SACRAMENTO – Sen. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) announced today his legislation to equip classrooms with life-saving trauma kits passed unanimously out of the Assembly Education Committee.
“The sad fact today is that every school needs to be prepared for the unthinkable. I never would have thought Saugus High could be the scene of a shooting, but it happened here,” said Senator Wilk. “Because of brave teachers with trauma kits, lives were saved that day. In the event of a shooting, law enforcement’s first job is to neutralize the threat. That’s why ensuring students and teachers access to life-saving tools is so critical, and I’m pleased to see my colleagues in the Assembly recognize the importance of this bill.”
The bill’s approval in its first Assembly committee hearing comes after the measure advanced out of the State Senate last month.
Senate Bill 868 would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school to equip each classroom with a wound care kit. Each kit would be required to include:
- One tourniquet
- One bleeding control bandage
- One pair of non-latex protective gloves
- One marker
- One pair of scissors
- Approved Instructional documents
In March, Emergency Room Dr. Bud Lawrence and his daughter Cambria Lawrence from Santa Clarita testified in strong support of the bill in the Senate Education Committee. In the wake of the 2012 Sandy Hook Shooting, Cambria and her sister Maci created Keep the Pressure classroom trauma kits with the goal of saving lives and since then have been able to get them into Santa Clarita classrooms.
During the Saugus shooting, it was Keep the Pressure trauma kits that ended up being a critical tool used by law enforcement and teachers to save lives.
SB 868 will now move to the Assembly Judiciary Committee.