2018 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE BILL NO. 264
BY SENATOR CARTER
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact R.S. 40:1131(21) and 1131.1(D) and to enact R.S. 40:1131(22) and
3 (23), 1133.13(F) and (G), and 1133.16, relative to emergency personnel; to provide
4 for definitions; to provide relative to telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation; to
5 provide for minimum training requirements in telephone cardiopulmonary
6 resuscitation; to provide for certain terms, procedures, and conditions; and to provide
7 for related matters.
8 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. R.S. 40:1131(21) and 1131.1(D) are hereby amended and reenacted and
10 R.S. 40:1131(22) and (23), 1133.13(F) and (G) and 1133.16 are hereby enacted to read as
11 follows:
12 §1131. Definitions
13 For purposes of this Chapter:
14 * * *
15 (21) "Public safety agency" means a functional division of a public or
16 private agency which provides firefighting, police, medical, or other emergency
17 services.
18 (22) "Public safety telecommunicator" means an individual answering
19 911 emergency medical condition calls on behalf of a public safety agency who
20 has authority, based on a protocol adopted by the agency, to provide telephone
21 cardiopulmonary resuscitation (T-CPR) instructions to a caller before arrival
22 of professional medical assistance by first responders.
23 (23) "Volunteer nonprofit organization" means an organization which in its
24 regular course of business responds to a call for help and renders medical treatment
25 and whose attendants are emergency medical personnel, a registered nurse, or a
26 physician and which is chartered as a nonprofit organization under Section 501c of
ACT No. 578
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1 the United States Internal Revenue Code, as a volunteer fire department by the
2 Louisiana state fire marshal's office, or as a nonprofit organization by the Louisiana
3 secretary of state.
4 §1131.1. Emergency medical services program; cooperation of other state
5 departments
6 * * *
7 D. The bureau shall identify all public and private agencies, institutions, and
8 individuals that are or may be engaged in emergency medical services training and
9 set minimum standards for course approval, instruction, and examination. Public
10 safety telecommunicators shall at a minimum successfully complete the
11 telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation training required by R.S. 40:1133.16.
12 * * *
13 §1133.13. Civil immunity
14 * * *
15 F. No public safety telecommunicator who instructs a caller on telephone
16 cardiopulmonary resuscitation shall be liable for any civil damages arising out
17 of the instruction provided to the caller, except for acts or omissions
18 intentionally designed to harm, or for grossly negligent acts or omissions that
19 result in harm to an individual. A caller may decline to receive instruction on
20 cardiopulmonary resuscitation. When a caller declines cardiopulmonary
21 resuscitation instruction the public safety telecommunicator has no obligation
22 to provide the instruction.
23 G. No public safety agency shall be liable for any civil damages for
24 employing individuals to answer 911 emergency calls who are not designated as
25 public safety telecommunicators. Individuals who are not public safety
26 telecommunicators, as defined in R.S. 40:1131(22), shall not be required to
27 complete the telephone cardiopulmonary resuscitation training required by R.S.
28 40:1133.16 and shall have no obligation to offer and provide telephone
29 cardiopulmonary resuscitation instruction to a caller.
30 * * *
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1 §1133.16. Public safety telecommunicator; instruction
2 A. A public safety telecommunicator shall be trained in telephone
3 cardiopulmonary resuscitation (T-CPR) utilizing training that meets or exceeds
4 nationally recognized emergency cardiovascular care guidelines adopted by the
5 bureau every two years. At a minimum, this training shall incorporate
6 recognition protocols for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, compression-only CPR
7 instructions for callers, and continuing education as appropriate.
8 (1) On or before January 1, 2019, each public safety telecommunicator
9 in a parish with a population greater than one hundred thousand, according to
10 the latest federal decennial census, shall complete the T-CPR training required
11 by this Section.
12 (2) On or before January 1, 2020, each public safety telecommunicator
13 in a parish with a population between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand,
14 according to the latest federal decennial census, shall complete the T-CPR
15 training required by this Section.
16 (3) On or before January 1, 2021, each public safety telecommunicator
17 in a parish with a population less than fifty thousand, according to the latest
18 federal decennial census, shall complete the T-CPR training required by this
19 Section.
20 B. A public safety agency may enter into a reciprocal agreement with
21 another public safety agency to provide T-CPR, provided that the agency that
22 accepts the call has a public safety telecommunicator who is trained in T-CPR
23 as provided by this Section.
24 C. The bureau shall identify all public and private agencies, institutions,
25 and individuals that are or may be engaged in T-CPR training and set minimum
26 standards for course approval, instruction, and examination, including online
27 training modules based on nationally recognized guidelines. The bureau shall
28 implement an efficient means for each public safety agency employing public
29 safety telecommunicators to transmit identifying information for the public
30 safety telecommunicators in their employ and an efficient means for either the
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1 public safety agency or the public safety telecommunicator to provide a
2 certificate of completion of the T-CPR training required by this Section.
3 D. The department shall adopt rules in accordance with the provisions
4 of the Administrative Procedure Act as are necessary to implement the
5 provisions of this Section.
6 Section 2. This Act may be referred to as the Spencer Washington Act.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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