Senate Children and Families Committee, March 17, 2026

Transcript

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1. 0:14:52

   quorum, which is very difficult at this time in the session. And I wanna ask Senator Payne to, uh, open us up with prayer.

2. 0:15:02

   If y'all pray with me. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today, Lord, and we just thank you so much for all your many blessings, Lord. Thank us for the opportunities b- you have given to each of us on this committee with the oversight and the understanding to do what, what's best for, for our kids, our families, and our children. Lord, I just ask you to lead us and guide us in all the matters before us today, that your will be done in the end. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

3. 0:15:26

   Thank you, Senator. Okay. This is very likely not our last meeting, but today we have three bills on our calendar, and we're gonna start with House Bill 181, Representative Aderholt, and we then will have Senate, uh, Representative Donatucci for House Bill 1118, and then we'll have Representative Hilton for House Bill 1009. So, um, Representative Aderholt, the floor is yours.

4. 0:15:57

   Um, thank you so much, Chairman Kirkpatrick and members of the committee. This is actually the second time that you've seen this bill. Uh, you passed it unanimously last year. It got a little caught up in the fray on sine die, and so we are, uh, having an opportunity to, to take a look at it again. Uh, this is a bill that is good for Georgia families, especially our Georgia families who adopt children internationally. This bill removes a costly and duplicative step for Georgia families who seek to adopt, uh, who seek to acquire a Georgia Certificate of Foreign Birth for a child who has already completed the foreign adoption process, is recognized by the US Citizen and Immigration Services, and the child has been already granted a Certificate of Citizenship.

5. 0:16:39

   Under current law, the way it stands now in Georgia, after a child's foreign adoption is recognized by the federal, at the federal level and the child is granted US citizenship, Georgia requires these families to undergo something they call a re-adoption process to obtain a Certificate of Foreign Birth, which is basically a Georgia birth certificate. The process involves hiring an attorney and navigating the court process to obtain a Report of Adoption, which is later submitted to the Georgia Department of Vital Records in order to obtain that Certificate of Foreign Birth.

6. 0:17:11

   Re-adoption is an expensive, redundant, and time-consuming process for Georgia families who have already incurred great expense to adopt their children internationally. Now, you might ask, why does a child need an, a, a Certificate of Foreign Birth? Without the certificate, adoptees will only have their original birth certificate, often tattered, uh, from their country of origin, and they also may experience delays and challenges throughout their lives since these foreign birth certificates may, uh, not be recognized for some identification purposes.

7. 0:17:45

   Adoptive parents of foreign children are encouraged but not required to get the Certificate of Foreign Birth. 29 states have already eliminated the process. Um, HB 181 exempts adoptive parents from a requirement to obtain a Report of Adoption from the court and allows instead for them to go directly or to directly petition the Department of Vital Records for a Certificate of Foreign Birth once all required documents are received. Now, you are working, uh, what you have before you is a substitute.

8. 0:18:16

   We have made a slight change to the bill since you passed it last year.

9. 0:18:20

   Can you tell us what LC number you have for that?

10. 0:18:22

    Yes. Thank you for reminding me. Yes. LC 481823S.

11. 0:18:27

    Yes. And committee members, you also have the original bill.

12. 0:18:30

    Right. And, uh, there has been one change in the sense that we have eliminated two of the documents, and I, and I'll explain to you why. Um, so what the par- what the family, adoptive family will do is they will be able to petition the Department of Vital Records directly upon presentation of the following documents. There are four documents. Originally, there were six. Um, the two documents that have been eliminated are, one, the certified copy of the child's foreign birth certificate, and I'll tell you why. In fact, I think it may have been a member of the committee, I'm trying to remember, who actually suggested that last time we met.

13. 0:19:04

    Uh, the reason is, is they have already presented that birth certificate in order to receive the first two documents on the list, the child's Certificate of Citizenship and the original documents related to the foreign adoption as certified by the US Embassy abroad. So that is a duplicative set. That, that is a duplicative, uh, document. The second, believe it or not, is the child's Social Security card, and I'll tell you why. Um, believe it or not, and I, I actually found this surprising to learn, um, federal standards do not recognize a Social Security card as a valid form of ID.

