BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2182
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|Author: |Mullin |
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|Version: |May 31, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 22, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin DelCastillo |
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Subject: School athletics: neurocognitive testing
SUMMARY
This bill, contingent upon an appropriation, establishes the
Neurocognitive Testing Pilot Grant Program to provide funds to
Title I schools for the purpose of neurocognitive testing. As
part of the pilot program, this bill requires school districts,
charter schools, and private schools that elect to offer sports
programs to collect and maintain data on traumatic brain
injuries and concussions sustained during these activities.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Requires a school district, charter school, or private
school that elects to offer an athletic program to
immediately remove from athletic activity for the remainder
of the day an athlete who is suspected of sustaining a
concussion or head injury. Prohibits the athlete from
returning to the activity until he or she has been
evaluated by a licensed health care provider and receives a
written clearance from the health care provider.
2) Provides that if the licensed health care provider
determines that the athlete sustained a concussion or a
head injury, the athlete shall complete a graduated
return-to-play protocol of no less than seven days in
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duration under the supervision of a licensed health care
provider.
3) Annually requires a concussion and head injury
information sheet to be signed by the athlete's parent
prior to participation in athletic activity.
(Education Code § 49475)
4) Requires each high school sports coach to complete a
coaching education program developed by the employing
school district or the California Interscholastic
Federation that meets specified guidelines.
(Education Code § 49032)
5) Requires high school athletic coaches to complete
training regarding the identification of concussions.
(Education Code § 35179.1)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Establishes the Neurocognitive Testing Pilot Grant Program
to provide grant funding to Title I schools for the
purposes of neurocognitive testing.
2) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
establish an application process for school districts to
apply on behalf of Title I schools interested in
participating in the pilot program. Requires the grants to
be apportioned under the pilot program to a total of three
school districts, which shall comprise one school district
in each of the following regions of the state: southern,
central, and northern. Requires each school district to
commit to participating in the pilot program for four
school years in order to track pupils tested in grade 9
through completion of high school.
3) Requires the grant funds to be used for the following:
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a) Baseline and postinjury neurocognitive
testing of pupils attending a Title I school serving
any of grades nine to 12, inclusive, participating in
interscholastic athletics in any of the following
sports: baseball, basketball, cheerleading, field
hockey, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer,
softball, volleyball, and wrestling. The baseline
neurocognitive testing shall take place at the
beginning of an athletic season before any
competitions have taken place and after any head
injury, and shall be repeated at intervals not
exceeding 24 months for as long as the athlete is
enrolled at the school, provided that the athlete is
still participating in one or more of the 12 specified
sports. The baseline and postinjury neurocognitive
testing shall be administered by individuals who have
been trained to administer these tests. These
individuals may include, but are not necessarily
limited to, employees of a participating school
district.
b) Postinjury neurocognitive testing of an
athlete who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or
head injury in an interscholastic athletic activity.
Postinjury neurocognitive tests shall be conducted
within 72 hours of the occurrence of the injury.
c) Training of personnel or to consult
with experts on the interpretation of postinjury test
results. The parent or guardian of each athlete
participating in any of the sports shall also be
notified, in writing, that the results of baseline and
postinjury neurocognitive testing conducted on his or
her child are available to the child's parent or
guardian upon request. These neurocognitive testing
results may also be shared with the athlete's
physician upon the request of the athlete's parent or
guardian.
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d) Reporting to the county office of
education data that includes an overview of the
baseline neurocognitive testing conducted for each of
the sports specified in the bill and an overview of
normal, abnormal, and follow-up postinjury
neurocognitive tests. The data shall also include the
number of athletes who discontinue participation in
the sport following a concussion and postinjury
testing.
4) Defines "neurocognitive testing" as a comprehensive
evaluation of a person's cognitive status by specific
neurologic domains, including, but not necessarily limited
to, memory, attention, problem solving, language,
visuospatial, processing speed, motor, and emotion.
5) Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to,
based on the data collected by the county office of
education located in the area of participating school
districts, prepare a report including, but not necessarily
limited to, all of the following information:
a) The number of athletes who received the baseline
tests.
b) The number of athletes who received the
postinjury tests.
c) The number of athletes who had taken
the tests and discontinued participation in any of the
specified sports due to concussion injuries.
6) Requires the report to be submitted to the appropriate
policy committees of the Legislature on or before December
31, 2021, and to comply with Government Code Section 9795.
7) Specifies that the operation of this bill is contingent
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upon the appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act or
another statute.
8) Specifies that the program shall remain in effect until
January 1, 2022, unless a later enacted statute, that is
enacted before January 1, 2022, deletes or extends that
date.
9) Requires a school district, charter school, or private
school that elects to offer an interscholastic athletic
program to collect and maintain data on traumatic brain
injuries and concussions sustained by any of its pupils
during an interscholastic athletic activity. Requires this
data to be reported periodically to the appropriate county
office of education, but provides that the names of the
injured pupils be kept confidential. Requires the county
office of education to compile and retain the data for
summary and analysis as it deems necessary.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. The author indicates that the number
of reported sports-related concussions among student
athletes has risen dramatically, including a doubling
between 2002 and 2012. Further, "athletes who sustain
concussions are at greater risk of chronic traumatic
encephalopathy, depression, early onset dementia, and
long-term brain damage. Research shows that the human
brain does not fully develop until a person's mid-20's and
therefore, young athletes experiencing head injuries are at
greater risk of long-term brain damage if injured during
the critical stages of brain development." This bill is
intended to generate data to provide a better understanding
of the frequency of sports-related head injuries among
athletes.
2) What is neurocognitive testing? The bill defines
neurocognitive testing as a comprehensive evaluation of a
person's cognitive status by specific neurologic domains,
including, but not necessarily limited to, memory,
attention, problem solving, language, visuospatial,
processing speed, motor, and emotion. It is used to
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evaluate brain processing and can be conducted with pencil
and paper, or with computerized testing. Testing can be
used as a baseline to gauge an athlete's condition
post-injury relative to performance before injury. As
such, it can be a factor in making decisions as to whether
and when an athlete should return to activity and what
kinds of activity may be safe for that athlete.
3) Concussions in sports. The dangers of concussions and head
injuries in sports have been a growing concern, with
frequent news reports of athletes, primarily football
players, sustaining traumatic and lasting injuries. A
Purdue University study in 2015 indicated lasting brain
changes among high school football players, even without
concussions, and that changes were not completely healed at
the end of an off-season. The study used brain scans and
changes in brain chemistry to track players more
extensively than neurocognitive testing.
The growing awareness of concussion dangers has led
California to enact a series of bills to protect students
by limiting full-contact practices; requiring education and
information for coaches, pupils and their parents; and
protocols for removing students from activity after injury
and for returning them to play.
A few school districts in San Mateo County have sought
stronger protections for student athletes and have, in some
cases, paid for neurocognitive testing. The San Mateo
County Civil Grand Jury studied the issue and recommended,
among other things, that all districts in the county
serving high school students provide neurocognitive testing
for all student athletes, and recommended that the
districts seek funding and collect data. The grand jury
report noted that a leading purveyor of the tests charges
school districts $1,200 for 800 baseline tests. These
tests are computerized, with results received automatically
by the testing company.
4) Limits on practice and full-contact. The California
Interscholastic Federation (CIF) governs competitive
athletics in grades 9-12. The CIF is comprised of 10
Sections across the State; each Section has a governing
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body that, among other things, adopts rules and regulations
in addition to those promulgated by the State CIF. Each
Section establishes its own rules governing the scope of
team practice. It appears that five of the Sections allow
football teams to conduct full-contact practice during the
off-season while five do not allow full-contact practice
during the off-season. For example, the Sac-Joaquin
Section allows full-contact football camp during the summer
and the Southern Section prohibits full-contact practice or
camps during the summer.
The CIF recently adopted Bylaw 506 which, effective August
1, 2014, limits all athletic teams to no more than 18 hours
of practice time per week and no more than four hours in
any single day.
5) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would result in the following:
a) Proposition 98/General Fund cost pressures,
potentially in the tens of thousands to fund the pilot
program. The program is contingent upon an
appropriation in the budget act.
b) General Fund costs to the California Department
of Education (CDE) of approximately $264,000 to
administer the grant program for four years. The CDE
would be required to develop, implement, monitor,
collect and analyze data, and prepare reports to the
Legislature on the findings for each grant awarded.
c) Unknown, potentially reimbursable Proposition
98/General Fund state mandated costs, likely in the
thousands of dollars, for county offices of education
to compile and retain data for summary and analysis.
SUPPORT
California Concussion Institute
California Optometric Association
California Psychological Association
Consumer Attorneys of California
San Mateo Union High School District
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OPPOSITION
None received.
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