New Amendment to AED Law Regarding Third Party Use of School Facilities

By Dawn Spivey Moritz

Effective immediately, P.A. 96-0873 eases AED obligations during certain community use of school facilities. Under the amendments, the AED requirements of the Physical Fitness Facility Medical Emergency Preparedness Act will not apply during any activity or program conducted on school grounds or in school facilities by a private or not-for-profit organization and supervised by persons other than school employees. In other words, schools must have an AED on site and a trained AED user available only during activities or events sponsored and conducted or supervised by school employees. Thus, schools do not need to require private or not-for-profit organizations to bring a trained AED user for community use of facilities, nor do schools need to ensure that an AED is available for that third-party activity. While the amendments are explicit as to outdoor facilities, we believe this interpretation applies to indoor school facilities as well.

The amended law helps to clarify prior confusion, as described in our previous eBulletin alerts, as it relates to community use of school facilities. Schools must continue to comply with all requirements of the Act when the physical fitness activities are supervised by school employees, other than maintenance or security personnel.