BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

 

H.B. 3811

By: Plesa

Public Health

Committee Report (Unamended)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

The bill author has informed the committee that organized youth sports play a significant role in a child's development, which—while beneficial—comes with risks such as concussions, heat-related emergencies, and life-threatening cardiac incidents. As reported by the Texas Standard, high school football participation in Texas declined by 14 percent over the past decade when adjusted for the growing student population, in part due to parents' concerns regarding injury risks. The bill author has further informed the committee that many coaches of youth sports lack formal training in injury prevention and emergency response and that this gap in knowledge can lead to delayed recognition and treatment of injuries, which may exacerbate injury severity and prolong recovery times. H.B. 3811 seeks to equip coaches with essential safety training to identify, prevent, and address injuries and establish safety standards across youth sports programs by creating the Coach Safety Act, which requires applicable coaches and athletic staff involved in high-risk youth sports to complete a Department of State Health Services-approved youth injury mitigation and information training course.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 2 of this bill.

 

ANALYSIS

 

H.B. 3811 amends the Occupations Code to require a youth athletics association that sponsors or conducts sports training or high-risk youth athletics activities for youth athletes to adopt a policy to require all the association's coaches and athletics personnel to complete, if available at no cost, a youth injury mitigation and information course on actions and measures to decrease the likelihood of a youth athlete sustaining a serious injury while engaged or participating in a high-risk youth athletics activity. The course may be online or in person and must be approved by the Department of State Health Services. The bill requires the course to provide information on the following:

·         emergency preparedness, planning, and rehearsal for traumatic injuries;

·         concussions and head trauma;

·         heat and extreme weather-related injury familiarization;

·         physical conditioning and training equipment usage; and

·         heart defects and abnormalities leading to sudden cardiac arrest and death.

The bill requires a person required to complete the course as provided by the bill to do so not later than the 30th day following the date the person becomes actively engaged in or serves as a coach or member of the athletics personnel for an association and to annually complete the course not later than the anniversary of the date the person became actively engaged in serving as a coach or member of the athletics personnel for an association.

 

H.B. 3811 requires an association conducting a high-risk youth athletics activity or event that requires a coach or a member of the athletics personnel to complete the course to maintain a record of the individual's course completion during the period the person serves as a coach or member of the athletics personnel for that association.

 

H.B. 3811 grants a coach or member of the athletics personnel of an association immunity from civil liability for any injury sustained by a youth athlete as a result of participation in a high-risk youth athletics activity on establishing that the coach or member completed the required course and reasonably conformed their conduct to the safety techniques and methods identified in the course.

 

H.B. 3811 excepts from the applicability of its provisions athletic trainers, physicians licensed to practice medicine in Texas, nurses licensed to practice nursing in Texas, first responders, and any other health care professionals with acute traumatic life support training. The bill establishes that its provisions do not eliminate the involvement of athletic trainers at youth athletic events or impose any additional liability on political subdivisions of the state. The bill defines the following terms:

·         "association" as an organization that administers or conducts high-risk youth athletics activities on property owned, leased, managed, or maintained by the state, an agent of the state, or a state agency or political subdivision of the state;

·         "athletics personnel" as athletic directors and other persons actively involved in organizing, training, or coaching sports activities for youth who are younger than 15 years of age;

·         "coach" as any individual, whether paid, unpaid, volunteer, or interim, who an association approves to organize, train, or supervise a youth athlete or team of youth athletes or, if an individual the association approves is unavailable, an individual not approved by the association who is selected as a coach by a youth athlete or a team of youth athletes;

·         "high-risk youth athletics activities" as any organized sport with a significant possibility for a youth athlete participating in the sport to sustain a serious physical injury, including baseball, basketball, cheerleading, field hockey, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball; and

·         "youth athlete" as an individual younger than 15 years of age who participates in an organized sport.

 

H.B. 3811 requires the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date, to adopt the rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

September 1, 2025.