[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3533 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3533

  To require the Department of Homeland Security to carry out certain 
activities with respect to delivering training in age-appropriate basic 
life supporting first aid skills to school children, including funding 
         of a program to provide this education to the public.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 16, 2006

  Mr. Coleman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Department of Homeland Security to carry out certain 
activities with respect to delivering training in age-appropriate basic 
life supporting first aid skills to school children, including funding 
         of a program to provide this education to the public.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Community Response System Initiative 
Act of 2006'' or the ``CRSI Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Injury remains 1 of the top killers in America, 
        effecting over 2,400,000 children who needlessly die each year. 
        Fifty percent of these lives could have been saved if prompt 
        aid were administered prior to the arrival of emergency medical 
        services.
            (2) Part of any comprehensive emergency preparedness plan 
        must include educating the public on how to prepare for and 
        react in an emergency situation.
            (3) The need for citizen-based emergency preparedness 
        training at the community level has never been greater. The 
        Citizen Corps and mayors from across the country agree that 
        educating children in age-appropriate life supporting first 
        aid, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the Heimlich 
        maneuver, and blood-borne and biohazardous precautions, is an 
        important component of meeting this need. On June 5, 2006, the 
        United States Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution urging 
        mayors to form a Community Response System Initiative Committee 
        to address this issue.
            (4) Studies have shown that providing children with life 
        supporting first aid skills training increases their 
        willingness to assist others in a medical emergency by 57 
        percent.
            (5) Eighty percent of schools surveyed stated that 
        cardiopulmonary resuscitation training is best provided in a 
        school setting.
            (6) In 2001, 101,537 Americans died of ``unintentional 
        injury deaths''.
            (7) In 2003, 479,305 Americans died due to heart attacks, 
        which was 1 of every 5 deaths in the United States overall.
            (8) In the United States, 1,200,000 new and recurrent 
        coronary attacks occur each year.
            (9) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has 
        concluded that if members of the public learned life supporting 
        first aid, there would be ``significant potential'' for 
        reducing the more than 22,000 preventable highway deaths that 
        occur in the United States each year.

SEC. 3. BASIC LIFE SUPPORTING FIRST AID EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``age-appropriate'' means information, 
        education, and skills suitable for the individual to understand 
        and perform;
            (2) the term ``appropriate municipal entity'' means an 
        agency of a unit of local government that is an emergency 
        response provider or provides other similar medical services or 
        training, including a fire department, law enforcement agency, 
        hospital, school nurse, or emergency medical services provider;
            (3) the term ``children'' means individuals under the age 
        of 18 years enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12;
            (4) the term ``emergency medical professional'' means an 
        individual certified by a State in emergency medical services;
            (5) the terms ``emergency response provider'' and ``local 
        government'' have the same meaning as in section 2 of the 
        Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101);
            (6) the term ``life supporting first aid'' includes 
        cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the use of an automatic external 
        defibrillator, the Heimlich maneuver, blood-borne and 
        biohazardous precautions, bleed control, and other life-
        sustaining procedures in the event of an emergency; and
            (7) the term ``selected organization'' means the 
        organization contracting with the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security under subsection (b).
    (b) Authority.--The Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through 
the Chief Medical Officer, shall enter into an agreement with an 
organization, under which such organization shall provide funds to 
appropriate municipal entities to provide education and training in 
life supporting first aid to children, including scene safety 
procedures.
    (c) Eligibility.--The selected organization shall--
            (1) have experience in, and the sole mission of, training 
        individuals (especially children) to be active bystanders, 
        equipped with life supporting first aid skills to assist during 
        emergencies;
            (2) recognize that life supporting first aid techniques are 
        essential to maintaining life before the arrival of emergency 
        response providers;
            (3) use only emergency medical professionals as instructors 
        to teach life supporting first aid techniques to children and 
        adults;
            (4) work with Federal, State, and local government entities 
        and the private sector to highlight the importance of public 
        emergency preparedness and effective emergency response;
            (5) have developed and implemented, before the date of 
        entering a contract under subsection (b), a testing component 
        for evaluation, accountability, and data collection; and
            (6) be an affiliate of the Citizens Corps of the Department 
        of Homeland Security.
    (d) Use of Funds.--
            (1) In general.--Funds provided under this section by the 
        selected organization to an appropriate municipal entity shall 
        be used--
                    (A) to create age-appropriate educational materials 
                regarding life supporting first aid to be distributed 
                to children;
                    (B) to conduct training and clinical instruction of 
                children in life supporting first aid; and
                    (C) for data collection and statistical analysis.
            (2) Priority.--In providing funds to appropriate municipal 
        entities under this section, the selected organization shall 
        give priority to emergency medical services, fire departments, 
        law enforcement agencies, hospitals, and school nurses.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2007 through 2010 to carry out this Act .
                                 <all>