Georgia's most significant school cardiac emergency law in more than a decade is not only about placing devices on walls. House Bill 874, signed by Governor Brian Kemp on April 23, 2024 and effective July 1, 2025, expanded Georgia's AED and CPR requirements from high schools with athletics programs to every public K-12 school in the state.
Across Gwinnett, Forsyth, Cherokee, and Hall counties, the study estimates that 260 school buildings now carry an AED obligation. Approximately 21,900 teachers, coaches, and school nurses are subject to a twice-per-year CPR and AED practice requirement, and an estimated 95,000 high school students must receive hands-on CPR and AED instruction.
The compliance math is recurring. HB 874's twice-annual practice mandate creates a minimum estimated 43,800 CPR practice events across the four-county region every school year. That number resets annually and does not decline simply because a school completed training in a prior year.
Gwinnett County Public Schools carries the largest single-district estimate in the report: 142 schools requiring AEDs, approximately 14,000 instructional staff with a twice-yearly practice duty, and a minimum of 28,000 staff practice events annually.
The student requirement adds a second layer. CPR instruction for high school students was first mandated in Georgia under OCGA § 20-2-775 in 2013, and HB 874 reaffirms and extends that requirement as part of a broader cardiac emergency readiness system. The instruction must include psychomotor skills and hands-on practice, not only a lecture or video.
The report concludes that schools should treat AED readiness as a training and documentation obligation, not only an equipment purchase. A device on a wall without trained expected users does not satisfy the practical readiness concern identified by the law.
This summary is informational and does not provide legal, medical, regulatory, or school-specific compliance advice.