---
type: "Bill"
title: "\"Student/Teacher Protection Act\"; enact; end punitive testing consequences; related to federal, state,and locally mandated standardized assessments"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the O.C.G.A., relating to elementary and secondary education, so as to enact the \"Student/Teacher Protection Act\"; to end punitive testing consequences for both teachers and students related to federal, state, and locally mandated standardized assessments; to prevent truancy or referrals to the Division of Family and Children Services for absenteeism during standardized testing windows for federal, state, and locally mandated standardized assessments unless a student already has a chronic history of truancy; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2015_16"
identifier: "SB 355"
citation: "Georgia SB 355 (2015_16)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Burt Jones", "David Shafer", "Hunter Hill", "John Albers", "Joshua McKoon", "Judson Hill", "Marty Harbin", "Michael Williams", "P. K. Martin IV", "Renee Unterman", "William Ligon, Jr."]
version_count: 5
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2016-02-09"
last_action: "2016-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/75ceb803-a646-449f-99db-edac295eeb3c"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "bb606c991cdc28425e34508d2a6837c234b55faafe18a9061023d570ea573095"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia SB 355 (2015_16) — "Student/Teacher Protection Act"; enact; end punitive testing consequences; related to federal, state,and locally mandated standardized assessments

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 2 of Title 20 of the O.C.G.A., relating to elementary and secondary education, so as to enact the "Student/Teacher Protection Act"; to end punitive testing consequences for both teachers and students related to federal, state, and locally mandated standardized assessments; to prevent truancy or referrals to the Division of Family and Children Services for absenteeism during standardized testing windows for federal, state, and locally mandated standardized assessments unless a student already has a chronic history of truancy; to provide for a short title; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **As introduced LC 33 6466ER** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/156930.pdf)
2. **As passed Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/159283.pdf)
3. **Committee sub LC 33 6553ERS** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/158816.pdf)
4. **Floor Amendment AM 33 1667** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/161983.pdf)
5. **SB 355/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20152016/162312.pdf)

## Votes

- MOTION TO TABLE — **38–16** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Burt Jones — primary (person)
- David Shafer — primary (person)
- Hunter Hill — primary (person)
- John Albers — primary (person)
- Joshua McKoon — primary (person)
- Judson Hill — primary (person)
- Marty Harbin — primary (person)
- Michael Williams — primary (person)
- P. K. Martin IV — primary (person)
- Renee Unterman — primary (person)
- William Ligon, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-02-09** Senate Hopper
- **2016-02-10** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2016-02-25** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-02-26** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2016-02-29** Senate Tabled
- **2016-02-29** Senate Taken from Table
- **2016-02-29** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2016-02-29** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2016-03-02** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2016-03-07** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2016-03-11** House Committee Favorably Reported `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2016-03-24** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2016-03-24** House Passed/Adopted `passage`
- **2016-03-29** Senate Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2016-05-03** Senate Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2016-05-03** Veto V15 `executive-signature`
- **2016-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/75ceb803-a646-449f-99db-edac295eeb3c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).