14. 0:19:36

    I found that surprising, but I'll tell, what they say is it, it's a financial and tax identifier. It has no photo. It has no personal attributes, height, weight, or anything like that, um, so it is not considered an ID. A Social Security card is not considered an ID verification tool by federal government standards. And, and quite frankly, oftentimes at the point that the parents are trying to, uh, to obtain the Certificate of Foreign Birth, that child hasn't even had a chance yet to get that, get that, uh, Social Security card. So the remaining four documents, um, uh, will provide all of the ID verification that is required for both the child and the adoptive parents.

15. 0:20:14

    And that is the bill in a nutshell. Maybe that was a big nutshell. I'm sorry. It took a little longer than I expected, but I'm, I'll stand for any questions.

16. 0:20:21

    Thank you very much. Any questions from the committee? We passed this out last year, and it just didn't get called up-

17. 0:20:27

    Okay

18. 0:20:27

    ... at the end. So, uh-

19. 0:20:29

    That's the appropriate time.

20. 0:20:30

    Okay. Question? No. Okay.

21. 0:20:34

    I-

22. 0:20:34

    Now's the appropriate time

23. 0:20:35

    ... I would make a motion do pass on LC481823S.

24. 0:20:45

    Second.

25. 0:20:46

    And second by Senator Setzler. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor, say aye.

26. 0:20:53

    Aye.

27. 0:20:53

    Aye.

28. 0:20:55

    Aye.

29. 0:20:55

    Okay. I think it's unanimous.

30. 0:20:57

    Okay. Thank y'all.

31. 0:20:57

    Thank you very much.

32. 0:20:58

    Thank you very much.

33. 0:20:58

    Off to rules. Okay. Representative Donatucci, come on up.

34. 0:21:03

    Take care of your mouth.

35. 0:21:05

    Hmm?

36. 0:21:05

    Take care of your mouth.

37. 0:21:08

    Oh.

38. 0:21:08

    Jenny?

39. 0:21:08

    Uh, I am, actually. I forgot. Yeah.

40. 0:21:13

    Thank you, Jenny. I was-

41. 0:21:14

    I'm carrying it still, right?

42. 0:21:16

    Yes, yes.

43. 0:21:16

    Okay. That's what I thought. Okay.

44. 0:21:17

    And I appreciate that.

45. 0:21:18

    Yeah. Okay.

46. 0:21:22

    Mr.

47. 0:21:22

    Thank you, Mr. Rules Chair, for the reminder. Okay. Uh, we are now dealing with House Bill 1118, and the LC, double-check your number.

48. 0:21:36

    The LC that I have is 461432S.

49. 0:21:41

    Great. Floor is yours.

50. 0:21:42

    Thank you so much. Madam Chair and members, good afternoon. Uh, I'm bringing this bill before you today, House Bill 1118. If you remember back in 2021, the, the House and the Senate brought three weeks of leave to, uh, parents, it was both maternal, paternal, and adoptive. And then in 2024, they added three more weeks to make it six weeks. This bill is very specifically for the birth mother, the mater- and this is maternal birth leave.

51. 0:22:14

    Um, this bill provides three additional weeks of leave for the birth mother, and she must be a state employee or teacher for at least six months before she's able to take this. Bless you.

52. 0:22:27

    Bless you.

53. 0:22:27

    The maternal-

54. 0:22:27

    That person's sitting down there.

55. 0:22:30

    The maternal birth mother has to be, uh, pr- well, I already said that. She has to be present for six months. Um, it has to be taken first, and it has to be fully used. It, she can't come back and use it again. Um, there is no additional cost to this because her salary is still there. It was budgeted for, and that salary remains. Um, with that, I will take any questions regarding the bill.

56. 0:23:00

    Questions from the committee? Mr. Chair, are you number one?

57. 0:23:05

    Uh, yes, ma'am.

58. 0:23:06

    Okay.

59. 0:23:08

    Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, and thank you, Representative, for bringing this. The, I just wanna make sure I'm reading this right. So you're only talking about the three-week period immediately following the eligible employee's qualifying life event. So what, how much time are we talking total? Is it three weeks?

60. 0:23:26

    It's, this is specifically three weeks, but the total ends up being, for the maternal leave, it would, this is three weeks on top of the then six weeks.

61. 0:23:35

    I gotcha.

62. 0:23:35

    So for that person, it's nine weeks.

