AN ACT REQUIRING AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS IN SCHOOLS.
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to require forthwith automated external defibrillators in schools, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.
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. Chapter 71 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 54B the following section:-
Section 54C. (a) Each school district, vocational district, charter school, approved private day or residential school and collaborative school shall provide and maintain at least 1 automated external defibrillator, AED, on site at each school facility where instruction is provided. Each school shall have on staff a person who is an AED provider having current certification in a training course in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and in the use of an AED in accordance with the standards established by the American Heart Association or the American National Red Cross. The school administration shall ensure that an AED and AED provider is readily available at any school-sponsored athletic event.
(b) If a school system is unable to comply with the requirements of this section, the superintendent of the school district, the administration of a private day or residential school or the board of trustees of a charter school, shall request a hardship waiver from the department of elementary and secondary education. The department of elementary and secondary education, in consultation with the department of public health, shall make available to public schools a list of grants and other funding sources that a public school may access to facilitate the purchase of AEDs.
(c) An AED provider on staff by a school subject to this section who, in good faith, attempts to render emergency care, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation or defibrillation, and does so without compensation, shall not be liable for acts or omissions, other than gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct, resulting from the attempt to render such emergency care.
(d) The department of elementary and secondary education, in consultation with the department of public health, shall establish regulations and guidelines for the implementation, training, support and supervision of this section.
SECTION 2. The department of elementary and secondary education shall promulgate regulations required by subsection (d) of section 54C of chapter 71 of the General Laws not later than June 30, 2017.
SECTION 3. Section 1 shall take effect July 1, 2018.
Approved, January 13, 2017