Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2600 To promote minimum State requirements for the prevention and treatment of concussions caused by participation in school sports, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 15, 2019 Mr. DURBIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To promote minimum State requirements for the prevention and treatment of concussions caused by participation in school sports, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Student 4 Athletes from Concussions Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. MINIMUM STATE REQUIREMENTS. 6 (a) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.—Each State that re- 7 ceives funds under the Elementary and Secondary Edu- 8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) and does not 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2600 IS meet the requirements described in this section, as of the 1 date of enactment of this Act, shall, not later than the 2 last day of the fifth full fiscal year after the date of enact- 3 ment of this Act (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘compli- 4 ance deadline’’), enact legislation or issue regulations es- 5 tablishing the following minimum requirements: 6 (1) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY CONCUSSION 7 SAFETY AND MANAGEMENT PLAN.—Each local edu- 8 cational agency in the State, in consultation with 9 members of the community in which such agency is 10 located, shall develop and implement a standard plan 11 for concussion safety and management that— 12 (A) educates students, parents, and school 13 personnel about concussions, through activities 14 such as— 15 (i) training school personnel, including 16 coaches, teachers, athletic trainers, related 17 services personnel, and school nurses, on 18 concussion safety and management, includ- 19 ing training on the prevention, recognition, 20 and academic consequences of concussions 21 and response to concussions; and 22 (ii) using, maintaining, and dissemi- 23 nating to students and parents— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2600 IS (I) release forms and other ap- 1 propriate forms for reporting and 2 record keeping; 3 (II) treatment plans; and 4 (III) prevention and post-injury 5 observation and monitoring fact 6 sheets about concussion; 7 (B) encourages supports, where feasible, 8 for a student recovering from a concussion (re- 9 gardless of whether or not the concussion oc- 10 curred during school-sponsored activities, dur- 11 ing school hours, on school property, or during 12 an athletic activity), such as— 13 (i) guiding the student in resuming 14 participation in athletic activity and aca- 15 demic activities with the help of a multi- 16 disciplinary concussion management team, 17 which may include— 18 (I) a health care professional, the 19 parents of such student, a school 20 nurse, relevant related services per- 21 sonnel, and other relevant school per- 22 sonnel; and 23 (II) an individual who is assigned 24 by a public school to oversee and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2600 IS manage the recovery of such student; 1 and 2 (ii) providing appropriate academic 3 accommodations aimed at progressively re- 4 introducing cognitive demands on the stu- 5 dent; and 6 (C) encourages the use of best practices 7 designed to ensure, with respect to concussions, 8 the uniformity of safety standards, treatment, 9 and management, such as— 10 (i) disseminating information on con- 11 cussion safety and management to the 12 public; and 13 (ii) applying uniform best practice 14 standards for concussion safety and man- 15 agement to all students enrolled in public 16 schools. 17 (2) POSTING OF INFORMATION ON CONCUS- 18 SIONS.—Each public elementary school and each 19 public secondary school shall post on school grounds, 20 in a manner that is visible to students and school 21 personnel, and make publicly available on the school 22 website, information on concussions that— 23 (A) is based on peer-reviewed scientific evi- 24 dence (such as information made available by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2600 IS the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- 1 tion); 2 (B) shall include information on— 3 (i) the risks posed by sustaining a 4 concussion; 5 (ii) the actions a student should take 6 in response to sustaining a concussion, in- 7 cluding the notification of school personnel; 8 and 9 (iii) the signs and symptoms of a con- 10 cussion; and 11 (C) may include information on— 12 (i) the definition of a concussion; 13 (ii) the means available to the student 14 to reduce the incidence or recurrence of a 15 concussion; and 16 (iii) the effects of a concussion on 17 academic learning and performance. 18 (3) RESPONSE TO CONCUSSION.—If an indi- 19 vidual designated from among school personnel for 20 purposes of this Act, one of whom must be in at- 21 tendance at every school-sponsored activity, suspects 22 that a student has sustained a concussion (regard- 23 less of whether or not the concussion occurred dur- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2600 IS ing school-sponsored activities, during school hours, 1 on school property, or during an athletic activity)— 2 (A) the student shall be— 3 (i) immediately removed from partici- 4 pation in a school-sponsored athletic activ- 5 ity; and 6 (ii) prohibited from returning to par- 7 ticipate in a school-sponsored athletic ac- 8 tivity on the day that student is removed 9 from such participation; and 10 (B) the designated individual shall report 11 to the parent or guardian of such student— 12 (i) any information that the des- 13 ignated school employee is aware of re- 14 garding the date, time, and type of the in- 15 jury suffered by such student (regardless 16 of where, when, or how a concussion may 17 have occurred); and 18 (ii) any actions taken to treat such 19 student. 