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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 6492
AN ACT CONCERNING EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN
EXERTIONAL HEAT ILLNESS FOR COACHES, PARENTS,
GUARDIANS AND STUDENTS.
SUMMARY
This bill requires any person with a State Board of Education (SBE)
coaching permit who coaches intramural or interscholastic athletics to
complete an exertional heat illness awareness education program.
They must do this before beginning their coaching assignment for the
season and then review the program annually before the start of each
coaching season. It authorizes SBE to revoke the permits of coaches
who do not comply with the requirement, which begins in the 2022-23
school year.
The education program must be developed or approved by January
1, 2022, by the intramural and interscholastic athletics governing
authority, which is the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference
(CIAC), in consultation with specified organizations. SBE must then
publish the plan on its website.
In addition to the program, CIAC must also develop for school
board use:
1. review materials on current and relevant exertional heat illness
information annually, starting by October 1, 2022, and
2. a model exertional heat illness awareness plan, by January 1,
2022.
The bill also requires school boards to implement the model plan
using written materials, videos, or online or in-person training.
Starting with the 2022-23 school year, the bill requires school boards to
prohibit a student athlete from participating in intramural or 2021HB-06492-R000241-BA.DOCX
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interscholastic athletics unless the student and his or her parent or
guardian reads or views the training materials or attends an in-person
training. The parent or guardian must sign an athletic participation
informed consent form issued by the school board that acknowledges
compliance with the requirement.
Under the bill, an “exertional heat illness” means an illness resulting
from engaging in physical activity in the heat, including heat cramps,
heat syncope (i.e., sudden dizziness, feeling faint, and fainting), heat
exhaustion, and heat stroke (i.e., neuropsychiatric impairment and a
high body temperature, typically 105.8 degrees or higher).
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2021
EXERTIONAL HEAT ILLN ESS AWARENESS EDUCAT ION
PROGRAM AND MODEL PL AN
Program Development and Content
Under the bill, CIAC must develop or approve the exertional heat
awareness education program by January 1, 2022, in consultation with
specified organizations, one each of which must represent: (1) licensed
athletic trainers, (2) sports medicine doctors, (3) researchers of best
practices in managing heat illness, and (4) county medical associations.
The program content must include:
1. recognizing the symptoms of an exertional heat illness;
2. how to obtain proper medical treatment for a person suspected
of having the illness;
3. the nature and risk of exertional heat illness, including the
danger of continuing to engage in athletic activity after
sustaining such an illness; and
4. the proper method of allowing a student athlete who has
sustained the illness to return to athletic activity.
Model Plan Content
The bill also requires these entities to develop a model exertional 2021HB-06492-R000241-BA.DOCX
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heat illness awareness plan by January 1, 2022. The model plan must
include the same components as the program above as well as best
practices in preventing and treating exertional heat illness.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Public Health Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 33 Nay 0 (03/12/2021)