BILL ANALYSIS |
|
C.S.H.B. 897 |
|
By: Zerwas |
|
Public Education |
|
Committee Report (Substituted) |
|
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
According to interested parties, the survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which can be caused by a variety of accidents and ailments, is perilously low, making the need for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training apparent. The parties contend that adding CPR training to Texas' education curriculum would add more than a million trained responders to the state population every few years, potentially saving thousands of lives. C.S.H.B. 897 seeks to ensure that students in grades 7 through 12 are trained in CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator before graduation.
|
||||||||
|
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the State Board of Education in SECTION 1 of this bill.
|
||||||||
|
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 897 amends the Education Code to require the State Board of Education (SBOE) by rule to require instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), rather than including such instruction as part of the essential knowledge and skills of the required health curriculum, and to specify grades 7 through 12 as the grade levels at which the instruction is required. The bill requires a school district and open-enrollment charter school to provide instruction to students in CPR and the use of an AED in a manner consistent with law and SBOE rules, removes a requirement that a private school provide such instruction, and specifies that the students to whom instruction is to be provided are those in grades 7 through 12. The bill requires such a student to receive this instruction at least once before graduation and authorizes the instruction to be provided as a part of any course.
C.S.H.B. 897 authorizes a school administrator to waive the CPR and AED curriculum requirement for an eligible student who has a disability. The bill requires the CPR and AED instruction to include training on these topics developed by the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross or developed using nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines for emergency cardiovascular care and incorporating psychomotor skills, defined in the bill as hands-on practice to support cognitive learning, to support the instruction.
C.S.H.B. 897 authorizes a school district or an open-enrollment charter school to use qualified individuals to provide CPR and AED instruction and training and sets out examples of such individuals. The bill specifies that such instruction is not required to result in CPR or AED certification but does require a course instructor to be authorized to provide the instruction by the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, or a similar nationally recognized association if the instruction is intended to result in such certification. The bill's provisions apply beginning with the 2014-2015 school year.
|
||||||||
|
EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.
|
||||||||
|
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 897 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the original and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
|