Politics & Government

State Senate Approves Huff Seizure Medication Bill

On Thursday, the Senate voted 32-4 in favor of a proposed law that would allow trained school personnel to administer seizure medication to students in an emergency. The law must get Assembly approval before becoming law.

The state Senate voted Thursday in support of a bill that would allow school employees to be trained to give students seizure medication in an emergency.

Senate Bill 161, authored by Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) was passed with a 32-4 vote in favor of the measure. Thursday’s action follows an 8-0 vote in support of the bill last week in the Senate Appropriations Committee, the final step before the bill was allowed to go to the full Senate for a vote.

Although pleased with the vote, Huff, who also represents Arcadia, said on Facebook that he expects continued opposition from unions representing school employees as the bill makes its way next to the Assembly for consideration.

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The proposed legislation, which has the support of several groups, including the Epilepsy Foundation of California, would allow school employees to volunteer for training to learn how to give students a pre-dosed preparation of Diastat Acudial, a medication used to treat prolonged seizures.

The bill is similar to a proposed law Huff authored last year that failed to pass.

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The California Teachers Association opposed Huff’s previous bill, citing liability for staff and teachers and student privacy as reasons, and also does not favor the reintroduced version.

One of the concerns the 295,000-member group expressed when the previous bill was introduced had to do with the way that Diastat is administered. 

The drug must be injected into a child’s rectum by syringe, according to diastat.com.

Frank Wells, a California Teachers Association spokesman, said in March that the organization opposes non-medical personnel doing certain medical procedures. Under the strain of budget cuts, school nurses are in short supply, but they have found ways to meet the needs of students they serve and to rapidly respond to emergencies, he said.

Teachers and staff also might feel undue pressure to volunteer, he said.

“We believe the legislation may be well intentioned, but it actually places students at risk,” he said.  “Seizure type recognition and treatment is not to be taken lightly.”

Huff, speaking on the Senate floor before Thursday’s vote, said Diastat Acudial is safe for use by people with no medical background.

“It is specifically designed to be administered by people without medical training,” he said.  “It was designed for moms, for dads, for siblings, school employees and other lay people.”


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