FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky lawmakers are pushing to mandate a life-saving device in middle and high schools throughout the state.
House Bill 331 would require schools to have an Automated External Defibrillators (AED). An AED, commonly known as a defibrillator, delivers an electric shock for cardiac arrest.
Since 2017, lawmakers have been trying to get AEDs into more schools but the bill has already failed twice.
Rep. Ruth Palumbo is one of the sponsors of the bill.
"Students have died because there was not an AED close to them," Palumbo said.
The bill would require Kentucky schools to "maintain a portable AED in every middle and high school building at school-sponsored events."
"It's important to Kentucky," Palumbo said. "It will save lives."
"I really would like to see this get through this year," Rep. Kimberly Moser said. "I think we've got momentum. We certainly have national attention because Damar Hamlin's very successful outcome. We want that for everyone. We don't want any family to suffer this heartbreak."
Moser filed a similar bill in 2017 and 2019 but said they failed because it was considered an "unfunded mandate." That's why Moser said this bill includes a trust, "where a committee would collect funds from private donors and grants" to pay for the AEDs.
"You just never know. It's not specific to sports,"  she said. "It does happen more often in sports, but if you're going to have an AED accessible, you may as well have them available to everyone. I just want about every school to have the opportunity, even if they don't have the financial where-with-all. And that's really what this trust it set up for."
Right now, in Jefferson County Public Schools, only 43 of the 165 schools have at least one AED. But JCPS recently requested bids so it could put one device in all elementary schools, three per middle and five per high schools.
The bill will also "ensure training requirements are met" and "require venue-specific emergency plans" to identify the locations where the AEDs should be kept.
"People need to know where it is and there needs to be training of coaches," Palumbo said.
An AED costs around $1,500 a piece.
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