AB 238: Emergency response: trauma kits.

Under existing law, a person is generally responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person. Existing law exempts from civil liability a person who, in good faith and not for compensation, renders emergency medical or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an emergency other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct. Existing law exempts public or private organizations that sponsor, authorize, support, finance, or supervise the training of people, or certifies those people in emergency medical services, from liability for civil damages alleged to result from those training programs.

This bill would define trauma kit to mean a first aid response kit that contains specified items, including, among other things, at least 2 tourniquets. The bill would require a person or entity that supplies a trauma kit to provide the person or entity that acquires the trauma kit with all information governing the use, installation, operation, training, and maintenance of the trauma kit. The bill would apply the provisions governing civil liability described above to a lay rescuer or person who renders emergency care or treatment by using a trauma kit and to a person or entity that provides training in the use of a trauma kit to provide emergency medical treatment, or certifies certain persons in the use of a trauma kit.

Existing law requires certain occupied structures that are not owned or operated by a local government entity and are constructed on or after January 1, 2017, to have an automated external defibrillator on the premises.

This bill would require the entity responsible for managing the building, facility, and tenants of specified types of buildings, including, among others, educational buildings and mercantile buildings, constructed by the state or a local government entity after January 1, 2019, to acquire and place a trauma kit on the premises of the building. Because the bill would impose new duties on local government entities with respect to the placement of trauma kits, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require an entity responsible for managing the building, facility, and tenants of an occupied structure in which a trauma kit is placed to comply with certain requirements, such as periodically inspecting and replacing the contents of a trauma kit, restocking the trauma kit after each use, and notifying tenants of the building or structure of the location of the trauma kit. The bill would exempt a person or entity that acquires and places a trauma kit for emergency care from liability for civil damages resulting from an act or omission in the rendering of emergency care if those requirements have been met.

This bill would authorize the California Building Standards Commission to research and collect public input for the purpose of determining if mandatory or voluntary building standards should be adopted regarding the placement of trauma kits in a public building constructed, or a public building that has an addition, significant repair, or alteration completed, on or after January 1, 2019. The bill would authorize the commission to adopt that standard.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.