This afternoon I received an email from Pennsylvania State Representative Tim Briggs notifying me of Senate Bill 200′s passing. All that awaits is the signature of the governor, and from there, we will see progress in adjusting the culture of high school athletics to more properly address the concussion issue. With this bill’s implementation, my home state of Pennsylvania will see a mechanism of change for the better, and hopefully no other Pennsylvania athlete will have to go through the physical and cognitive struggles that troubled me for nearly a year and a half. Below is the email that I received:
Dear friends,
Just a quick note to let you know that the Senate voted just now to concur on SB200 and will be sending it to the Governor. I wanted to thank everyone for helping Sen. Browne and I in our effort to get the Safety in Youth Sports Act passed. This legislation has come a long way from when we first started working on it in the summer of 2009, and I am confident that because of your support and input that we were able to pass a very good bill.
When we first started this effort we were one of only four states that were considering legislation modeled on the original Washington State bill. Now over 30 states have passed similar legislation. If you look at the legislation in other states you will find that many of them picked up provisions we put into drafts of HB 2060 and HB 2728 from last session (and which are included in the Safety in Youth Sports Act). While our bill passed after many others, children in other states are already benefitting from ideas that were generated from this group, and PA’s kids will soon benefit too.
Thank you all once again for your hard work and dedication to this effort. I look forward to continuing to work with you on future efforts to protect PA’s families and children.
Sincerely,
Tim
I want to thank everyone that was involved in the supporting and sponsorship of this bill, specifically Tim Briggs and his staff, Tracy Yatsko, and all of those who have vocally aligned themselves in support of the need for such legislation. With this, we will see further accountability put upon the coaches themselves, as well as furthered means of education to help athletes better understand the implications of sport-related traumatic brain injury. It was a great experience being involved in this process, and I wish nothing but success for the effectiveness of this bill.
Congratulations on the bill. Protecting youth athletes is not one person’s responsibility. Hopefully this bill with inspire the players, coaches, parents and sports community will learn more about preventing concussions and players will stay safe.