid personal or professional leave days each year.
Key provisions
- Section 1 adds Code Section 20-2-308, letting local boards teach hunting safety in grades six through 12 beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, with State Board content standards due by April 1, 2026, curriculum based on DNR hunter education courses, and instruction limited to DNR-certified instructors.
- Section 2 creates new Part 4 (Code Section 20-2-590) establishing an outdoor learning spaces pilot program starting in the 2025-2026 school year, allowing private and local funding, requiring participating schools to run the program at least three years, and requiring a report to the House and Senate education committees after year three.
- Section 3 revises Code Section 20-2-775 to remove the requirement that a licensed physician or Georgia Composite Medical Board designee be involved in school AED programs and removes the requirement to report AED use to that physician, while keeping other AED requirements like emergency action plans and biannual drills.
- Section 4 revises Code Section 20-2-851 to raise the annual cap on accumulated sick leave used for personal or professional reasons from three days to five days.
From the bill
“Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, each local board of education shall be authorized to provide instruction in hunting safety in grades six through 12, which instruction may be incorporated into an existing course of study.”
Discussed in meetings (2)
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 floor session, January 27, 2026 (legislative day 7)
From 2:02:45 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: A senator gave notice of plans to ask the Senate to consider House action on SB 148 on the next legislative day. The clerk read the description, which said the bill would establish an outdoor learning spaces pilot program for public schools, with an evaluation and report. No debate or vote on the House changes was shown.
Senate floor session, January 28, 2026 (legislative day 8)
From 2:06:39 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the bill's status history (Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub)
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor moved to agree to the House substitute to SB 148. The clerk described the substitute as retaining an outdoor learning spaces pilot program and adding optional hunting safety instruction in grades 6 through 12, state content standards and instructor requirements. The clerk also said it removed the licensed-physician requirement for automated external defibrillator programs and increased from three to five the accumulated sick-leave days school personnel could use annually for personal or professional reasons. The sponsor said an outdoor classroom had benefited the sponsor as a student and that current students should have the same opportunity. The sponsor described the defibrillator change as making the devices easier for schools to provide and the leave change as supporting teachers. A second senator praised the outdoor-learning proposal as a long-running bipartisan effort that would benefit children. No substantive questions were answered. The Senate agreed to the House substitute, 50-0.
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 398
- Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
- Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
- Senate Agreed House Amend or Sub (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
Show full history (18 actions)
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Third Read (Senate)
- Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
- Senate Tabled (Senate)
- Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- Bo Hatchett (R, SD-50)
- Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-5)
- Soo Hong (R, HD-103)
Votes
- Senate voteMarch 6, 2025
53 yea, 1 nay (2 not voting, 0 excused)
- House voteApril 4, 2025
165 yea, 0 nay (6 not voting, 9 excused)
- Senate voteJanuary 28, 2026
50 yea, 0 nay (1 not voting, 3 excused)
Topics
- hunting safety education
- school sick leave policy
- outdoor learning spaces
- school defibrillator requirements
- Georgia education law