Share:
Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 3, 2012 10:56 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator LeAnna M. Washington |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Safety in Youth Sports Act |
| I plan to introduce legislation amending Pennsylvania’s concussion prevention law, also known as the “Safety in Youth Sports Act”. Each year, U.S. emergency rooms treat an estimated 135,000 sports-related and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries (“TBIs”), including concussions, among children ages 5 to 18. While they occur in athletes of any age in any recreational activity, children and teens are more likely to sustain concussions and can take longer to recover than adults. In November of 2011, Pennsylvania became one of thirty eight states to enact legislation ensuring 1) that young athletes and their parents sign a consent form prior to their participation in any athletic activity, 2) removing athletes appearing to have suffered concussion-related injuries immediately suspicion of injury, and 3) requiring an athlete to be cleared by a licensed medical professional trained in the evaluation and management of concussions before returning to play. Under the current law, the governing body of a school entity "shall establish the minimum penalties for school officials found in violation of the law." However, nearly a year later, no state oversight exists to ensure compliance with the law or impose penalties upon those who fail to comply. This legislation provides for oversight through the Pennsylvania Department of Health to impose such penalties and fines as necessary to ensure compliance with the law. To indicate your interest in co-sponsoring this important legislation, please contact Michael Deery (mdeery@pasenate.com) or Kalonji Johnson (kjohnson@pasenate.com) at 7-1427. |
Introduced as SB74