FINAL BILL REPORT

ESHB 2731

C 347 L 20

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Reporting of information about diagnosed concussions of students sustained during athletics and other activities.

Sponsors: House Committee on Education (originally sponsored by Representatives Irwin, Doglio, Davis, Pollet and Leavitt).

House Committee on Education

Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

Background:

A head injury is an injury to the brain, skull, or scalp. A concussion is a head injury that affects brain function. The consequences of, and treatments for, a head injury vary greatly and depend on the cause and severity of the injury.

In Washington, policies for the management of concussion and head injury in youth sports have been in place since 2009, with the enactment of the Zackery Lystedt Law. The law requires that coaches, youth athletes, and parents be informed about the dangers of sports-related head injuries and that a youth athlete who is suspected to have a head injury be cleared by a trained and licensed health care provider before returning to play.

Since the early 1990s, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) has required trauma care providers, but not youth coaches, schools, or nontrauma healthcare facilities, to submit information on the incidents, severity, and causes of trauma, including traumatic brain injury, to a statewide registry.

In 2018 the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began developing a National Concussion Surveillance System. The system will provide national estimates of sports-related concussions among youth that occur both in and outside of organized sports. It is not yet known what the reporting requirements will be, including whether youth coaches or schools will be required reporters.

Summary:

Annually, beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, public schools must report, and the DOH must collect, information about each diagnosed concussion sustained by a student during athletic and other activities.  At a minimum, the following information must be reported: student's grade and gender, whether the student had a previous concussion, the event date and location of a diagnosed concussion, the type and level of activity that the student was participating in at the time of the event, whether it was a practice or competition, any known cause of the event, when during the activity the injury occurred, whether protective equipment was worn on the injured student's head at the time of the event, the type of surface on which the event occurred, who initially examined the student at the time of the event, whether the student was removed from the activity at the time of the event, and follow-up information related to whether the student was given a written authorization to return to the activity by the end of the season in which the event occurred and the amount of time before the student was authorized to return to the learning environment.

Beginning October 1, 2021, and by October 1 annually thereafter, the DOH must report a summary of the diagnosed concussion information received in the prior school year to the Legislature and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The report must include rates, patterns, trends, and other relevant information.

Votes on Final Passage: