Assemblymember Rodriguez Advances Legislation to Expand the Placement of Trauma Kits in Public and Private Buildings

(Sacramento, CA) – Today, Assembly Bill (AB) 70, authored by Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez (D – Pomona), passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. AB 70 would require specified public and private structures that undergo modification or renovation costs over $100,000 to install and maintain six trauma kits on the building’s premises to treat individuals needing emergency medical care. This is an expansion of last year’s AB 2260 (Rodriguez, Chapter 556, Statutes of 2022), which now requires specific newly constructed public and private buildings to install and maintain six trauma kits on the building’s premises to treat individuals in need of emergency medical care.

“I am proud of the strides we made last year with AB 2260 by requiring new builds to maintain trauma kits. Now, expanding the accessibility of trauma kits in both private and public buildings will empower even more Californians to serve as immediate responders to control life-threatening blood loss, allowing them to ‘STOP THE BLEED,’” stated Assemblymember Rodriguez.

In 2015, President Obama launched the ‘STOP THE BLEED’ campaign to encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to serve as immediate responders while first responders are on their way. The campaign has already trained over 1 million people. However, trauma kits need to be readily available for these trained individuals to be able to help in an emergency. AB 70 will expand accessibility, making these kits available for immediate use.  

Following the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a group of doctors convened a panel of national experts to create an improved response system to control severe blood loss. This group published a series of publications in the Hartford Consensus. One of the recommendations was for trauma kits to be strategically placed next to AEDs in public places. AB 70 will help California to meet this life-saving recommendation.

After advancing from the Assembly Health Committee last week, AB 70 is heading to the Committee on Appropriations before returning to the Assembly Floor and moving on to the Senate.

“Thank you to my colleagues for unanimously supporting this measure thus far. Working as a first responder for over thirty years gave me firsthand experience of how critical controlling blood loss is to save lives. AB 70 is a commonsense measure that will allow California to save more lives,” added Assemblymember Rodriguez.

Assemblymember Rodriguez (Twitter) represents the 53rd Assembly District which includes the cities of Chino, Montclair, Ontario, Pomona, and Upland. He is Chair of the Assembly Committee on Emergency Management.