Sponsors (8)
The bill would substantially improve on-site preparedness, response speed, and transparency for heat-related athletic emergencies—likely saving lives—but imposes new costs, administrative burdens, and equity challenges that could strain small or under-resourced schools.
Students (secondary and college) and athletic participants will get faster, standardized life‑saving responses to heat illness because schools and campuses must implement venue-specific heat-illness plans, place/maintain AEDs, adopt cold-water immersion procedures, and run annual drills.
Institutions are encouraged to adopt evidence-based prevention measures (WBGT-informed guidelines, AED placement within minutes, cold-water immersion, training) that reduce the risk of fatal heat illness during practices and events.
Transparency and preparedness will improve because plans, AED locations, and emergency procedures must be posted and published annually, giving students, families, staff, and first responders clearer information about how emergencies will be handled.
Schools and colleges will incur new costs for equipment, AED placement, cold-water immersion supplies, training, drills, and possible facility upgrades, costs that could be passed to students or force cuts elsewhere in school budgets.
Smaller, rural, and under-resourced schools are likely to face disproportionate burdens in meeting requirements, creating equity concerns and potentially reducing athletic opportunities in low-income communities.
Recurring administrative and compliance requirements (annual reporting to the Secretary/committees, plan posting and updates) will consume staff time and resources at schools and within federal/state education agencies.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires schools and colleges with athletics programs to create, post, practice, and annually report venue-specific heat-illness emergency plans that include AEDs and cold-water immersion.
Introduced July 17, 2025 by Kweisi Mfume · Last progress July 17, 2025
Requires colleges, universities, and K–12 schools with organized athletics to create, post, practice, and annually report venue-specific emergency plans to prevent and treat heat-related illnesses. Plans must address symptom recognition, coordination of care, placement and use of AEDs and cold-water immersion, posting in athletic spaces, website publication, distribution to local responders, and in-person practice by coaches and medical staff. Higher education institutions participating in federal student-aid programs must adopt these plans within one year of enactment and submit annual compliance reports; secondary schools that receive federal education funds must also develop, implement, and report such plans on an annual basis. The Secretary of Education must notify schools and institutions about Federal funds that may be used for prevention training and treatment equipment.