Two bills introduced by the Georgia House of Representatives last month mark the first time in recent years that the state has considered legislation to protect student journalists from arbitrary censorship by school administrators. It is now the seventh state to introduce such legislation, commonly known as New Voices.
HB 1561 and HB 1592 were introduced shortly before the legislature adjourned for the year on April 2, but advocates are encouraged by this significant step.
“I don’t think any of us in the Georgia New Voices coalition could have planned to get an official bill circulating this quickly. I think the fact we’ve gotten so much support so fast just shows how necessary this bill is in Georgia for all student journalists,” said Betty Jane Plitt, a sophomore at McIntosh High School. “The New Voices bill really has the power to bring together any students struggling with censorship and end any heavily censored journalistic environments among the world of student media.”
Plitt, along with fellow Georgia students Izabelle Jones and Zelda Lerner, attended the Student Press Law Center’s New Voices Student Leaders Institute last summer.
Immediately following their July training, they began building a coalition to support a New Voices effort in the state, hosting presentations and webinars to raise awareness about student censorship and the potential that New Voices has to empower student voices. Each of them also contacted their representatives to ask for their sponsorship of a New Voices bill.
The bills, both cited as the “Student Journalist Press Freedom Restoration Act,” have the same protections with only minor tweaks in the definition order. Both would protect student journalists at public and private schools, grades six through 12, as well as public university students. The language would additionally protect student media advisers from retaliation and would require each school board to adopt a student media policy no stricter than the bill.
With the end of the session, the bipartisan-supported bills both died in the House Committee on Higher Education. However, advocates are looking forward to an earlier start in 2027.
“The Georgia team worked hard to get a bill introduced this year, and we were super excited to get support from both sides of the aisle on it,” said Lerner, who is a senior at Midtown High School. “While it didn’t pass this time, we are hopeful that its introduction will be good momentum for the next legislative session. In the meantime, myself, and the rest of the Georgia coalition, will continue to fight for student press freedoms.”
The 2027 session will be the start of Georgia’s next two-year legislative cycle, meaning bills filed in 2027 can carry over into the 2028 session. This gives advocates two years, if necessary, to work on the bill without having to start over.
“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned through this journey is that our rights are only as strong as the people willing to defend them, and in Georgia, there seems to be a team of students, educators, legislators and community leaders fighting to make sure that our constitutional rights may be exercised each day,” said Jones, who is a junior at Richmond Hill High School. “I have hope for Georgia that one day, our student journalists will be fully protected and able to report on their community’s most pressing issues without fear of censorship.”
Want to be a New Voices Student Leader in your state? Applications for the 2026 New Voices Student Leaders Institute are now open! Learn more.
About New Voices: New Voices is a student-led, nonpartisan movement working to end censorship of student media by passing state laws that protect students’ right to report freely. The Student Press Law Center powers this movement by convening coalitions, educating lawmakers, sharing model policies and equipping students with the training and confidence they need to stand up for press freedom.