Pre-filed legislation within the Alabama House will aim to further educate Alabama’s coaches on the signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest in their athletes and how to react properly should a situation arise.

The bill, called the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act, will be introduced and sponsored by State Rep. Jeremy Gray (D-Opelika).

Gray, who played football collegiately, said the bill addresses a widespread issue in the state.

“We have to take care of our student-athletes because looking at the research, we’re thinking about 800,000 student-athletes in Alabama will be affected,” Gray said.

The proposed legislation states, “Relating to public K-12 sports; to create the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act; to require the State Board of Education to adopt certain guidelines and information sheets regarding sudden cardiac arrest and distribute those information sheets to students, parents, and coaches; to require coaches to undergo certain training related to sudden cardiac arrest and to remove students who exhibit symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest from play; to require students and parents to acknowledge consent of certain informational materials related to sudden cardiac arrest; to establish certain penalties for coaches and to protect a coach from certain liability related to sudden cardiac arrest.”

The bill would require coaches to receive annual CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) training. Coaches who don’t stay up to date on the additional training would be subject to punishments such as suspensions.

The legislation will be discussed at a hearing April 5.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.