Nevaeh Youth Sports Safety Act.

Assembly Member Alanis, with Senators Valladares and Weber Pierson, advances a measure that reconfigures youth sports safety protocols by delaying access to an automated external defibrillator to 2028 while elevating coaches to be certified to perform CPR and operate an AED, and by requiring a formal written emergency response plan.

By January 1, 2027, the proposal requires youth sports organizations to certify coaches to perform CPR and operate an AED, with recertification required at least every two years. Training may be conducted in person or online by an accredited organization and must align with national evidence-based cardiovascular care guidelines. In addition, organizations must establish a written cardiac emergency response plan, reviewed annually with coaches and staff, that details AED locations, the roles of coaches, administration, and athletes during an event, notification and training procedures, and an annual electronic communication to parents or guardians that includes the plan (or a link to it), AED locations, and the staff designated to be notified in a sudden cardiac event. By January 1, 2028, the measure also requires that the AEDs be maintained and tested in accordance with the manufacturer’s operation and maintenance guidelines and applicable regulatory rules.

The measure is silent on explicit enforcement mechanisms or penalties within the text, and it does not create a dedicated funding source in the statute. It applies to youth sports organizations that offer athletic programs and entails responsibilities for coaches, staff, and parents, including documentation of certification status, maintenance schedules for equipment, and records demonstrating plan availability and compliance with the plan’s components. Organizations would likely need processes to track certifications, AED inventories, and communications, as well as to align training providers with specified accreditation standards.

From a broader context, the bill shifts the framework from medical-professional administration of emergency responses toward organization-level planning and coach-ready response, with a staged timeline that ties coaching certification and formal planning to 2027 and AED access and maintenance to 2028. It references alignment with federal and state equipment guidelines and directs annual parental communication as part of ongoing program transparency, while deferring explicit enforcement details and any new appropriation to future regulatory actions or agency oversight.