II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3533 

To require the Department of Homeland Security to carry out certain activities with respect to delivering training in age-appropriate basic life supporting first aid skills to school children, including funding of a program 

to provide this education to the public. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 16, 2006 

Mr. COLEMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Department of Homeland Security to carry 

out certain activities with respect to delivering training 

in age-appropriate basic life supporting first aid skills 

to school children, including funding of a program to 

provide this education to the public. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Response 

5 System Initiative Act of 2006’’ or the ‘‘CRSI Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
2 

•S 3533 IS

1 (1) Injury remains 1 of the top killers in Amer2 ica, effecting over 2,400,000 children who needlessly 

3 die each year. Fifty percent of these lives could have 

4 been saved if prompt aid were administered prior to 

5 the arrival of emergency medical services. 

6 (2) Part of any comprehensive emergency pre7 paredness plan must include educating the public on 

8 how to prepare for and react in an emergency situa9 tion. 

10 (3) The need for citizen-based emergency pre11 paredness training at the community level has never 

12 been greater. The Citizen Corps and mayors from 

13 across the country agree that educating children in 

14 age-appropriate life supporting first aid, including 

15 cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the Heimlich maneu16 ver, and blood-borne and biohazardous precautions, 

17 is an important component of meeting this need. On 

18 June 5, 2006, the United States Conference of May19 ors adopted a resolution urging mayors to form a 

20 Community Response System Initiative Committee 

21 to address this issue. 

22 (4) Studies have shown that providing children 

23 with life supporting first aid skills training increases 

24 their willingness to assist others in a medical emer25 gency by 57 percent. 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
3 

•S 3533 IS

1 (5) Eighty percent of schools surveyed stated 

2 that cardiopulmonary resuscitation training is best 

3 provided in a school setting. 

4 (6) In 2001, 101,537 Americans died of ‘‘unin5 tentional injury deaths’’. 

6 (7) In 2003, 479,305 Americans died due to 

7 heart attacks, which was 1 of every 5 deaths in the 

8 United States overall. 

9 (8) In the United States, 1,200,000 new and 

10 recurrent coronary attacks occur each year. 

11 (9) The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad12 ministration has concluded that if members of the 

13 public learned life supporting first aid, there would 

14 be ‘‘significant potential’’ for reducing the more 

15 than 22,000 preventable highway deaths that occur 

16 in the United States each year. 

17 SEC. 3. BASIC LIFE SUPPORTING FIRST AID EDUCATION 

18 FOR CHILDREN. 

19 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

20 (1) the term ‘‘age-appropriate’’ means informa21 tion, education, and skills suitable for the individual 

22 to understand and perform; 

23 (2) the term ‘‘appropriate municipal entity’’ 

24 means an agency of a unit of local government that 

25 is an emergency response provider or provides other 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
4 

•S 3533 IS

1 similar medical services or training, including a fire 

2 department, law enforcement agency, hospital, school 

3 nurse, or emergency medical services provider; 

4 (3) the term ‘‘children’’ means individuals 

5 under the age of 18 years enrolled in grades kinder6 garten through 12; 

7 (4) the term ‘‘emergency medical professional’’ 

8 means an individual certified by a State in emer9 gency medical services; 

10 (5) the terms ‘‘emergency response provider’’ 

11 and ‘‘local government’’ have the same meaning as 

12 in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 

13 (6 U.S.C. 101); 

14 (6) the term ‘‘life supporting first aid’’ includes 

15 cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the use of an auto16 matic external defibrillator, the Heimlich maneuver, 

17 blood-borne and biohazardous precautions, bleed 

18 control, and other life-sustaining procedures in the 

19 event of an emergency; and 

20 (7) the term ‘‘selected organization’’ means the 

21 organization contracting with the Secretary of 

22 Homeland Security under subsection (b). 

23 (b) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu24 rity, acting through the Chief Medical Officer, shall enter 

25 into an agreement with an organization, under which such 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
5 

•S 3533 IS

1 organization shall provide funds to appropriate municipal 

2 entities to provide education and training in life sup3 porting first aid to children, including scene safety proce4 dures. 

5 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—The selected organization shall— 

6 (1) have experience in, and the sole mission of, 

7 training individuals (especially children) to be active 

8 bystanders, equipped with life supporting first aid 

9 skills to assist during emergencies; 

10 (2) recognize that life supporting first aid tech11 niques are essential to maintaining life before the ar12 rival of emergency response providers; 

13 (3) use only emergency medical professionals as 

14 instructors to teach life supporting first aid tech15 niques to children and adults; 

16 (4) work with Federal, State, and local govern17 ment entities and the private sector to highlight the 

18 importance of public emergency preparedness and 

19 effective emergency response; 

20 (5) have developed and implemented, before the 

21 date of entering a contract under subsection (b), a 

22 testing component for evaluation, accountability, and 

23 data collection; and 

24 (6) be an affiliate of the Citizens Corps of the 

25 Department of Homeland Security. 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with BILLS
6 

•S 3533 IS

1 (d) USE OF FUNDS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Funds provided under this 

3 section by the selected organization to an appro4 priate municipal entity shall be used— 

5 (A) to create age-appropriate educational 

6 materials regarding life supporting first aid to 

7 be distributed to children; 

8 (B) to conduct training and clinical in9 struction of children in life supporting first aid; 

10 and 

11 (C) for data collection and statistical anal12 ysis. 

13 (2) PRIORITY.—In providing funds to appro14 priate municipal entities under this section, the se15 lected organization shall give priority to emergency 

16 medical services, fire departments, law enforcement 

17 agencies, hospitals, and school nurses. 

18 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 There are authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 

20 for each of fiscal years 2007 through 2010 to carry out 

21 this Act . 

Æ 


ycherry on PROD1PC64 with BILLS