HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 808        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3478

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act establishing a student athlete sports injury commission..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, there is hereby established a Sports Injury Commission to investigate and report on the incidence of sports injuries in elementary, middle and high school children.  Said commission shall collect data of the types of sports injuries, frequency, severity, identify high-risk sports, and long term impact of sports injuries on young athletes, including but not limited to the rate and type of eye, facial and head injuries incurred and the types of sports most frequently associated with such injuries.  The commission shall develop strategic and legislative recommendations to reduce the incidence of sports injuries including the mandatory use of protective eye wear and/or headgear in all high-risk sports. 

The commission shall be comprised of the House and Senate Chairs of the Joint Committee on Health Care, who shall serve as co-chairs of the commission; the House and Senate Chairs of the Joint Committee on Education; the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health or his designee; the Commissioner of the Department of Education; and one representative from each of the following organizations: the Massachusetts Society of Eye Physicians and Surgeons; the Massachusetts Medical Society; the Massachusetts College of Emergency Room Physicians; the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics; the Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians; the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association; the Massachusetts School Nurses Association; the Massachusetts Dental Society, the Massachusetts Coaches Association, the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts and two high school students.