63. 0:23:36

    I gotcha. Okay. That's it, that's it.

64. 0:23:41

    Other questions? Okay, we have a couple people signed up to testify, and I'll, uh, have them go to the podium. Jessica Wulczyn.

65. 0:23:55

    Thank you.

66. 0:23:55

    Good afternoon, uh, Chairwoman and members of the committee. My name is Jessica Wulczyn with GEARS, the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students. Uh, I'm here today in support of House Bill 1118. Um, at GEARS, we focus on the earliest years of a child's life because we know those years have a huge impact on what's to come. Strong early relationships with parents and caregivers are critical to healthy brain development. Paid parental leave helps make those connections possible in the first few years of a child's life, um, and actually has been shown to decrease infant mortality, improve maternal health, and also helps employers retain employees.

67. 0:24:39

    Um, House Bill 1118 is a meaningful step forward, um, in moving Georgia closer to making sure folks have access to paid family leave, um, and it is closer to the 12 weeks recommended by the Georgia Association for the, uh, Academy of Pediatrics. Um, and so I hope for your favorable consideration, consideration of the bill, and I'll take any questions.

68. 0:25:04

    Thank you. Any questions? Thanks for being here. Okay, next is, uh, Josh Stephens.

69. 0:25:13

    Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the committee. Uh, my name is Josh Stephens. I represent the pub- uh, Professional Association of Georgia Educators. We represent 93,000, more than 93,000 educators from across the state. Um, I'm rising in support the, of support of House Bill 1118. Um, as Georgia continues to face a teacher shortage with over 5,300, uh, current teaching vacancies statewide, schools need additional tools to recruit and retain quality educators in- including increasing maternal birth benefits.

70. 0:25:43

    Providing paid time off to recover from childbirth is a valuable strategy to support educators, which in turn can boost retention. House Bill 1118 builds on vital steps that you all have taken in the past years, um, in, in recent years to assist new parents balanc- in balancing their parental and work responsibilities, and provide time to foster the bond so important to children's wellbeing. We also encourage the legislature to increase, uh, state funding for substitute teachers. When educators take maternal birth and maternity leave, quality substitutes are needed to fill in, um, for them while they're out.

71. 0:26:17

    Uh, the state currently provides $150 annually to cost, to cover the cost of a substitute for eight days, which amounts to about $18.75 a day. Um, the, the amount has not changed since 1985 when the Quality Basic Education Formula was created. Um, we, the amount, uh, because of this, we recommend the increasing funding for substitutes in order to help reduce financial impact on districts as they help fill in some of these substitute, um, positions. But again, we'd like to thank Representative Donatucci for, for this bill. We're in strong support of it, and appreciate your favorable consideration.

72. 0:26:48

    Thank you.

73. 0:26:49

    Thank you very much. Other questions by the committee? Okay, that's all I have, uh, for testimony, so what's the will of the committee? Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

74. 0:27:02

    Thanks.

75. 0:27:03

    Thank you.

76. 0:27:04

    Okay Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor say aye.

77. 0:27:08

    Aye.

78. 0:27:09

    Any opposed? Okay, great. Thank you so much.

79. 0:27:13

    And will you be carrying those-

80. 0:27:14

    Yes, I will. I'll carry that for you.

81. 0:27:16

    Thank you.

82. 0:27:20

    Not the next one, though. Ah. Coming in hot.

83. 0:27:23

    Coming in hot.

84. 0:27:24

    It's your turn. You shouldn't have sat down. So you can come up here to the table.

85. 0:27:29

    Somebody gave me cookies, too. I don't deserve them.

86. 0:27:30

    Take a deep breath and, uh-

87. 0:27:33

    Okay

88. 0:27:33

    ... you can eat your cookie later. And while you're getting settled, let me just recognize State Superintendent Richard Woods. Thanks for being with us today.

89. 0:27:43

    Superintendent. Yeah.

90. 0:27:46

    Madam Chair, I was just chairing a committee. We're hearing one of your bills, so.

91. 0:27:51

    Did it pass?

92. 0:27:52

    I don't know. I, I left, so.

93. 0:27:56

    Oh, great.

94. 0:27:56

    Good, good luck.

95. 0:27:57

    Well, we'll work on it.

96. 0:27:58

    Good, yeah. Yeah.

