Senate

Bill 74 will require every public school in the

state to develop and implement a wide-ranging

safety plan to address acts of violence, acts of

terrorism, natural disasters, hazardous materials

and radiological incidents.

"School

violence has become a very real issue in Georgia,

which is among the top ten states in the nation

for violent death in the school setting,"

said GEMA director Gary W. McConnell. "This

new law will enable GEMA to continue its work

with local school systems and public safety

personnel to find ways to prevent these

incidents, and be better prepared to respond to

them effectively when they occur."

"We

appreciate Gov. Roy E. Barnes' leadership and the

strong support of the General Assembly in

addressing this crisis," McConnell added.

McConnell

said the emergency plans are to be drawn up based

on input from teachers and school personnel,

community leaders, local law enforcement, fire

service and other public safety officials, and

emergency management agencies, as well as

students, and parents and guardians. Private

schools are not required to have safety plans,

but GEMA strongly encourages them to develop and

implement plans at their discretion.

The

new law also requires GEMA to develop a model

safety plan as a guide for local schools, and to

provide training and technical assistance to

public school systems to develop these plans. It

allows GEMA to perform the same service for

private schools, at their request.

The

training and technical assistance includes crisis

response team development, site surveys and

safety audits, crisis management planning,

exercise design, safe school planning, emergency

operations planning, search and seizure, bomb

threat management and model school safety plans.

The

legislation was sponsored by state Sen. Richard

Marable of Rome and steered through the House of

Representatives by Jeannette Jamieson of Toccoa.

Barnes signed it into law in April.

To

date, GEMA's Consequence Management Section has

trained nearly 5,000 educators and public safety

personnel in school safety planning. The training

has been conducted both on an individual basis in

communities around the state and through a series

of seminars on emergency management in Georgia's

schools, conducted at the Georgia Public Safety

Training Center at Forsyth.

Senate

Bill 51, which also will go into effect July 1,

will set new training and certification standards

for local emergency management directors or

deputy directors hired after that date. They will

be required to undergo initial training within

six months after appointment, and ultimately

become Certified Emergency Managers. They will

also be required to undergo a minimum of 24 hours

of continuing education per year to maintain

certification.

Another

measure, Senate Bill 170, proposed by the

Association of County Commissioners of Georgia

and supported by GEMA, will correct a glitch in

current law that had prevented the collection of

emergency fund surcharge on cellular phone bills

in Georgia, but with out-of-state codes. This was

a problem in border counties, particularly in

Northwest Georgia.

The

law also creates a registry within GEMA, and

cellular phone providers will have to register.

This is intended to assist local 911 agencies in

identifying the providers that will serve their

communities.

part of the governor's office, GEMA is the lead

state agency for the coordination of state

resources for disaster and emergency response.

The agency also is responsible for the

development of mitigation projects to reduce the

impact of disasters, and for a variety of

training initiatives for emergency managers and

other public safety personnel.

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