Georgia's Mason Sells AED Coordination Act: What AED Owners Need To Do Now

On October 19, 2026, The Citizen reported on Fayette County 911's official kickoff of the Mason Sells AED Coordination Act, attended by state officials, community leaders and the Sells family. County centers across Georgia are working through the same rollout. For AED owners, that is the moment a statewide law turns into a specific task: getting each device onto the map a dispatcher actually sees.

The law is named for Mason Sells, who died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2024. His parents, Scott and Rachael Sells, advocated for it at the Capitol, and Sen. Marty Harbin of Tyrone introduced the bill.

What The Law Requires

As reported at the Fayette County kickoff, SB 399 does two things.

• Owners register. Anyone who owns or maintains an AED must register its location with 911. Officials at the kickoff were explicit that this reaches schools, businesses, churches, HOAs and individuals who maintain AEDs, not only large facilities.
• Dispatchers are trained. All 911 operators statewide must receive training in coaching callers through CPR and AED use, with that training due by the end of 2027.

For the exact wording of your obligations and any deadlines that apply to your county, the statute and your local 911 center are the authority. This article covers what the rollout looks like in practice and how to get it done.

What Registration Does On A Real Call

At the Fayette County kickoff, the county showed how registered devices now appear directly on dispatchers' screens through the RapidSOS UNITE platform, drawing on PulsePoint's National Emergency AED Registry. When someone calls about a person who has collapsed, the dispatcher can see the nearest registered AED and direct the caller to it while coaching compressions.

The reverse is the point of the law. A device that is not registered does not appear. The dispatcher cannot send anyone for it, and from the call center's point of view it does not exist, however close it is to the patient.

How To Comply: A Step-By-Step For Georgia Owners

1. Build the list first. For each AED, record the make and model, the serial number, the exact placement in plain words a dispatcher could read aloud ("main lobby, right of the reception desk, wall cabinet"), and the hours that space is actually accessible.

2. Call your county 911 center. Ask which registry it uses and how it wants devices recorded. Fayette County, for example, is using the NEAR registry, where owners can register through the NEAR app or without the app at near-registry.org. Other counties may have their own process, so confirm rather than assume.

3. Register every device, including the easy-to-forget ones. Units bought by a single department, devices in a field house or concession building, and AEDs kept in vehicles are the ones most often missed. Ask your 911 center how it wants mobile and vehicle-mounted units handled, since their location changes.

4. Describe access honestly. A listing that implies round-the-clock access to a building that locks at 4 p.m. sends a caller to a locked door. State the real hours, and if the device needs to be reachable after hours, consider moving it or adding an accessible unit.

5. Assign the record to a role, not a person. Facilities manager, front office or head athletic trainer. Roles survive turnover; personal email addresses do not.

6. Tie the review to a routine you already run. When you check pads and batteries, confirm the registry listing still matches the device's location and the building's hours.

Where Georgia Programs Usually Have Gaps

In our experience, the same few situations account for most stale or missing records:

• A renovation or office move relocated the device and nobody updated the listing.
• The person who set up the program left, and the registration sits under their name.
• A school, church or gym registered the device in the main building, but evening and weekend activity happens in a gym or fellowship hall that is separately locked.
• An organization with several sites registered the headquarters and not the branches.

Each one is a quick fix once it is found. The audit is the work.

If You Operate Outside Georgia Too

Multi-state organizations should register their Georgia devices now to meet the law, and it is worth applying the same standard everywhere. Dispatch-integrated AED registries are spreading, and an unregistered device is invisible to dispatch in any state. For a deeper walkthrough of how registries work nationally and what information you need, see our guide below.

How We Can Help

We have helped organizations build and maintain AED inventories since 2003, and AEDs are our only business. If you need help finding a model or serial number, organizing a multi-site device list for registration, or tracking pad and battery expirations alongside your registry records, call us at 888-541-2337.

Related Reading

• Is Your AED On The Map? How AED Registration Connects Your Device To 911
• Outdoor AED Placement: What Parks, Ball Fields And Trails Need That Indoor Cabinets Do Not
• AED Training For Employees: What Good Preparedness Actually Looks Like

Sources

• The Citizen, "Fayette County 911 Hosts Kickoff for Mason Sells AED Coordination Act," October 19, 2026: thecitizen.com
• Athletic Business, "Georgia Governor Signs Law Requiring All AEDs Be Connected to 911": athleticbusiness.com
• NEAR AED registry: near-registry.org

This article summarizes Georgia's Mason Sells AED Coordination Act as reported during its county rollout and is not legal advice. Confirm your obligations against the statute and with your county 911 center, follow the manufacturer's instructions for your specific AED, and make sure the people expected to use it have current training.