97. 0:28:01

    Well, good luck with your bill this-

98. 0:28:02

    Uh, yeah, yeah.

99. 0:28:03

    Yeah.

100. 0:28:04

     It was, it was, it was on its way to passage, so. Um, well, thank you, Madam Chair, uh, members of the committee. Here to present to you House Bill 1009. Um, I'll be reading from LC492527. Okay. First and foremost, just wanna thank, uh, the Senate, uh, uh, Senator Harrell along with Senator Sil- Still this past summer, I think we were actually in this room right here, uh, heard a really compelling, uh, meeting, I think it was a two, three-hour meeting, on technology, but specifically technology and children at schools.

101. 0:28:44

     And so, um, in that data we learned what we all intuitively know is that test scores, grades all improve when you take technology, personal technology out of the hands of children while they're trying to learn algebra and calculus and English. And so that is the impetus of this bill here. We introduced House Bill 340 last year, which addressed K through 8. Uh, of the more than half the states now that have passed some form of this, Georgia was the only one. We're special in our own way.

102. 0:29:14

     We only did K through 8. Part of that wisdom, moderation, justice, that moderation. And that was good because we dipped our toe in the water and schools got used to it. They liked it. And I'll tell you, the number of not just parents and teachers, but kids that have come to me and say, "Wow, I think I kind of like this," you know, has been impressive. And so that led us to House Bill 1009. As I said, close to, I think we're pushing close to 30 states now have a policy in place. Even absent policy here in Georgia, almost half of the high schools already have some form of policy.

103. 0:29:49

     So this is helping to make it uniform across Georgia. It's a very, uh, oh, this is gonna sound... It's a very simple bill, but it's, it's three pages. The crux of it is really found on page three, uh, in terms of the implementation. So K through 8 is, is gonna be starting with the '26, '27 school year. Uh, again, many, uh, schools have had to have a policy in place by January 1st of this year, so their policy's in place, implementation coming up.

104. 0:30:21

     For this bill, we start in high school at the beginning of the '27, '28 school year. So again, giving high schools plenty of time to adapt, get the culture used to it. Uh, we do make carve-outs. We do recognize that high school demands and needs are different, so we make a carve-out o- on lines 54 through 56 for dual enrollment, work-based learning programs, apprenticeship programs, uh, all sort of things where kids would either need a phone, be off a campus, uh, working, et cetera. Uh, this is a bell to bell policy, so that means beginning of the day to end of the day.

105. 0:30:56

     As a reminder, the bill is silent on how schools implement that. Each school has done it differently. Some do pouches on the back of the door. Some collect it at the door. Some do these little cyber pouches here. You stick it in your, your pouch and carry that in your backpack for the day. Uh, so we want schools to design a program that works best for them. Uh, another common question we get is does this make exceptions for kids with special needs, with diabetes who need the technology? It does. There's a carve-out for that. If you're on an IEP and you need technology, absolutely.

106. 0:31:29

     The other question that commonly comes up, and as a dad of three young kids, uh, this is something I think about all the time, is what's the safest scenario for our children? And that is actually having cell phones out of schools. Uh, what happens is if there is a, a disaster or some emergency that's going on, you want kids, every safety personnel will tell you, I want them focused, going, listening to instruction, going where they need to go, get settled, and then reunite them with their phone and ultimately their parent. Uh, that is the, the safest, uh, scenario. We do, uh, make an exclusion for e-readers.

107. 0:32:02

     Uh, and again, this is l- limited to personal electronic devices. So school laptops, all of that, we do wanna encourage kids, this is the year 2026. We want kids using and getting familiarized with technology. We just don't believe they ought to be on Instagram, TikTok, and others while they're trying to learn. This state, we invest billions of dollars, as you know, into education and to literacy, uh, and we're really undoing all that by allowing kids to, to be on their cell phones during school. I've talked at you enough. I'll pause, uh, Madam Chair, for any questions and, and go from there.

108. 0:32:35

     Thank you. Questions from the committee? Oh, there were five. Senator Setzler.

109. 0:32:41

     Appreciate the author bringing this. I read, uh, two weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal, they said the average kid, high school kid, um, who has a s- smartphone device checks their phone 64 times in a school day.

110. 0:32:54

     Yeah.

