Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Education Committee

HB 2428

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Establishes the EpiPen work group to make recommendations on six-listed topics related to improving the prevention and treatment of students' life-threatening allergic reactions in schools serving kindergarten through twelfth grade students, and to report to the Legislature by December 15, 2021.
Requires the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to survey public schools to collect certain data for the 2020-21 school year related to students with life-threatening allergic reactions and requires the EpiPen work group to analyze the data.

Background:

Before attending school, the family of student who has a life-threatening health condition that may require medical services to performed at the school must present a medication or treatment order addressing the condition. A health care plan must be put in place to implement the order, which may include training of school staff to administer necessary medication. The student's family may be required to provide any medication or equipment identified in the medication or treatment order.

"Anaphylaxis" means a severe, potentially life-threatening, allergic reaction that is a collection of symptoms, which may cause difficulty breathing, fainting, and vomiting. Administration of epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, can quickly reverse many of the effects of a severe allergic reaction. People with life-threatening allergies may carry an epinephrine autoinjector, such as the EpiPen or the Auvi-Q, for immediate self (or caregiver) administration to treat anaphylaxis in an emergency.

Since 2013, school districts have been permitted to maintain a school supply of epinephrine autoinjectors to use to respond to an anaphylactic reaction of a student under the following circumstances:

when a student has a prescription for an epinephrine autoinjector on file, the school nurse or designated trained school personnel may use the school supply to respond to an anaphylactic reaction under a standing protocol; and
when a student does not have an epinephrine autoinjector or prescription for one on file, only the school nurse may use the school supply to respond to an anaphylactic reaction under a standing protocol.

There is no mandate for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to collect health data from schools.

Summary of Bill:

The EpiPen work group (work group) is established to make recommendations on improving the prevention and treatment of students' life-threatening allergic reactions in schools serving kindergarten through twelfth grade students. One goal of the work group is to recommend policies that will reduce the waste of epinephrine autoinjectors and the costs of purchasing this medication for schools and students' families. Another goal of the work group is to analyze data collected by the OSPI in order to make data-informed decisions.

The OSPI must convene and staff the work group, and must consult the Department of Health and the Health Care Authority as applicable. The work group must include specified school staff, specified health care staff, a parent and a student, and other experts. To the extent possible, the members of the work group must be racially and ethnically diverse and must represent urban, suburban, and rural locations across the state. The work group must elect cochairs, one from the education sector and the other from the health sector.

The OSPI must survey public schools to collect the listed data for the 2020-21 school year, for example: information related to students with life-threatening allergic reactions, the number of epinephrine autoinjectors maintained by schools disaggregated and the number administered to students, and the number of staff trained to administer epinephrine autoinjectors. The work group must analyze the survey data.

By December 15, 2021, the OSPI must report to the Legislature with a summary of the survey results, the work group's activities, and the work group's recommendations on six listed topics related to data collection, sales and maintenance of epinephrine autoinjectors, use of over-the-counter allergy medication, reducing waste and cost, and circumstances under which epinephrine autoinjectors may be administered by school staff.