BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 25
AUTHOR: Hayashi
AMENDED: May 27, 2011
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 22, 2011
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Concussions and head injuries.
SUMMARY
This bill requires a school district that elects to offer athletics
to require that an athlete suspected of having a concussion or head
injury to be removed from the activity and be cleared by a health
care provider before returning to the activity. Any group that uses
school facilities or grounds for supervised recreational activities
must also comply with these requirements.
BACKGROUND
Current law, known as the Civic Center Act:
1) Authorizes school districts to grant the use of school
facilities or grounds to various organizations and groups for
specified purposes, including supervised recreational
activities. (Education Code § 38131)
2) Requires school districts to grant the use of school facilities
or grounds to non-profit organizations and to clubs or
associations organized to promote youth and school activities,
including the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire,
parent-teachers' associations, and school-community advisory
councils. (EC § 38134)
3) Requires any school district that authorizes the use of
facilities or grounds to be liable for any injury resulting
from the negligence of the district in the ownership and
maintenance of those facilities or grounds. Any group using
the facilities or grounds is liable for any injuries resulting
AB 25
Page 2
from the negligence of that group during the use of those
facilities or grounds. The districts and the group are each to
bear the cost of insuring against its respective risks, and
must each bear the costs of defending itself against claims
arising from those risks. (EC § 38134)
The California Interscholastic Federation's Bylaw 313 requires a
student-athlete who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or head
injury in a practice or game to be removed from competition at that
time for the remainder of the day. A student-athlete who has been
removed from play is prohibited from returning to play until the
athlete is evaluated by a licensed health care provider trained in
education and management of concussion and receives written
clearance to return to play from that health care provider. A
Question & Answer is listed below Bylaw 313, indicating that the
scope of practice for a "licensed health care provider" will limit
the evaluation to a medical doctor or doctor of osteopathy.
ANALYSIS
This bill requires a school district that elects to offer athletics
to require that an athlete suspected of having a concussion or head
injury to be removed from the activity and be cleared by a health
care provider before returning to the activity. Any group that uses
school facilities or grounds for supervised recreational activities
must also comply with these requirements. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires:
a) A school district that elects to offer an athletic
program to comply with all of the following:
i) An athlete who is suspected of sustaining a
concussion or head injury in an athletic activity
shall be immediately removed from the activity for
the remainder of the day.
ii) The athlete shall not be permitted to
return to the activity until he or she is evaluated
by a licensed health care provider, trained in the
AB 25
Page 3
management of concussions, acting within the scope of
his or her practice. The athlete shall not be
permitted to return to the activity until he or she
receives written clearance to return to the activity
from that licensed health care provider.
iii) 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.
a) Groups that utilize school district facilities or
grounds for recreational activities to provide a statement
of compliance with the policies for the management of
concussion and head injury described above.
1) Exempts an athlete engaging in an athletic activity during the
regular schoolday or as part of a physical education course.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Purpose of the bill . According to the author, "What may appear
to be a minor blow to the head can have serious, even fatal,
consequences. Concussions have serious immediate and long-term
effects, especially on young athletes. While not all head
injuries can be prevented, the effects can be mitigated by
knowing when it is safe to return to play. Although the
California Interscholastic Federation recently adopted a policy
requiring high school students suspected of sustaining a
concussion to leave play until they are appropriately
evaluated, this does not reach all student athletes."
2) Existing policy for high school athletics . The California
Interscholastic Federation's (CIF) Bylaw 313 is nearly
identical to this bill's provisions relative to the removal of
an athlete from play and clearance from a health care provider.
The CIF rules govern high school athletics; this bill
essentially extends the CIF rules to all K-12 athletics (team
sports), as well as to all supervised recreational activities
AB 25
Page 4
held on school grounds.
3) Civic Center Act . This bill requires any group that uses
school facilities or grounds for supervised recreational
activities to comply with the policies for the management of
concussion and head injury established in this bill. This bill
appears to apply to groups such as sports leagues and after
school programs rather than the Girl Scouts, but it is not
clear what "supervised recreational activities" includes. If
the Girl Scouts ever do any type of organized group physical
activity, will they be required to comply with this bill?
Should after school programs required to comply? Should this
bill apply only to sports teams and leagues that use fields at
schools? Staff recommends that the scope of this bill be
clarified.
4) Liability . Current law provides that school districts are
liable for any injury resulting from the negligence of the
district in the ownership and maintenance of the facilities or
grounds, and groups using the facilities or grounds are liable
for any injuries resulting from the negligence of that group
during the use of those facilities or grounds. This bill
requires groups using school facilities or grounds to provide a
statement of compliance with policies for the management of
concussion and head injury. Concerns have been raised that
districts could be held responsible for ensuring groups using
school facilities or grounds are actually in compliance,
although the bill does not specifically require districts to
ensure outside groups comply. Staff recommends an amendment to
specify that districts are to collect the statements of
compliance but are not required to ensure that groups using
school facilities or grounds are in compliance with concussion
policies.
5) Recognizing a concussion or head injury . This bill requires an
athlete suspected of having a concussion or head injury to be
removed from the activity for at least the remainder of the
day. This bill does not address training in the recognition of
concussions or head injuries. Will coaches and other
supervising adults know how to recognize a concussion?
AB 25
Page 5
6) Fiscal impact . While this bill is flagged as being non-fiscal,
according to the Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis,
this bill would impose:
a) General Fund (Proposition 98) costs, of at least
$150,000, to school districts to develop a concussion and
head injury policy for grades K-12. The majority of these
costs would be one-time, but there would be on-going costs
for record keeping duties.
Even though school districts participating in CIF sports adhere
to a similar policy, there is a potential for them to file
a state mandate claim for the development of the policy
and on-going record keeping associated with the
requirements of this bill. These General Fund
(Proposition 98) costs would be in the range of $150,000
to $200,000 and in addition to the costs referenced above.
b) General Fund administrative costs to the California
Department of Education (CDE), of approximately $50,000,
to ensure school districts are complying with requirements
of this bill.
c) Potential increased liability costs in the tens to
hundreds of thousands of dollars to school districts
regarding compliance with the requirements added to the
Civic Center Act by this bill. Current law requires
school districts to be liable for any injuries resulting
from the negligence in the ownership and maintenance of
their facilities or grounds. This bill requires school
districts to ensure any organization using their
facilities under the Civic Center Act provide a statement
of compliance regarding a concussion/head injury policy
for athletes. This requirement expands the liability
issues for school districts to potentially include the
injury of an athlete if the organization does not comply
with the concussion/head injury policy.
7) Prior legislation . AB 1646 (Hayashi, 2010) and AB 533
(Hayashi, 2009) each would have required training for athletic
AB 25
Page 6
coaches in the identification of symptoms of head and neck
injury. Both bills were held on the Assembly Appropriations
Committee's suspense file.
SUPPORT
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Chiropractic Association
California Interscholastic Federation
California Optometric Association
California School Employees Association
California Speech-Language-Hearing Association
California State PTA
San Francisco Unified School District
OPPOSITION
Contra Costa County Superintendents' Coalition
Riverside County School Superintendents' Association
Riverside Unified School District