111. 0:32:55

     So we have, we have a problem. Thank you.

112. 0:32:57

     It's amazing, too, since we passed the bill, o- only a handful of states had passed something last year. Now we have real data that backs up what you say, um- And it shows schools are safer, you know, the kids are healthier. Uh, and there's a great story, um, one of the represent- Representative Chocis, he's got two schools in his district. One's done it and one has not. He had them both at the Capitol. The one that had a ban, the kids were looking at him eye to eye, having a conversation. The one that had not had a ban, they, you know, kind of head down, you know, not, uh...

113. 0:33:29

     So it, it really, what we're doing here today is life-changing.

114. 0:33:34

     Thank you. Chairman Brass, did you have a question?

115. 0:33:36

     Yeah, more of a comment, if you'll allow, Miss-

116. 0:33:39

     Sure

117. 0:33:39

     ... Madam Chair. The, um, so last year we passed your middle school ban, and I believe I voted no on it, and it, what's ironic was I was gonna check my phone to, um- ... see how I voted, and I left it in my office, so I don't have my phone to check it, so I'm, I'm talking-

118. 0:33:57

     I noticed you were engaged. I like that.

119. 0:33:59

     Yeah. And-

120. 0:33:59

     What was the bill number last year? 340?

121. 0:34:01

     340. 340.

122. 0:34:02

     So anyway, so the point being, though, is I never once had anybody, in the past year, I've never had anybody come up and comment, you know, "Thank you for your vote on voting against it." But I have had parents come to me, I've had teachers come to me and thank us for passing that bill, and how much it's helped their kid and, um, and th- th- for the teachers, helps the, those kids be more engaged. And, and so at the appropriate time, Madam Chair, after, uh, the-

123. 0:34:32

     Got a little testimony

124. 0:34:32

     ... committee's taken some, after we do all the testimony, I'd love to make the motion to make amends for my no vote.

125. 0:34:40

     Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we have one more question. Senator Harrell.

126. 0:34:44

     Um, it's also more of a comment if-

127. 0:34:47

     Sure

128. 0:34:47

     ... if sure, okay.

129. 0:34:49

     Yeah.

130. 0:34:49

     I just read an email before I came to this meeting. It was, it was a study actually, um, that looked at 36 different countries, so all over the world, and it asked them to report, like, how much time during the day their kids, or how available the phones were. And it measured two things, standardized test scores, all subjects, as well as a measure of loneliness. And standardized test scores, um, and it was between 2006 and 2022, and standardized test scores across that period of time did go down some, uh, universally, but it went down, the standardized test scores went down a lot more-

131. 0:35:30

     Hmm

132. 0:35:31

     ... when school systems or countries, when they're on the phone more-

133. 0:35:36

     Yeah

134. 0:35:36

     ... during the school day. So this could have the impact of raising standardized test scores.

135. 0:35:41

     Oh, yeah.

136. 0:35:42

     Then they measured loneliness, and the more kids were on their phone, um, during the school day, the more lonely. It was, there was a, a correlation. The, the more lonely they were. So, um, and I thought that was, study was interesting because it did look at countries all over the world.

137. 0:35:58

     Uh, it's the great irony of technology, which is meant to bring us together. I, I would submit it's, it's in some respects driven us further apart. Uh, and Mr. Chairman, you never need to make amends in my book. Um, I, I think I voted yes on all your bills, um. Uh, but I will, I will build off-

138. 0:36:14

     Yeah, Peter

139. 0:36:14

     ... I'll build off your comment, 'cause I, I, uh, there, Georgia Southern, I've got to give a special shout-out, at Emory University, uh, my alma mater, both have done pretty significant studies on this subject. Georgia Southern studied our teachers. They interviewed 3,500 or surveyed 3,500 teachers. Uh, and I think this had about a 90% approval rate, uh, amongst our teachers. So, uh, teachers, students, parents. Yeah.

140. 0:36:39

     Thank you. And, uh, Mr. Chair, you'd be happy to know that you voted against two amendments, but you ultimately voted for the bill.

141. 0:36:46

     All right. That's, I, I, I remember now.

142. 0:36:49

     Okay.

143. 0:36:50

     I'll still make a motion on it.

144. 0:36:52

     Senator, yeah, Senator Mallow.

