News release
Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, announced his legislation to equip schools with life-saving trauma kits cleared its second hurdle, passing unanimously out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“The horrific effects of the 2019 Saugus High School shooting reverberate to this day in our community. As tragic as the shooting was, teachers with trauma kits saved lives. The sad truth is our schools need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” Wilk said in a prepared statement. “I want to thank my colleagues for seeing the importance of this bill.”
Senate Bill 868 would require each school district, county office of education and charter school to equip each classroom with a wound trauma kit. Each kit would be required to include a tourniquet, a bleeding control bandage, a pair of non-latex protective gloves, a marker, a pair of scissors and approved instructional documents.
SB 868 was approved unanimously in the Senate Education Committee last month, where Dr. Bud Lawrence and his daughter Cambria Lawrence from Santa Clarita testified in support of the bill.
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. During the Saugus shooting, Keep the Pressure trauma kits ended up being a critical tool used by law enforcement and teachers to save lives.
SB 868’s next stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee.