BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 588
AUTHOR: Fox
AMENDED: May 13, 2013
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: June 12, 2013
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
NOTE : This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Appropriations. A "do pass" motion should
include referral to the Committee on Appropriations.
SUBJECT : Concussions and head injuries: private and
charter schools.
SUMMARY
This bill extends existing concussion policies to private
and charter schools, and requires the currently-required
concussion and head injury information sheet to contain
specific information.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires school districts that elect to offer
athletics to:
1) Immediately remove from athletic activity for the
remainder of the day an athlete who is suspected of
sustaining a concussion or head injury. The athlete
must not be permitted to return to the activity until
he or she has been evaluated by a licensed health care
provider, and receives a written clearance to return
to the activity.
2) Annually require a concussion and head injury
information sheet to be signed by the athlete's parent
prior to participation in athletic activity.
(Education Code § 49475)
Current law requires each high school sports coach to
complete a coaching education program developed by the
employing school district or the California Interscholastic
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Federation that meets specified guidelines. (EC § 49032)
Current law requires high school athletic coaches to
complete training regarding the identification of
concussions. (EC § 35179.1)
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 concussions, 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 extends existing concussion policies to private
and charter schools, and requires the currently-required
concussion and head injury information sheet to contain
specific information. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires charter schools and private schools that
elect to offer an athletic program to:
a) Immediately remove from athletic
activity for the remainder of the day an athlete
who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or
head injury. The athlete must not be permitted
to return to the activity until he or she has
been evaluated by a licensed health care provider
who is trained in the management of concussions
and acting within the scope of his or her
practice.
b) Prohibit the student athlete from
returning to the athletic activity until he or
she receives written clearance to return to the
activity from that licensed health care provider.
c) Annually require a concussion and
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head injury information sheet to be signed and
returned by the athlete's parent prior to
participation in athletic activity.
2) Requires the head injury information sheet to include,
at a minimum, information regarding concussions and
their symptoms.
3) Provides that the head injury information sheet may be
available in a digital format, including e-mail or an
Internet website.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author,
"Currently, public school student athletes and their
parents must receive and acknowledge written
information regarding head injury each year. Schools
also must remove athletes from play if it is suspected
that a concussion may have occurred in a school sport
event. As of the commencement of the 2012 school
year, half a million students - eight percent of our
state's children - attend private schools and are
unprotected by the common sense rules that apply to
public school students."
2) Existing policy for high school athletics . The
California Interscholastic Federation's (CIF) Bylaw
313 is nearly identical to current law relative to the
immediate removal of an athlete from play and
clearance from a health care provider prior to
returning to play. The California Interscholastic
Federation (CIF) rules govern high school athletics;
this bill essentially extends the CIF rules (and
current law for public schools) to all K-12 athletics
(team sports) as well as to all supervised
recreational activities held on school grounds where
participants are students at a private school or
charter school.
3) Exemption . Current law exempts athletic activity
during the regular schoolday or as part of a physical
education course from the existing concussion policy.
This bill makes no change to that provision.
4) Recognizing a concussion or head injury . Current law
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requires each high school sports coach (does not
differentiate between public, charter, or private
schools) to complete a coaching education program
developed by the employing school district or the
California Interscholastic Federation that meets
specified guidelines. Current law also requires high
school athletic coaches to complete training regarding
the identification of concussions.
5) Fiscal impact . This bill is flagged non-fiscal but
has been double-referred to the Senate Appropriations
Committee. According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee's analysis of legislation requiring public
schools to comply with the concussion policy (AB 25,
Hayashi, Chapter 456, 2011):
"While the provisions of this bill do not constitute a
reimbursable state mandate, because school districts
are not required to offer athletics, it functionally
mandates new activities for the majority of school
districts which provide athletics in one or more
schools; they must either comply or terminate their
athletics programs. Enforcement would be done by
individual schools, at the local level, and any
enforcement activities would be costs to those
entities not reimbursable by the state. By increasing
the enforcement of medical examinations for middle and
high school athletes, this bill will likely result
increased state costs in the Medi-Cal and Healthy
Families programs; these programs provide no-cost and
low-cost (respectively) medical coverage for children
whose families meet certain income eligibility
requirements." Regarding the head injury information
sheet and enforcing compliance for all athletic
activities on school grounds, "Both requirements on
schools would likely result in workload increases to
develop policies and train staff on new rules. While
schools are only required to receive and retain forms,
it is likely that they will need to verify information
and completeness of forms filed to avoid potential
liability. Any enforcement activities and costs would
not be reimbursable."
SUPPORT
California Academy of Physician Assistants
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California Federation of Teachers
California Optometric Association
Los Angeles County Office of Education
The Guidance Charter School
OPPOSITION
None on file.