145. 0:36:54

     Thank you, Madam Chair, Representative Hilton. I just have, uh, uh, one question related to, uh, will any district be able to opt out of this in totality?

146. 0:37:05

     Our hope is no. Uh, and it's not contemplated in the bill.

147. 0:37:09

     Thank you. So when it, they, they can choose how to implement it, but they can't not implement it?

148. 0:37:13

     That's correct.

149. 0:37:14

     Thank you.

150. 0:37:15

     Good question. Okay. Senator Payne.

151. 0:37:17

     That's a good question.

152. 0:37:17

     Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I just say that, you know, this is also a public school safety issue because I know that the, when there's something happening at the school, th- that's the last time, that's the worst thing you can have is have everybody kid, te- everybody texting each other and sending messages to one another, and, and creates chaos within chaos of something happening at the school when everybody needs to be focused. So I just want to say thank you for, for the legislation.

153. 0:37:47

     We've even had ins- I had a constituent have a false positive. So a child at school had a cellphone. He thought he heard gunshots. He texted mom, "Hey, there's a school shooting going on." All the police and resources showed up at the school. You know, turned out there was nothing going on, and, you know, uh, wasted resources for a day. Um, so yeah, it, it has bad consequences on either side. Yeah.

154. 0:38:10

     Okay. Thank you, senators. We've got some testimony. Nathan DaSilva, come up to the podium please and introduce yourself.

155. 0:38:28

     Hi, so my name's Nathan DaSilva. I'm, uh, 17 years old. I attend Milton High School, and I'm a current Fulton County youth commissioner. Um, I'm here today as just to give... We've saw a lot of research, and I'm just here to give a youth perspective on this piece of legislation. Um, as someone who has been in schools and has saw the detrimental effect that phones have had in my classroom or at home- Or with my friends.

156. 0:38:59

     I've personally saw how social media, I mean, there's a phrase that I use, it was, "Every rose has its thorn." Right? I mean, social media's been something that seems so alluring to my generation, but it's had so much of a detrimental impact. Um, I mean, the numbers are staggering. 90% of teens in high school right now are sexting, and one in three teen girls are getting body issues because of social media usage. And the majority of the usage that's going right now is in school.

157. 0:39:31

     I mean, that's why people say social media is like the cigarette for our generation. And being from Fulton County, something pretty interesting is we actually liked Mr. Hilton's HB 340 so much that we passed it at the high school level from 9 through 12 in IFGBA policy. And I personally have saw how everything from the classroom environment to the conversations at the lunch table have absolutely train- changed, absolutely become transformative. And it's no joke on how policies like this, especially HB 1009, prove so transformative in engaging students and making it easier for teachers to teach students better and better and get better test scores, better results, but most of all, school becomes so much more fun, and I never thought I'd say that as a high schooler, but it really does because people are having conversation, class is more interactive, and I mean, this bill is truly, truly so important, and I really, really appreciate you for introducing it again, the third year you've been working on social media policy.

158. 0:40:37

     I mean, it's truly, truly needed. And then secondly, I'd highly, highly push this bill for support. Thank you.

159. 0:40:44

     Thank you for being here. And if you need a note excusing you from school, we can provide that for you.

160. 0:40:50

     Yes. Thank you. Yes.

161. 0:40:51

     And you'll probably be sitting in one of these chairs one of these days, I suspect.

162. 0:40:55

     A lot of that is true as well.

163. 0:40:57

     Thanks for being here.

164. 0:40:58

     Thank you. I appreciate it.

165. 0:40:59

     Okay, Josh Stevens.

166. 0:41:01

     That's pretty good.

167. 0:41:08

     Thank you, Madam Chair, for, for letting me address yet another bill. We've had a lot of good bills in here today, so we appreciate it. Um, I wanna just share a little bit more about the survey that Representative Hilton mentioned from Georgia Southern. We worked with Georgia Southern on that survey. Um, they, they were, they surveyed our membership, uh, thir- about 3,500 of our members. So I just wanna share just a few of the statistics from that because they're quite powerful, um, especially coming after the, the student perspective. I think the teacher perspective also is something that is very important on this issue, and I think you guys are... The, the... As someone that's done a lot of policy analysis, the, the numbers in this were very strong, and, uh, you don't really see this amount of support for any issue.

