After a tumultuous four months, Georgia’s 2025 legislative session concluded on Friday, April 4. The 40th legislative day, known as Sine Die, marked the final day lawmakers in the General Assembly could pass any bills for Governor Brian Kemp’s consideration.
For 12 weeks, Georgia senators and representatives considered bills on issues ranging from civil litigation reform to school safety. By the final day, legislators had approved over 400 bills and resolutions that will impact the lives of Georgians.
According to the Georgia Constitution, the only piece of legislation state lawmakers are required to pass is a budget. Following conference committee negotiations between members of the state Senate and House of Representatives, lawmakers approved a nearly $38 billion operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Tech students would be happy to learn that the budget includes $20 million to fund renovations to the Skiles Classroom Building, a shared pain point for many students. The Institute also secured funding to remodel the East and West Architecture buildings. Increased appropriations for Georgia Tech Rural Computer Science K-12 program is another budget highlight.
Beyond the budget, lawmakers tackled controversial issues that directly impact Georgia’s students this session.
Senate Bill 1, commonly referred to as the “Riley Gaines Act of 2025,” requires that student-athletes compete on sports teams with members of their assigned sex at birth. This legislation targets transgender participation in women’s sports following the Republican Party’s national push for anti-transgender legislation.
Conservative proponents of SB 1 argue that the bill seeks to promote competitive fairness in women’s sports, especially after Riley Gaines, a former Division I swimmer, tied for fifth place with Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, at the 2022 NCAA swimming and diving national championships, hosted at the Institute.
Democrats who oppose the legislation believe that the bill is a tool to perpetuate hate and gain political currency. Since the Georgia High School Association already prohibits transgender student-athletes from competing and sharing locker rooms with the opposite sex assigned at birth, and there are only a handful of transgender athletes competing at the collegiate level nationally, left-leaning lawmakers believe that this bill will lead to violations of cisgender women’s privacy and fuel further exclusion of transgender Georgians.
In the wake of the tragic Apalachee High School shooting last year, the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, Jon Burns, and the state House Education Committee Chairman, Chris Erwin, made a comprehensive school safety plan a legislative priority. House Bill 268 is an expansive bill that seeks to enhance school safety by promoting information sharing between schools and law enforcement departments. The bill proposes the creation of a database that will encompass student disciplinary, mental health and criminal records, in an effort to identify students at risk of posing a safety threat before they act.
Opponents argue that the database may disproportionately harm students of color, who are more likely to face disciplinary action in schools. Others say that the bill does not go far enough and that it is reactionary, failing to address the root cause of school shootings — gun access. HB 268 supporters believe this bill marks a significant step in a positive direction toward making schools safer for Georgia’s children.
In lighter news, House Bill 38, a bill that would expand Georgia’s College Completion Grant (GCCG) program, also passed this session with bipartisan support. GCCG provides a maximum award of $2,500 to University System of Georgia or Technical College System of Georgia students who have completed at least 80% of their degrees and face a financial aid gap. HB 38 lowers the credit completion requirement to 70% of a four-year degree and 45% of a two-year degree, widely increasing eligibility for completion grant funding in Georgia.
Lawmakers proposed a bill nearly identical to HB 38 last session, which passed out of both chambers of the General Assembly but was vetoed by Governor Kemp, who claimed the grant had not been appropriately funded by the legislature. If Kemp does not sign HB 38 into law this year, the program will expire, and thousands of students will be at risk of losing essential funding for graduation.
Beyond bills that were approved, several notable ones did not make it across the finish line on Sine Die. House Bill 127, which was modified in the Senate to adopt language from Senate Bill 120, threatens to withhold state funding from colleges and institutions that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). HB 127 could penalize schools for promoting social justice, antiracism, allyship and a plethora of other inclusive policies. By the time both chambers adjourned on Sine Die, the measure had not passed.
While legislators in the Capitol were weighing this bill, Tech students made their voices heard by organizing and lobbying in opposition to HB 127. Gracelynn Xia, second-year BME, visited the state Capitol for the first time on Friday.
“Sine Die was a uniquely electrifying experience. From the moment I stepped foot in the building, I felt the atmosphere shift. With all of the deplorable changes happening across our nation and in our state, I often feel helpless to do anything about it,” Xia said.
Xia came to the Capitol with GT Students for Belonging, an organization created following Tech’s shift away from DEI earlier this semester. Xia was able to speak to her representative about HB 127 and was glad to represent college students.
“I am immensely grateful I showed up for a cause that I cared about, and I’m so grateful that HB 127 wasn’t heard,” Xia said.
While the legislative session has come to a close, 2025 is the first year of a new biennium, meaning that bills that were not heard or voted on this year are still on the table for the 2026 session. With the 2026 elections on the horizon, Georgia will certainly be in store for another eventful session as lawmakers make their bids for reelection and higher office.