The Georgia General Assembly took a step closer to regulating private swimming lessons with the passage of the Izzy Act in the state Senate on Wednesday.
Named after 4-year-old Israel “Izzy” Scott, who drowned during a private swimming lesson in Burke County on June 14, 2022, the legislation, SB 107, requires the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a model safety plan for private swimming lessons and for instructors to develop a safety plan to implement before offering classes.
State Sens. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, and Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, spoke before the vote on the bill.
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“The best I can tell you is that this will protect Georgia’s children,” Burns said. He also paid tribute to Scott’s family and thanked them for their support and endorsement of the bill.
Jones said he and Burns began discussing the legislation soon after the tragedy.
“After this tragedy happened in the community of Augusta … it really brought the community together,” Jones said. He called on senators to also meet to pass the bill.
The senators did so by a vote of 52-1.
The model safety plan developed by the Department of Health will include proposed student-teacher ratios, secondary instructional supervision, parent and guardian attendance and participation in private instruction, and the attendance and participation of at least one teacher or assistant in CPR certifications. By April 1, 2024, all private swimming instructors would be required to have an aquatic safety plan before offering classes or face a misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $200.
The law now goes to the Georgia House and must be signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp before it becomes law.
The instructor who was teaching the lesson when Scott drowned, Lexie TenHuisen, was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Later that year, the Chronicle reported that Georgia has no laws governing instruction at private pools and most public pools.