168. 0:41:44

     Um, so when asked, um, how many support the current restrictions from House Bill 340, over 90% of our, uh, of, of respondents supported House Bill 340. And then when asked how many wanted to expand it into grades, uh, 9 through 12, another 90% supported that as well. Um, 87% of respondents indicated that student misuse of their personal device is a major source of classroom distraction. Um, participants believe that misuse of personal devices negatively impacts student focus at a rate of 95... So respond- 95% of respondents felt that that was, uh, that was what happened, and then 96% felt that, um, the, uh, device, uh, misuse, um, interferes with learning.

169. 0:42:27

     Um, 88% of participants, um, indicated that student misuse of personal electronic devices during school contributes to student conflicts and bullying incidents. Conversely, 91% of educators do not feel that banning devices would interfere with their classroom instruction. Um, on the topic of school safety, which was mentioned earlier, we actually addre- we asked the question on that as well. Um, fewer than 10% of educators believe that banning devices will compromise school safety, and more than 90% of, uh, the same respondents expressed confidence in their school's emergency communication and response plan, which includes reunification processes that were mentioned earlier.

170. 0:43:05

     So again, thank you all for considering this bill. Thank you to Representative Hilton for carrying both Hou- House Bill 340 and House Bill 1099, and PAGE is in strong support of this legislation. Thank you.

171. 0:43:15

     Thank you very much. Tripp Richardson.

172. 0:43:26

     Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the committee. My name is Tripp Richardson with the Frontline Policy Council. Uh, we first wanna thank Representative Hilton for bringing this bill forward. Uh, Frontline sup- supported the previous initiative prohibiting cell phones in middle schools. We are pleased to support this legislation extending the same approach to high schools. That earlier effort reflected a growing recognition that phones are not just a nuisance in the classroom. They actively undermine learning, focus, and school order, and high schools face even greater academic and developmental needs.

173. 0:43:58

     HB 1009 acknowledges that reality by ensuring students have distraction-free learning environments during the school day, while still allowing schools that flexibility they need to meet the legitimate student and family needs. HB 1009 builds on that policy this body has already endorsed, and we respectfully ask for your favorable consideration on this measure as well. Thank you.

174. 0:44:24

     Thank you very much. Michael O'Sullivan.

175. 0:44:31

     Thank you very much, Michael O'Sullivan with, uh, GeorgiaCAN. Uh, we too appreciate, uh, Chairman Hilton for bringing this bill forward and, and all of you for, uh, for hearing it. We, we've heard from teachers and about their support, and from common sense we know that this is an important policy, but the research also backs it up. Uh, just last October there was a report out of Florida, and I'll, uh, I'll just read one line of it which says, quote, "We find significant improvements in student test scores in the second year."

176. 0:45:03

     Um, and then further it says, "The effects of cell phone bans are more pronounced in middle and high school." I'm so glad we are closing this loophole that does not include the one age bracket where cell phones are most utilized. And I'll, I will just say at, you know, for us, that the longer that cell phones stay in school, the harder it becomes for us to course-correct and begin undoing the damage that they are causing. Passing this bill, uh, will create a classroom environment where students are less likely to be distracted by interruptions, can focus more on learning, and allow educators to concentrate on instruction rather than constantly monitoring students' use of phones.

177. 0:45:44

     Thank you so much. I urge your consideration.

178. 0:45:47

     Did you have a question?

179. 0:45:49

     Um, quick follow-up. I'll follow. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, for the author, um, you know, school districts watch our, our hearings real time, and, uh-

180. 0:45:56

     Mm-hmm

181. 0:45:57

     ... some of my local folks wanna make sure that, uh-

182. 0:45:59

     I got it

183. 0:45:59

     ... when it says during the instructional period, if they do the pouches and students get their phones back, they can use them during the transition times, but then when they go to the next class, that bell, they turn 'em in, put 'em in those pouches, and as long as they were in the classroom, they wouldn't be allowed to be used.

184. 0:46:16

     Yeah, so there's two different types of, uh, there's instructional time cell phone, uh, ban, or there's, there's bell to bell. Uh, as it is, as defined in this bill here, it is, that is meant beginning of the day to end of the day, the expectation is the cell phone is, is put away. Uh, as I mentioned, close to, I, I think it's a little over 30 now, states have passed it. Uh, more than, more than half of those have a bell to bell policy. The ones that do have an instructional time are actually moving away from that, 'cause really the instructional time does not solve for the issue we're trying to solve for, uh, which is getting teachers out of the business of being the cell phone police.

185. 0:46:52

     Uh, well, kids are generally good about putting the, the phone up. A- again, the first 10 minutes of class is the teacher saying, "Put your phone away. Put your phone away," you know. So, so yeah, just to clarify, this is a, a bell to bell, beginning of the bell, first bell to the last bell.

186. 0:47:06

     So they wouldn't have the flexibility to allow students to have their phones during the transitional time from class to class-

187. 0:47:12

     Correct

188. 0:47:12

     ... or if a student, for example, may have w- a free period or something like that, that they could have their cell phone?

189. 0:47:18

     That is correct.

190. 0:47:19

     Okay.

191. 0:47:19

     Yep. Yep.

192. 0:47:20

     Okay, one, last but not least, Superintendent Woods, did you wanna speak to the bill?

193. 0:47:25

     Yeah. Glad to. Thank you, Madam Chair.

194. 0:47:31

     And first of all, I wanna appreciate, uh, and thank, uh, uh, uh, Chairman Hilton for, uh, con- you know, with his support last year with the K-8, uh, limitation on that and now, you know, closing the bill or closing, uh, the gap with, uh, with high school. Uh, as a teacher, I can tell you, disruption, you know, is something we do not like to see. We, our, our time is very limited. Uh, you know, I just did a little simple math. You know, we said 64, you know, times a day. During 180 school year, that's 11,520 interruptions in a school year.

195. 0:48:06

     Now, I can tell you that's a lot of spent time if we have to make th- that correction. But I think as I shared and what I've heard throughout the state, uh, you know, teachers have been, have applauded this measure. Uh, they think, you know, this step that has been taken because they, they have actually gotten their teaching time back, which is something that, uh, you know, they desperately fight for. For our students, uh, you know, I would say that, you know, sometimes we, we've heard this is a cell phone ban. Uh, I would say, you know, this is not a cell phone ban. It is actually a student liberation bill, uh, because it gives them freedom back to build relationships.

196. 0:48:39

     It gives them freedom back to build, you know, academic time, and, uh, again, it allows them to graduate even stronger. And one of the exciting things we'll, we will be able to produce this year, uh, whether it is our, our school climate survey. We're working to make sure that we get some feedback on what does this look like now that we've had a year. But also with our milestones, we'll begin to look at testing this year, um, trying to make some correlative data, uh, over the next couple years to say, "Hey, what are we seeing? What are we seeing these things?" And I think hopefully we can add Georgia, uh, to, to some of this research and just show that we are doing the right thing, and it will pay off on down the road.

197. 0:49:16

     You know, sometimes our students may not necessarily thank us at this time, but we've had one young man to come up here, uh, to see that, but that's what I'm hearing from, from our students. Thank you, thank you, thank you from our teachers. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and I think as from the State of Georgia and from the our, and Department of Education, thank you, thank you, thank you.

198. 0:49:35

     Thank you, Superintendent. Other questions from the committee for the author? Okay, Mr. Rules Chair, floor is yours.

199. 0:49:46

     You're right.

200. 0:49:47

     Well, I'd like to make a motion do pass, uh, HB 1009 LC 492527.

201. 0:49:55

     Second.

202. 0:49:57

     Okay. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye.

203. 0:50:01

     Aye.

204. 0:50:01

     Aye.

205. 0:50:02

     Okay. Unanimous.

206. 0:50:04

     Madam Chair, if I may, one of the neatest things about carrying this bill is I've been contacted by students throughout the state who are using this as their social studies project or so, uh, you mentioned people watching this live stream, so thank you to all the students who are studying this bill and learning about how government operates, so.

207. 0:50:20

     And who's your Senate sponsor?

208. 0:50:22

     Uh, Senator Still, Shawn Still.

209. 0:50:24

     Okay.

210. 0:50:24

     Yep.

211. 0:50:25

     Thank you very much.

212. 0:50:26

     Thank you.

213. 0:50:26

     With that, uh, we're adjourned, and I'll let you guys know what we're doing, but I think we'll be meeting again next Tuesday, same time, same place. Thank you.