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Committee amends and advances bill to fund AEDs and training in rural high schools
Summary
Senate Bill 494 was amended to provide $450,000 from the GROW fund over 2026–2028 to pilot defibrillator (AED) purchases and CPR/AED training for rural high schools; committee approved the amended measure.
The Senate Education Committee amended Senate Bill 494 to increase the pilot appropriation for rural school defibrillator training from $150,000 to $450,000 and to extend the expenditure window to fiscal years 2026 through 2028. Sponsors said the change converts an initial one-year pilot into a three-year program to cover equipment and training in rural high schools.
Sponsor Senator David Campos told the committee the bill would appropriate $450,000 from the GROW program fund to the Public Education Department (PED) to contract with a national organization for CPR/AED guidance and training and to procure automated external defibrillators. Mahesh Seeta of the American Heart Association testified that every minute without CPR reduces survival by about 10%, and longer EMS response times in rural areas make in-school AEDs and trained staff more urgent.
Committee members pressed for implementation details: which schools and personnel would receive training, procurement paths for AED units, and program duration. Witnesses said PED would run a procurement process; a district could decide how the cardiac emergency response plan is staffed (nurse, coach, security staff) and training would follow established national guidelines. Witnesses estimated a basic AED unit costs roughly $1,200–$1,500 and batteries/pads and maintenance can add around $100 per year. The bill sponsor and committee adopted a friendly amendment to change the appropriation amount and the bill language to permit multi-year expenditures.
Senators debated whether the $450,000 is adequate to cover the number of rural high schools the pilot targets. Supporters described the appropriation as a start and said the GROW fund balance and future supplemental funding could expand coverage after the pilot. After adopting the amendments the committee recorded a do-pass recommendation for the substitute with the amended appropriation and multi-year expenditure language.
The committee directed staff to reflect the amendments in the bill language; PED would be responsible for contracting, procurement, and communicating criteria to districts if the bill becomes law.
