Ga. Senate passes bill that requires schools to have ‘panic button’
ATLANTA, Ga. - A bill that would require every school in Georgia to implement a panic button alert system passed the state Senate just before a crucial deadline last week.
Hours before Crossover Day — the deadline for proposed legislation to pass at least one chamber — Senate Bill 17 cleared the Senate unanimously, a rare thing in the vastly partisan body.
Although many schools don’t have the panic buttons, many in the CSRA do, including campuses in Richmond, Columbia and McDuffie counties.
The bill is formally titled “Ricky and Alyssa’s Law,” named partly after Coach Richard Aspinwall, who was killed in last year’s shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder. It’s also named for Alyssa Alhadeff, one of 17 students and staff killed in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, Florida.
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“There are many worthy causes competing for the same limited resources,” Georgia House House Appropriations Chairman Matt Hatchett said.
“It’s a pretty big deal to see it pass out unanimously and send a message to the House that we need to get this bill done,” said bill sponsor Sen. Jason Anavitarte (R-Dallas). “This has been a topic we’ve been talking about since Apalachee and even before Apalachee.”
Apalachee High School was already using a panic button alert system at the time of last year’s shooting. Law enforcement officials in Winder and Barrow County have since praised the technology highly. The bill also has the support of Aspinwall’s family, who have been working with Anavitarte to get it passed.
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The bill would also require school districts to procure digital layouts of their buildings, offering law enforcement more information in an emergency response. APS has done that too, but some state emergency officials fear not every city and county 911 system will be able to support the demand.
Aleisha Rucker-Wright, director of the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority, testified that some of the state’s 911 centers are using technology dating as far back as the 1960s.
“As it currently stands some of our 911 centers would not be able to readily use that data without some workarounds,” she told lawmakers at a recent committee hearing for SB 17. “We have some 911 centers that, if you were to enter and ask them to show you their mapping data, it’s literally a printed map on the wall or it may be a Google map.”
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Rucker-Wright fears the legislation could force 911 centers to choose between following the new state law and making cuts elsewhere in their already strained budgets.
“One concern that we have is making sure that we don’t have unfunded mandates on our 911 centers,” she said. “While the civic location data exchange format is ideal for a future state, it may be a little advanced for us at this particular state.”
As for paying for new systems at the school district level, Anavitarte said one-time school safety grants baked into this year’s state budget — $68,000 per school — are a good option.
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“So there’s really no excuse to not be able to find a way to get this done,” he said.
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