By: Cook, Hinojosa of Hidalgo S.B. No. 1551
(In the Senate - Filed February 21, 2025; March 6, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on Education K-16;
April 30, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 11,
Nays 0; April 30, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the availability of automated external defibrillators
at public schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 38.017(a), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Each school district shall make available at each campus
in the district at least one automated external defibrillator, as
defined by Section 779.001, Health and Safety Code. A campus
defibrillator must be readily available during any University
Interscholastic League athletic competition held on the campus. In
determining the placement of [location at which to store] a campus
defibrillator, the principal of the campus shall consider the
primary location on campus where students engage in athletic
activities and place the defibrillator in a clearly marked and
accessible location. An automated external defibrillator may not
be placed in a locked case when students or school employees are
regularly present on campus.
SECTION 2. Not later than the first instructional day of the
2026-2027 school year, each public school to which Section 38.017,
Education Code, as amended by this Act, applies shall make
available automated external defibrillators as required by that
section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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