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Committee updates AED requirements in John Wesley Foster Act to increase access at school athletic spaces
Summary
House Bill 416, an update to the John Wesley Foster Act, was given a favorable report after sponsors said the bill would require clearly marked, unlocked automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) at all athletic event spaces on school property and at school‑sponsored athletic practices and events.
The committee gave a favorable report on House Bill 416, which updates the John Wesley Foster Act to require that an automatic external defibrillator (AED) be clearly marked and kept in an unlocked, easily accessible location at each athletic event space on school property and at any school‑sponsored athletic event or practice where students participate.
Sponsor remarks noted national statistics about pediatric out‑of‑hospital cardiac arrests and the effect of AEDs. The sponsor told the committee that more than 23,000 children under 18 experience cardiac arrest outside hospitals each year in the U.S., about 40 percent of those events are sports‑related, and in schools with AEDs roughly 70 percent of children survive cardiac arrest — a survival rate the sponsor said is seven times the overall survival rate. The sponsor also said delivering a shock within three to five minutes maximizes survival chances.
Representative Gray offered a favorable report and thanked advocates who helped bring the measure forward, including a reference to the Terrell Spencer Act and to Heather, the mother whose loss the John Wesley Foster Act memorializes. Representative Gray moved for a favorable report; Representative Fincher seconded. The committee approved the motion by voice vote with no recorded opposition.
The bill text presented to the committee adds language specifying that AEDs “shall be clearly marked and easily accessible in an unlocked location, accessible in an unlocked location at each athletic event space on school property, including but not limited to stadiums, athletic fields, gymnasiums, practice fields, and weight rooms, even when the event space is not in use, and any school sponsored athletic event or athletic practice in which students are participating.”
No funding source or enforcement mechanism beyond the statutory requirement was specified during the committee discussion. The committee acknowledged the bill grows out of prior legislation and the death referenced by the sponsor; a parent who lost a child to a cardiac event was invited to stand and was thanked by members during the meeting.
Votes and next steps: the committee gave House Bill 416 a favorable report and advanced it from the committee; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript.
