Public elementary & secondary schools; cardiac emergency response or emergency action plans.
SB817 requires every public elementary and secondary school in Virginia to develop and implement a written cardiac emergency response plan or, if the school has an athletic department or organized athletic program, an athletic emergency action plan. The plan must address how school personnel will respond to sudden cardiac arrest or similar life-threatening emergencies on school grounds and, for schools with athletics, during practices and events. The bill defines key terms such as AED, CPR, sudden cardiac arrest, and high-need school, and requires plans to incorporate nationally recognized, evidence-based core elements and guidelines.
The required plan elements include establishing and activating a cardiac emergency response team, coordinating with local emergency medical services, conducting at least annual drills, placing and maintaining AEDs in school buildings and at athletic venues, ensuring AEDs are accessible within three minutes, training appropriate staff in first aid, CPR, and AED use, disseminating the plan to the school community, and reviewing and updating the plan annually. Schools must work directly with local emergency service providers to integrate the plan into community EMS protocols. The bill is now codified as a new section in the Virginia Code, section 22.1-271.9.
The bill adds a new statewide mandate in Title 22.1 for public elementary and secondary schools, creating a legal duty to adopt and maintain cardiac emergency response or athletic emergency action plans. It affects school divisions, administrators, school nurses, athletic trainers, coaches, and local emergency service providers by requiring training, coordination, AED placement and maintenance, and regular drills and plan updates. The measure also establishes specific operational standards for school emergency preparedness, especially in athletic settings and at high-need schools, though the text does not create a separate funding mechanism.
The available voting history shows strong, unanimous support at every stage, with no recorded dissent in either chamber or committee. The bill moved smoothly through Education and Health, Finance and Appropriations, and both floor votes, including unanimous passage in the Senate and overwhelming approval in the House. The overall sentiment appears highly favorable, reflecting broad agreement on the importance of preventing deaths from sudden cardiac arrest in schools.
No notable substantive opposition is reflected in the available transcripts or votes, and there is no recorded debate in the provided materials. The only potential areas of implementation concern suggested by the bill text are the costs and logistics of AED placement, staff training, annual drills, and coordination with emergency medical services, especially for schools with athletic programs or high-need schools. However, the voting record indicates these issues did not produce visible contention in the legislative process.