20 (4) RETURN TO ATHLETICS.—If a student has 21 sustained a concussion (regardless of whether or not 22 the concussion occurred during school-sponsored ac- 23 tivities, during school hours, on school property, or 24 during an athletic activity), before such student re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2600 IS sumes participation in school-sponsored athletic ac- 1 tivities, the school shall receive a written release 2 from a health care professional, that— 3 (A) states that the student is capable of 4 resuming participation in such activities; and 5 (B) may require the student to follow a 6 plan designed to aid the student in recovering 7 and resuming participation in such activities in 8 a manner that— 9 (i) is coordinated, as appropriate, with 10 periods of cognitive and physical rest while 11 symptoms of a concussion persist; and 12 (ii) reintroduces cognitive and phys- 13 ical demands on such student on a pro- 14 gressive basis only as such increases in ex- 15 ertion do not cause the reemergence or 16 worsening of symptoms of a concussion. 17 (b) NONCOMPLIANCE.— 18 (1) FIRST YEAR.—If a State described in sub- 19 section (a) fails to comply with subsection (a) by the 20 compliance deadline, the Secretary of Education 21 shall reduce by 5 percent the amount of funds the 22 State receives under the Elementary and Secondary 23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2600 IS the first fiscal year following the compliance dead- 1 line. 2 (2) SUCCEEDING YEARS.—If the State fails to 3 so comply by the last day of any fiscal year following 4 the compliance deadline, the Secretary of Education 5 shall reduce by 10 percent the amount of funds the 6 State receives under that Act for the following fiscal 7 year. 8 (3) NOTIFICATION OF NONCOMPLIANCE.—Prior 9 to reducing any funds that a State receives under 10 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 11 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) in accordance with 12 this subsection, the Secretary of Education shall 13 provide a written notification of the intended reduc- 14 tion of funds to the State and to the appropriate 15 committees of Congress. 16 SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 17 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect civil 18 or criminal liability under Federal or State law. 19 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 20 In this Act: 21 (1) CONCUSSION.—The term ‘‘concussion’’ 22 means a type of mild traumatic brain injury that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2600 IS (A) is caused by a blow, jolt, or motion to 1 the head or body that causes the brain to move 2 rapidly in the skull; 3 (B) disrupts normal brain functioning and 4 alters the mental state of the individual, caus- 5 ing the individual to experience— 6 (i) any period of observed or self-re- 7 ported— 8 (I) transient confusion, dis- 9 orientation, or impaired consciousness; 10 (II) dysfunction of memory 11 around the time of injury; or 12 (III) loss of consciousness lasting 13 less than 30 minutes; or 14 (ii) any one of 4 types of symptoms, 15 including— 16 (I) physical symptoms, such as 17 headache, fatigue, or dizziness; 18 (II) cognitive symptoms, such as 19 memory disturbance or slowed think- 20 ing; 21 (III) emotional symptoms, such 22 as irritability or sadness; or 23 (IV) difficulty sleeping; and 24 (C) can occur— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2600 IS (i) with or without the loss of con- 1 sciousness; and 2 (ii) during participation in any orga- 3 nized sport or recreational activity. 4 (2) HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL.—The term 5 ‘‘health care professional’’— 6 (A) means an individual who has been 7 trained in diagnosis and management of con- 8 cussion in a pediatric population; and 9 (B) is registered, licensed, certified, or oth- 10 erwise statutorily recognized by the State to 11 provide such diagnosis and management. 12 (3) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; STATE.— 13 The terms ‘‘local educational agency’’ and ‘‘State’’ 14 have the meanings given such terms in section 8101 15 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 16 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 17 (4) RELATED SERVICES PERSONNEL.—The 18 term ‘‘related services personnel’’ means individuals 19 who provide related services, as defined under sec- 20 tion 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu- 21 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1401). 22 (5) SCHOOL-SPONSORED ATHLETIC ACTIVITY.— 23 The term ‘‘school-sponsored athletic activity’’ 24 means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 2600 IS (A) any physical education class or pro- 1 gram of a school; 2 (B) any athletic activity authorized during 3 the school day on school grounds that is not an 4 instructional activity; 5 (C) any extracurricular sports team, club, 6 or league organized by a school on or off school 7 grounds; and 8 (D) any recess activity. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Oct 16, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2600.IS S2600 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS