BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 25
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 16, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Julia Brownley, Chair
AB 25 (Hayashi) - As Amended: January 31, 2011
SUBJECT : Athletics: concussions and head injuries.
SUMMARY : Requires a school district that elects to offer
athletics, to implement a concussion and head injury
identification process; and, requires compliance with this
process from all organizations the district authorizes to use
school facilities under the Civic Center Act (CCA).
Specifically, this bill requires:
1)A school district to comply with both of the following if they
elect to offer an athletic program:
a) An athlete who is suspected of sustaining a concussion
or head injury in an athletic activity shall be immediately
removed from the activity, and shall not be permitted to
return to the activity until he or she is evaluated by a
licensed health care provider, trained in the management of
concussions, acting within the scope of his or her
practice; and, the athlete shall not be permitted to return
to the activity until he or she receives written clearance
to return to the activity from a licensed health care
provider.
b) On a yearly basis, a concussion and head injury
information sheet shall be signed and returned by the
athlete and the athlete's parent or guardian prior to the
start of the athlete's season of practice or competition.
2)Organizations that utilize school district facilities under
the CCA for recreational activities, to sign a statement of
compliance with the same policies for the management of
concussion and head injury that school districts must follow,
before school districts can authorize them to use their
facilities.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes school district governing boards to grant the use
of school facilities to various organizations and groups,
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under the CCA. (Education Code 38131)
2)Requires school district governing boards to grant the use of
school facilities to the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire,
Inc., Parent-teachers' associations, and School-community
advisory councils when an alternative location is not
available. Specifies the liability of the school district and
the groups and organizations, respectively. Specifies any
school district authorizing the use of school facilities or
grounds shall be liable for any injury resulting from the
negligence of the district in the ownership and maintenance of
those facilities or grounds. Specifies any group using school
facilities or grounds shall be liable for any injury resulting
from the negligence of that group during the use of those
facilities or grounds. (Education Code 38134)
3)Requires each high school sports coach to complete a coaching
education program developed by his or her school district or
the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) that meets the
guidelines set forth by the High School Coaching Education and
Training Program (HSCTP). (Education Code 49032 and Education
Code 35179.1)
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill is keyed non-fiscal, however, the
Assembly Appropriations Committee has requested to hear this
bill. If this bill is passed by the Assembly Education
Committee, it will be referred to the Committee on
Appropriations to consider the fiscal implications.
COMMENTS : Concussions have serious immediate and long-term
effects. A concussion is a brain injury caused by a blow to the
head or body or from hitting a hard surface, and in only 10% of
cases is it evident from loss of consciousness. This bill seeks
to ensure that K-12 athletes and their parents are aware of the
signs and symptoms of a concussion in order to prevent further
injury. This bill requires that an athlete and their parent or
guardian sign and return a concussion and head injury
information sheet on a yearly basis prior to the start of the
athletic season. This bill also requires that student athletes
suspected of having a concussion are evaluated by a medical
professional before returning to practice, play, or competition.
The bill requires that all participants of youth recreational
activities that take place on school district grounds through
the CCA are aware of signs and symptoms of a concussion and that
they comply with the same medical professional evaluation
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procedures.
This bill promotes awareness of the signs and symptoms of
serious head injuries, especially for young athletes who are
more vulnerable to greater injury. This increased understanding
provides youth participating in athletics with safeguards
against long-term injuries that result from concussion and head
injury. One important safeguard the bill provides is in
bringing attention to parents of the signs and symptoms of
concussion, which helps parents advocate for their children when
these health issues arise and assists parents manage head injury
outside of school. In addition to educating student-athletes
and parents on concussion and head injury, the bill further
protects athletes by ensuring that they will be removed from
practice or play if they sustain a concussion or head injury.
Current CIF policy ensures student-athletes do not return to
practice or competition until evaluated by a healthcare
professional; however this only covers about 1 million students
between 14-18 years old. The bill widens this policy to include
the 3 million students between 6-14 years old playing youth
sports.
Return to Play Policies in California : CIF recently adopted a
policy requiring high school students suspected of sustaining a
concussion to be removed from practice or competition and not
return to play until they are appropriately evaluated. This is
because more severe symptoms of concussion may not be apparent
until hours after impact. The CIF rules however, only govern
grade 9-12 athletics, while this bill implements a similar
policy for all K-12 athletics, as well as for all recreational
activities held on school grounds. Specifically, CIF's by-laws
state, "A student-athlete who is suspected of sustaining a
concussion or head injury in a practice or game shall be removed
from competition at that time for the remainder of the day. A
student-athlete who has been removed from play may not return to
play until the athlete is evaluated by a licensed health care
provider trained in the evaluation and management of concussion
and receives written clearance to return to play from that
health care provider." CIF's rules are slightly different than
what is required by this bill in that students must be removed
from play for the rest of the day if they are suspected of
concussion or head injury. To ensure the safety of youth
suspected of experiencing a concussion or head injury, staff
recommends the bill be amended to mirror CIF's rules and
explicitly specify that students should be removed for the
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remainder of the day.
Coaches Training : The bill creates the preventive measure of
requiring coaches and supervisors to be aware of athletes who
they suspect of having sustained a concussion or head injury and
to remove them from practice or games to undergo evaluation by a
doctor. The bill however, does not require coaches to receive
training in identifying signs of concussion or head injury.
Previous legislation such as AB 1646 (Hayashi) from 2010
included mandated training for coaches in concussion and head
injury. CIF's coaches training program under the HSCTP does not
currently include instruction on concussions. CIF currently
offers a free online concussion training course for coaches
where they receive an immediate printed certification upon
completion. Of the 67,929 coaches in California, 1,714 have
taken the online course. The committee should consider how
coaches can be expected to know the signs of a concussion if
they do not receive training on concussion symptoms. Staff
recommends the bill be amended to specify that if a school
district elects to offer an athletic program, then coaches shall
be required to complete CIF's free online concussion course
every two years to ensure coaches have the most up to date
concussion information.
Civic Center Act (CCA) : The CCA details conditions for the use
of school district facilities by groups and organizations. Some
examples of groups that use school facilities include, but are
not limited to, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire, Inc.,
Parent-Teachers' Associations, Boys and Girls Club,
School-community advisory councils, religious organizations,
public agencies, and senior citizens' organizations. The CCA
also specifies the liability for use of school facilities to
both school districts and groups and organizations. Under the
CCA, districts are responsible for liability as it relates to
the maintenance of the school grounds whereas the outside groups
are responsible for liability during the use of the facilities.
This bill requires school districts to collect forms stating
compliance with the policies for the management of concussion
and head injury in athletics from any group using school
facilities or grounds. Some districts receive and process a
high volume of requests for use of their facilities. For
example, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
processes over 2,500 school facility requests annually, which
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translates to 30,500 daily uses. What would happen if even one
of these forms were misplaced or is not collected, by accident?
It is unclear whether additional liability, beyond what exists
in statute, would fall on districts if someone is injured and
the compliance form is misplaced or not collected.
In one section of the bill, it requires submission of compliance
forms from groups using school district facilities for
"supervised recreational activities" and in a separate section,
the bill requires the compliance forms from groups using
facilities for "any youth athletic activity." Because it is
unclear whether "supervised recreational activities" and "youth
athletic activities" refer to the same types of groups, staff
recommends a technical amendment to conform the term "youth
athletic activity" to the current definition of "supervised
recreational activity."
Other State Laws : According to information provided by the
authors' staff, this bill is modeled after recently enacted
legislation in Washington State. Washington's "Zackery Lystedt
Law" requires all athletes under the age of 18 who are suspected
of having a concussion to get written consent from a licensed
medical provider trained in evaluating a concussion before
returning to play. The Washington State law also requires
organizations and groups to show proof of insurance before being
allowed to use school district facilities.
Arguments in Support : According to the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), "these policies
ensure that young athlete's health is most important and that
athletes will be prevented from further injury." According to
the California Chiropractic Association (CCA), "twenty-one
percent of all traumatic brain injuries are sports-related.
While not all head injuries can be prevented, the effects can be
mitigated by knowing when it is safe to return to play."
According to the California State Parent Teacher Association
(PTA), "the provisions of this bill that require parents to
receive concussion awareness information and sign a receipt
acknowledging they have read this information are important
steps in protecting our student athletes."
Committee Amendments : Staff recommends the bill be amended in
the following ways:
1)Prohibit athletes suspected of having experienced a concussion
during a game or practice from returning to the practice or
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game for the remainder of the day, in order to ensure the
athlete's safety.
2)Require CIF to include concussion and head injury training for
coaches as part of the California High School Coaching
Education and Training Program.
3)If a school district elects to offer an athletic program, then
coaches shall be required to obtain a free online concussion
and head injury training certificate through the National
Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) every two
years to ensure coaches have the most up to date concussion
information.
4)Technical and conforming amendments to clarify that "all
recreational activities" performed on a school campus under
the CCA shall comply with this measure.
Previous Legislation : AB 1646 (Hayashi) in 2010, which was held
on the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file, would
have required training for coaches to be able to identify
symptoms of head and neck injury. The additional training would
have been incorporated into coaches' first aid certification
renewal.
AB 1647 (Hayashi) which was vetoed by the Governor in 2010,
would have established certification and training requirements
for athletic trainers. The bill would have also prohibited
individuals from calling themselves athletic trainers unless
they met those requirements.
The Governor vetoed this bill with the following message:
This bill is similar to legislation I have vetoed twice
before in the past because there is no evidence that
regulating the use of the term "certified athletic trainer"
poses any threat to the public health and safety.
AB 1893 (Hayashi) which was held in the Assembly Education
Committee in 2010, would have required all high school spirit
activities (HSSA) coaches to have valid certification in CPR and
first aid, including an understanding of signs, symptoms, and
appropriate emergency action steps regarding potentially
catastrophic injury, including but not limited to, head and neck
injury and concussion. Pupils participating in HSSA who
experience or show signs of trauma or other injury would have
needed to obtain a release from the treating provider before
resuming spirit activities.
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AB 533 (Hayashi) in 2009, which was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file, would have required
training for coaches to be able to identify symptoms of head and
neck injury. The training would have been incorporated into
coaches' first aid certification renewal.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Alameda County Superintendent of Schools, Sheila Jordon
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME), AFL-CIO
American Red Cross, California Chapters
Brain Injury Association of California (BIACAL)
California Athletic Trainers' Association (CATA)
California Chiropractic Association (CCA)
California Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
California School Employees Association (CSEA), AFL-CIO
California Teachers Association (CTA)
Consumer Attorneys of California
The National Football League (NFL)
Two Individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Tania Herrera and Chelsea Kelley / ED.
/ (916) 319-2087