SB 85 SEIZURE SAFE SCHOOLS ACT

Sen Harold James Pope

Actions: [1] SCC/SEC/SJC-SCC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

 Senate Bill 85 (SB 85) enacts the Seizure Safe Schools Act to provide for seizure disorder management and care by school personnel. SB 85 proves for rule making and limits liability.

 

 Senate Bill 85 (SB 85) adds to the Public School code to provide for seizure disorder management and care by school personnel. 
SECTION 1 enacts the Seizure Safe Schools Act (Act)..

SECTION 2 provides definitions as used in the Act.
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SECTION 3 addresses seizure care, personnel and training.
A. By December 31, 2024, the department shall adopt and promulgate rules for the training of school employees and bus drivers on the management of students with seizure disorders. Each governing body shall ensure that a seizure safety training approved by the department is provided annually to all school employees and bus drivers. At a minimum, the seizure safety training programs shall include information specified in this subsection. 

B. The department shall, in consultation with the Department of Health and New Mexico School Nurses Association, adopt and promulgate rules for the training of school nurses and seizure care personnel on providing care for students with seizure disorders. Each governing body shall ensure that each school attended by a student with a seizure disorder has at least two school employees, including school nurses or seizure care personnel, trained annually in the administration and use of seizure rescue medications and devices to treat seizure disorder symptoms.

C. If a school attended by a student with a seizure disorder does not have two employees who are trained pursuant to Subsection B of this section, the school principal or other school administrator shall distribute a written notice to all school employees seeking volunteers to serve as seizure care personnel. The notice shall inform all school employees of the specifics in this Subsection.

D. A governing body shall not require the seizure care personnel to be health care practitioners. 

E. The training required pursuant to Subsection B of this section shall be provided by the professionals specified in this subsection.

SECTION 4 in Subsection A requires that a parent or guardian of a student with a seizure disorder shall submit to the school a seizure action plan. The parent or guardian may submit a new seizure action plan as necessary when the student's health status changes. Each seizure action plan shall include the information specified in this subsection.

B. Each seizure action plan shall be reviewed and implemented by a school nurse or seizure care personnel. 

C. Each school employee and bus driver responsible for the supervision or care of a student diagnosed with a seizure disorder shall be given notice of the student's seizure action plan. 

SECTION 5 provides for seizure disorder are at school.
A. A governing body shall ensure that all students with seizure disorders receive appropriate and needed seizure disorder care as specified in students' seizure action plans. In accordance with the request of a parent or guardian of a student and the student's seizure action plan, a school nurse or seizure care personnel shall perform seizure disorder care functions that shall include, at a minimum the items specified in this section.

B. A school nurse or at least one seizure care personnel shall be available to provide care to each student with a seizure disorder as provided pursuant to Subsection A of this section during regular school hours and during all school-sponsored activities, trips, extended off-site excursions and extracurricular activities in which a student with a seizure disorder is a participant and on buses where the bus driver has not been trained in seizure disorder care and a student with a seizure disorder is a passenger. 

SECTION 6 addresses application of other laws that affect the provisions of Section 5(B). 
A. The provisions of Section 5(B) of the Act shall not constitute the practice of nursing, and seizure care personnel shall be exempted from all applicable statutory or regulatory provisions that restrict which activities can be delegated to or performed by a person who is not a health care practitioner. 

B. Nothing in the Act shall diminish the rights of students with seizure disorders or the obligations of school districts under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

SECTION 7 provides immunity from liability. 
A school employee, including a school nurse or bus driver, shall not be held civilly or professionally liable for any act or omission that is made in good faith and is consistent with the provisions of the Act. An act or omission is not in good faith if it is the result of willful misconduct, gross negligence or recklessness. 

 Senate Bill 85 duplicates House Bill 297.