Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires school boards to adopt a policy on automated external defibrillator access at school-sponsored athletic events in Maine.

Highlights:

• Expands requirements for school emergency management plans to include an athletic emergency action plan (Sec. 1).

• Defines “athletic emergency action plan” as written guidelines for emergency planning to prepare a person for a catastrophic injury situation in an athletic setting (Sec. 2).

• Defines “cardiac emergency response plan” as a written document that establishes specific steps to reduce incidents of death from sudden cardiac arrest or a similar emergency (Sec. 2).

• Requires school administrative units, in conjunction with local emergency service providers, to develop a cardiac emergency response plan beginning in the 2026-2027 school year that includes at least the following (Sec. 2):

• Establishment of a cardiac emergency response team;

• Activation of the team in response to an incident of sudden cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening emergency on school grounds;

• Placement of automated external defibrillators in occupied school buildings;

• Distribution of the plan to all school personnel;

• Organization of ongoing personnel training on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), use of automated external defibrillators, and annual practice drills for each; and

• A process for annual review and evaluation of the plan.

• Specifies that the plan must require that coaches, school nurses, and athletic trainers participate in the ongoing training organized by the plan (Sec. 2).

• Requires athletic emergency action plans to address the appropriate, venue-specific use of school personnel to respond to an individual experiencing sudden cardiac arrest or a similar emergency at an athletic practice or event on school grounds (Sec. 2).

• Requires the placement of automated external defibrillators in each athletic venue on school property in an unlocked location (Sec. 2).

• Requires the Department of Education to provide funding to schools for the implementation of cardiac emergency response plans and athletic emergency action plans with priority given to schools in which at least 50% of students are economically disadvantaged (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text