May 15, 2025
ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed multiple bills into law Monday that ensure fairness in school sports, further safeguard students and teachers, and improve the quality of education in Georgia.
On Monday, Kemp inked his signature on seven bills, including the Riley Gaines Act of 2025, which bars students born male from participating on female teams in Georgia’s schools and colleges. It is named after a Kentucky college swimmer who lost to a male competitor at an NCAA competition held at Georgia Tech three years ago.
“This commonsense legislation is about what is fair and safe for our children,” Kemp said.
House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said the issue is not partisan. Rather, he said, “It’s about right and wrong.”
The House of Representatives backed a similar bill, but Senate Bill 1 emerged as the final version. Burns and the top Republican on the Senate side, Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones, made it a top priority. Jones, a potential candidate for governor, did not attend the bill signing ceremony, but said in a written statement that Georgia lawmakers had kept a promise to female athletes, “Just like President Trump is delivering on promises made in D.C.”
In early February, Trump signed an executive order that withholds federal funding from schools that do not “oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports … as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
Georgia now joins more than two dozen states with a similar prohibition.
The law applies to any competitions that involve public schools and colleges and includes participating private schools and colleges. It allows the state to financially punish institutions that willfully fail to comply, including withholding direct funding as well as funds for scholarships, loans and grants. It also allows lawsuits and monetary damages against such institutions.
Kemp also signed House Bill 268, a sweeping school safety measure that requires that routinely updated digital campus maps be shared with first responders, that schools equip staff with mobile panic alerts, and that student records be transferred within five business days of a student’s change of schools. It would also allow children ages 13-17 accused of committing a terroristic act on campus to be tried as an adult, with potential prison time and convictions that would go on their records for life.
Kemp also signed House Bill 81, to enter an interstate compact on licensing school psychologists; House Bill 235, to give school staff time off to donate organs; House Bill 307, for screeners and support plans for students with dyslexia; Senate Bill 82, to encourage school districts to authorize charter schools, and Senate Bill 123, to address chronic absenteeism.
