Concussions in Youth Athletes - Virginia

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Virginia

Governor McDonnell signed SB 652 into law on April 11, 2010. The law went into effect on July 1, 2011. This law can be found at section 22.1-271.5 of the Virginia Code, under the title dealing with education and the chapter dealing with pupils. (Va. Code Ann. § 22.1-271.5).

This law requires that the Board of Education develop and distribute guidelines and policies on concussion to each school division. Each school division must develop policies and procedures for the handling of suspected concussions in student athletes. To be eligible to participate in an extracurricular physical activity, the student and parent/guardian must annually review concussion information and both must sign an acknowledgement form. Any student suspected of sustaining a concussion must be removed from the activity at that time and may not return until evaluated by a licensed health care provider and given written clearance.

The official versions of this section is currently available online at:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+22.1-271.5

There is no legislation pending in the Virginia Legislature to amend or repeal the current law.