SB 477 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Requiring ambulance, if available, at middle school or high school football game

SB 477, known as "The Alex Miller Law," requires that an ambulance be present at all middle and high school football games under the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission’s control, if available, starting in the 2025-2026 school year. The bill allows games to continue if the ambulance must leave for an emergency. It directly affects all such football games governed by the commission, building on prior requirements for defibrillators and emergency plans. The law aims to improve emergency response at school athletic events following a student’s death during a game.

Issues: ✓ Education ✓ Healthcare

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 14, 2025 Last action Mar 14, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended from its original introduced version to a committee substitute version. The main substantive change is the addition of a condition requiring that an ambulance be available before it must be present at football games, and a new provision allowing games to continue if the ambulance must leave due to an emergency. The bill's purpose remains to require ambulances at middle and high school football games in memory of Alex Miller.

Scope change

The scope of the ambulance requirement was modified to be conditional on availability, and an exception was added to allow games to continue if the ambulance must depart for an emergency.

REQUIREMENT

Changed the ambulance requirement from mandatory presence to 'if available,' allowing schools to proceed without an ambulance if none is accessible.

Added a provision stating that if an ambulance must leave due to an emergency, the football game may continue without interruption.

TECHNICAL

Minor formatting and structural changes including renumbering of subsections and removal of introductory text from the original introduced version.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 14, 2025

Committee

To Finance

upper

Mar 14, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

To Education

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

To Education then Finance

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor