[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2081 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2081

  To amend section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 
venue-specific heat illness emergency action plans for any institution 
  of higher education that is a member of an athletic association or 
              athletic conference, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 21, 2023

 Mr. Cardin (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require 
venue-specific heat illness emergency action plans for any institution 
  of higher education that is a member of an athletic association or 
              athletic conference, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Jordan McNair Student Athlete Heat 
Fatality Prevention Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Heat-related illnesses are a serious medical condition 
        that result from the body's inability to cool itself down in 
        extremely hot environments. Heat-related illnesses include 
        exertional heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat 
        syncope, heat rash, and muscle breakdown. When experiencing 
        heat illness, patients may exhibit an array of symptoms, 
        including, but not limited to, confusion, slurred speech, 
        unconsciousness, vomiting, seizures, fatigue, elevated body 
        temperature, fainting, dizziness, or muscle pain.
            (2) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 
        more than 700 heat-related deaths in the United States from 
        2004 to 2018. Heat is the leading climate-related cause of 
        deaths, and rising temperatures pose a serious risk to student 
        athletes participating in outdoor sports.
            (3) Jordan McNair, a highly accomplished high school 
        football player from Maryland, received scholarship offers from 
        many competitive university football programs. He chose to 
        continue his athletic and academic career at the University of 
        Maryland.
            (4) On May 29, 2018, Jordan McNair collapsed during a 
        workout on the University of Maryland's football field in the 
        81 degrees Fahrenheit heat. McNair was suffering from 
        exertional heatstroke and was unable to remain in an upright 
        position without assistance from his teammates, medical staff, 
        or coaching staff.
            (5) Despite being a student athlete at a well-funded 
        division I university, Jordan McNair received inadequate heat-
        related illness treatment once he was escorted off the field 
        and into the athletic training room. Because medical staff were 
        unable to reverse McNair's core body temperature, the illness 
        escalated to a seizure and respiratory distress.
            (6) Most medical professionals advise patients to receive 
        treatment within 30 minutes of initial heat illness symptoms. 
        More than 90 minutes passed from the time McNair displayed 
        initial symptoms of exertional heatstroke to the time he 
        finally received adequate care from the nearest hospital.
            (7) By the time Jordan McNair arrived at the hospital, his 
        core body temperature had reached a life-threatening 
        temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit.
            (8) On June 13, 2018, two weeks after collapsing on the 
        football field at practice, Jordan McNair died from symptoms of 
        exertional heatstroke.
            (9) Two extensive external investigations of the University 
        of Maryland's football program concluded that the program's 
        medical staff failed to promptly intervene, diagnose, and treat 
        Jordan McNair's exertional heatstroke symptoms.
            (10) According to an independent medical report, University 
        staff failed to assess Jordan McNair's vitals, recognize and 
        monitor heat-related illness symptoms, provide adequate cooling 
        devices and respiratory aids, and generate an emergency plan to 
        coordinate with emergency responders.
            (11) The University of Maryland has taken significant steps 
        to prevent and treat heat-related injuries among their student 
        athletes, making cold water immersion tubs available at every 
        practice and game, installing and maintaining readily 
        accessible automatic defibrillators in every venue, increasing 
        the number of doctors and trainers at practices and games, 
        providing more recovery breaks, and increasing the training and 
        reporting structure of athletic trainers, among other reforms 
        in line with the priorities of this legislation.
            (12) The McNair family is devoted to honoring Jordan's 
        legacy and founded the Jordan McNair Foundation, which provides 
        an educational tool to help coaches, student athletes, and 
        parents identify symptoms of exertional heatstroke and heat-
        related illnesses.
            (13) Heat-related illnesses and fatalities are preventable 
        if caught early. Medical staff, coaches, and athletes must be 
        knowledgeable of the warning signs for heat-related illness in 
        order to protect student athletes from injury, and even death.

SEC. 3. VENUE-SPECIFIC HEAT ILLNESS EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN REQUIREMENTS.

    Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092) is 
amended by inserting at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(n) Venue-Specific Heat Illness Emergency Action Plan 
Requirement.--
            ``(1) In general.--Each institution of higher education 
        that is participating in any program under this title and that 
        is a member of an athletic association or athletic conference, 
        shall--
                    ``(A) not later than 1 year after the date of the 
                enactment of this subsection and in consultation with 
                local emergency responders, develop and implement a 
                venue-specific heat illness emergency action plan, 
                which shall include a plan for the operation and use of 
                automatic external defibrillators and cold water 
                immersion equipment; and
                    ``(B) not later than 1 year after the date that 
                such a plan is first implemented, and on an annual 
                basis thereafter, submit to the Secretary and 
                authorizing committees a report that demonstrates 
                compliance with the requirements of this subsection 
                with respect to the preceding year.
            ``(2) Requirements.--A venue-specific heat illness 
        emergency action plan developed and implemented under paragraph 
        (1), with respect to an institution of higher education, 
        shall--
                    ``(A) include a symptom identification structure 
                and a coordination of care plan for student athletes 
                exhibiting signs of heat illness, and be visibly posted 
                in each--
                            ``(i) locker room;
                            ``(ii) athletic training facility;
                            ``(iii) weight room; and
                            ``(iv) outdoor sports complex and stadium;
                    ``(B) be made available on the athletic program 
                website or public website of the institution of higher 
                education at the beginning of each academic year;
                    ``(C) before the start of in-person training for 
                each academic year, be distributed to, and rehearsed in 
                person by all student athletes, certified athletic 
                trainers, team physicians, athletic training students, 
                athletic administrators, coaches, institutional safety 
                personnel, and legal counsel at the institution; and
                    ``(D) be distributed to local emergency responders.
            ``(3) Recommendations.--In developing a venue-specific heat 
        illness emergency action plan under paragraph (1), an 
        institution of higher education shall consider--
                    ``(A) including guidelines formulated by the Wet-
                Bulb Globe Temperature index to assess environmental 
                conditions and heat stress prevention for student 
                athletes;
                    ``(B) locating a readily accessible and properly 
                maintained automatic external defibrillator within 
                three minutes of each sporting venue; and
                    ``(C) including the location of each automatic 
                external defibrillator in the heat illness emergency 
                action plan.
            ``(4) Authorized adjustments.--In the case of a facility 
        described in paragraph (2)(A) that is undergoing a major 
        physical alteration that would affect the implementation of a 
        requirement of paragraph (2), such requirement may be adjusted 
        with respect to the facility.''.
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