BILL NUMBER: SB 63 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2011
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 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 specified
training course state the intent of the Legislature
that all public high schools acquire and maintain at least one
automatic external defibrillator (AED). The bill would authorize a
public high school to solicit and receive nonstate funds to acquire
and maintain an AED. If a public high school decides to acquire and
maintain an AED, or continue to use and maintain an existing AED, the
bill would require the school to comply with specified requirements
. 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.
The bill would also make specified findings and declarations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes
no . State-mandated local program: yes
no .
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)
It is the intent of the Legislature that all public
high schools acquire and maintain at least one automatic external
defibrillator (AED).
(b) A public high school may solicit and receive nonstate funds
to acquire and maintain an AED. These funds shall only be used to
acquire and maintain an AED and to provide training to school
employees regarding use of an AED. If a public high school decides to
acquire and maintain an AED, or continue to use and maintain an
existing AED, the school shall do all of the following:
(1) Place an 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. The AED placed in a centralized location on
campus may serve as the AED that is available for use at
school-sponsored athletic events that occur at the school campus.
(b) The school shall ensure
(3) Ensure and maintain records
of both of the following:
(1)
(A) That the AED is maintained and regularly tested
according to the operation and maintenance guidelines set forth by
the manufacturer.
(2)
(B) 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.
(c) The school shall prepare a written
(4) Prepare a written
medical emergency preparedness plan that describes the
procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency that may
involve the use of an a medical AED.
The written plan shall include, but not be limited to, immediate
calling of the emergency 911 telephone number when an AED is
used .
(d) The school shall require all persons
(5) Require all
school employees expected to administer an AED in an emergency
to complete a 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
trained school employee may administer an AED at
the discretion of the school in accordance with the
school's medical emergency preparedness plan .
(e)
(c) (1) An employee of a school district who renders
emergency care or treatment pursuant to this section 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.
(f)
(d) 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 interscholastic 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.