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Senate committee hears bill to require AED accessibility and emergency plans for schools' athletic venues
Summary
Sponsors and medical advocates urged the Senate Education Committee to require accessible automated external defibrillators (AEDs), trained staff, and emergency action plans for school athletic fields and venues, and asked for an appropriation to help under‑resourced schools.
Representative Margaret Dry told the committee House Bill 763 would require schools with grades roughly fourth through 12th to have AEDs "available to" athletic venues when students are participating and to maintain emergency action plans and training for staff.
Dry, an EMT and volunteer American Heart Association trainer, recounted a local cardiac arrest in which a 17‑year‑old was revived on a school athletic field because a nurse and athletic trainers used an on‑site AED. She said a previous fiscal note overstated costs: CPR training is generally biannual, AED unit prices may be substantially lower than the figure used in the fiscal estimate, and many schools already have AEDs. "If the school has AEDs, these [requirements] apply. So if they don't, the rules don't apply," Dry said, adding that a modest appropriation could help under‑resourced schools.
Nancy Vaughn, government relations director for the American Heart Association, backed the bill and cited national statistics: "Of the 23,000 children under 18 who suffer a cardiac arrest every year, about 40 percent of those are sports related," she told the committee, urging accessible placement and equipment maintenance.
Emily Knight, a nurse who works on the Seacoast, said screening programs have found at‑risk children in community screening events (she reported six at‑risk children found among about 700 screened in recent months) and emphasized that every minute without an AED reduces survival chances by roughly 10 percent.
Committee members asked about existing coverage. Witnesses and members said the Department of Safety maintains a registry and that many public schools already have AEDs; testimony suggested the department previously assisted to place AEDs in public schools statewide. Discussion also covered maintenance items such as pad expiration dates and batteries.
The bill requests an appropriation and left the fiscal details for the committee to consider; no roll‑call committee vote is recorded in the provided transcript.
