BILL NUMBER: SB 63 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 17, 2011
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 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.
The bill would also make specified findings and declarations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: 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)
(f) Increasing access to AEDs in public schools will
save lives.
(h)
(g) More Americans die each year from sudden cardiac
arrest than from cancer and car accidents combined.
(i)
(h) California already requires health studios to
acquire and maintain, and train personnel in the use of, an AED.
(j)
(i) 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)
(j) 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)
(k) 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) It is the intent of the Legislature that all public
high schools acquire and maintain at least one automatic external
defibrillator (AED) and consider installing AEDs in multiple
locations .
(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 compliance with all regulations
covering AED placement, in a centralized location on campus for
the purpose of preventing deaths resulting from sudden cardiac
arrests among pupils, faculty, employees, 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 a
school-sponsored athletic events that occur
event that occurs at the school campus.
(3) Ensure and maintain records of both
all of the following:
(A) That the AED is maintained and regularly tested according to
the operation and maintenance guidelines set forth by the
manufacturer , the American Heart Association, and the American
Red Cross, and according to any applicable rules and regulations set
forth by the governmental authority under the federal Food and Drug
Administration and any other applicable state and federal authority
.
(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. Records of those checks shall be maintained.
(C) That a person who renders emergency care or treatment to a
person in cardiac arrest by using an AED activates the emergency
medical services system as soon as possible, and reports the use of
an AED to the local emergency medical services agency.
(4) Prepare a written medical emergency preparedness plan that
describes the procedures to be followed in the event of an
a medical emergency that may involve the use of
a medical an AED. The written plan
shall include, but not be limited to, immediate calling of the
emergency 911 telephone number when an AED is used.
(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 trained
school employee may administer an AED in accordance with the school's
medical emergency preparedness plan.
(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 provided that the public
high school fully complies with subdivision (b) , 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.
(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 interscholastic
athletic sporting event held at any location, including a nonpublic
school facility.