A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds to extend the pilot program to purchase and place automated external defibrillators in certain public places, and to direct the department of health and human services to study optimal placement of automated external defibrillators.
Whereas, sudden cardiac arrest kills approximately six hundred thousand individuals every year in the United States; and
Whereas, Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) offer the opportunity for lifesaving therapy to be given to individuals suffering cardiac arrest; and
Whereas, response time is critical, 10 minutes or less, when someone is in cardiac arrest, thereby making it imperative that AEDs be placed in high pedestrian traffic areas where they are easily accessible; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, the sum of thirty‑four thousand dollars ($34,000) for the 2007‑2008 fiscal year and the sum of twelve thousand dollars ($12,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year for the purpose of continuing and expanding the automated external defibrillator pilot program established in Section 10.59 of S.L. 2005‑276.  These funds shall be used to expand the pilot to twelve additional public buildings or places where public usage is 100,000 or more visitors per year and the building or place does not currently have an operational AED in place. In selecting sites, the Department shall ensure geographic representation of the State.  The Department shall report on the implementation of this section to the House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services, and the Fiscal Research Division on or before March 1, 2008.
SECTION 2.  The Department shall study locations and incidence of cardiac arrest throughout the State and identify those areas or activities where the public may be at an increased risk of suffering sudden cardiac death to determine optimal placement of automated external defibrillators.  The Department shall report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly on or before March 1, 2008.
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.