BILL NUMBER: SB 63 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 16, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 22, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Price
JANUARY 5, 2011
An act to add Section 49416 to the Education Code, relating to
pupil health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 63, as amended, Price. Pupil and personnel health: automatic
external defibrillators.
Existing law authorizes a school district or school to provide a
comprehensive program in first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation
training, or both, to pupils and employees, and requires the program
to be developed using specified guidelines.
This bill would require a public school maintaining any of grades
9 to 12, inclusive, to acquire and maintain at least one automatic
external defibrillator (AED) in a centralized location on campus and
to ensure that an AED is available for use at a school-sponsored
athletic event, as that term is defined, by July 1, 2012. The bill
would require the school to check the AED for readiness and
maintain records of those ensure and maintain records
of specified maintenance and readiness checks, as prescribed.
The bill would require the school to prepare a written emergency
preparedness plan for use of an AED and to require all persons
expected to administer an AED in an emergency to complete a
certified specified training course. The
bill would provide that an employee and the school district are not
liable for civil damages resulting from specified uses or nonuses of
an AED, except as provided. By placing additional duties on
public schools to acquire and maintain an AED as specified, this bill
would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) According to the American Red Cross, sudden cardiac arrests
result in the death of approximately 250,000 persons per year in the
United States.
(b) Automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) are designed to
prevent sudden cardiac arrest deaths and access to AEDs would
drastically increase a person's chances of survival.
(c) AEDs are extremely accurate, user-friendly computerized
devices with voice and audio prompts that guide the user through the
critical steps of operation.
(d) Early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and rapid
defibrillation combined with early advanced care dramatically
increases survival rates for a witnessed cardiac arrest.
(e) Almost 95 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before
they reach a hospital or obtain other emergency medical attention.
(f) In communities with strong public access defibrillation
programs, the sudden cardiac arrest survival rate, when
defibrillation and CPR are provided within the first three minutes,
is up to 75 percent.
(g) Increasing access to AEDs in public schools will save lives.
(h) More Americans die each year from sudden cardiac arrest than
from cancer and car accidents combined.
(i) California already requires health studios to acquire and
maintain, and train personnel in the use of, an AED.
(j) The federal government already requires commercial airplanes
to have an AED on board, and a sudden cardiac arrest event is 30
times more likely to occur in a school than on an airplane.
(k) On any given day, 20 percent of the population, both adults
and children, occupy our nation's schools according to the National
Athletic Trainers Association.
(l) An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 schoolaged children die each year
from sudden cardiac arrest. In the United States, one out of every
100,000 to 300,000 high school athletes will die each year from
sudden cardiac arrest.
(m) The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recently
published the findings of a renowned three-year study on public
access to defibrillation, which concluded that AEDs double the chance
of survival of a sudden cardiac arrest victim.
SEC. 2. Section 49416 is added to the Education Code, to read:
49416. (a) On or before July 1, 2012, a public school maintaining
any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, shall do both of the following:
(1) Acquire and maintain at least one automatic external
defibrillator (AED) in a centralized location on campus for the
purpose of preventing deaths resulting from sudden cardiac arrests
among pupils, faculty, and visitors.
(2) Ensure that an AED is available for use at a school-sponsored
athletic event.
(b) The school shall check the AED ensure
and maintain records of both of the following:
(1) That the AED is maintained and regularly tested according to
the operation and maintenance guidelines set forth by the
manufacturer.
(2) That the AED is checked for
readiness after each use and at least once every 30 days if the AED
has not been used during the preceding 30 days.
The school shall maintain records of these checks.
(c) The school shall prepare a written emergency preparedness plan
that describes the procedures to be followed in the event of an
emergency that may involve the use of an AED. The written plan shall
include, but not be limited to, immediate calling of the emergency
911 telephone number.
(d) The school shall require all persons expected to administer an
AED in an emergency to complete a certified training course
for use of an AED training course in cardiopulmonary
resuscitation and AED use that complies with the regulations adopted
by the Emergency Medical Services Authority and the standards of the
American Heart Association or the American Red Cross . A person
may administer an AED at the discretion of the school.
(e) (1) An employee of a school district who renders emergency
care or treatment is not liable for civil damages resulting from the
use, attempted use, or nonuse of an AED, except as provided in
paragraph (3).
(2) If an employee of a school district uses, attempts to use, or
does not use an AED consistent with the requirements of this section,
to render emergency care or treatment, the employee, school
district, or both are not liable for civil damages resulting from any
act or omission in rendering the emergency care or treatment,
including the use or nonuse of an AED, except as provided in
paragraph (3).
(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply in the case of personal
injury or wrongful death that results from gross negligence or
willful or wanton misconduct on the part of the person who uses,
attempts to use, or maliciously fails to use an AED to render
emergency care or treatment.
(e)
(f) For purposes of this section, a "school-sponsored
athletic event" means a school-sponsored extracurricular athletic
activity, which includes practice for and competition in an
interschool athletic sporting event held at any location, including a
nonpublic school facility.
SEC. 3. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.