SB 796 California Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

Emergency medical services: state-employed public safety personnel: optional first aid skills.

Summary

Existing law requires specified lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers to be trained to administer first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) . Existing law requires the training to meet standards prescribed by the Emergency Medical Services Authority, and to be provided at no cost to the lifeguard or firefighter employee. Existing regulations authorize those lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers to perform specified optional first aid and CPR skills if the lifeguard, firefighter, or peace officer has been trained and tested to demonstrate competence and if authorized by the medical director of the local emergency medical services agency. This bill would require the authority to act as the authorizing entity for the optional first aid and CPR skills for the lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers described above that are employed by a state agency, and would require the authority to develop and implement quality assurance and improvement measures, as specified, to ensure the safe and effective use of those skills.

Bill status failed 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 21, 2025 Last action Feb 2, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

04/28/25 - Amended Senate → SB796 · 1 edit

MINOR

No substantive policy changes were made between these two versions of SB 796. The differences are entirely formatting and presentation: the older version used traditional legislative document layout with line numbers and page headers, while the newer version reflects a web-based display format with navigation elements. The actual bill text, including all sections amending Health and Safety Code Sections 1797.182 and 1797.183, is identical in both versions.

TECHNICAL

Formatting changed from a traditional legislative document layout (with line numbers, page headers/footers, and column formatting) to a web-based presentation format with navigation links and restructured headings. No changes to the actual statutory language.

02/21/25 - Introduced → 03/24/25 - Amended Senate · 5 edits · Mar 24, 2025

MODERATE

SB 796 was substantially expanded from a nonsubstantive cleanup of an aviation code section to also include new requirements for the Emergency Medical Services Authority to serve as the authorizing entity for optional CPR and first aid training for state-agency-employed lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers, and to develop quality assurance measures. The original aviation changes remain but are now secondary. The bill also now requires fiscal committee review, indicating potential state or local fiscal impact.

Scope change

Expanded from a nonsubstantive aviation code cleanup to include substantive new obligations on the Emergency Medical Services Authority regarding optional CPR/first aid training authorization and quality assurance for state-agency-employed lifeguards, firefighters, and peace officers.

SCOPE

The bill now amends Sections 1797.182 and 1797.183 of the Health and Safety Code in addition to the original Public Utilities Code section, expanding its scope from purely aviation to also cover emergency medical services training requirements.

REQUIREMENT

New subsection (e) in Section 1797.182 requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority to act as the authorizing entity for optional CPR and first aid skills when lifeguards or firefighters are employed by a state agency, and to develop, implement, and monitor quality assurance and improvement measures to ensure safe and effective use of those skills.

New subsection (d) in Section 1797.183 imposes the same authorizing entity and QA/QI requirements for peace officers employed by a state agency.

TECHNICAL

The original Public Utilities Code section (now renumbered as Section 3) received nonsubstantive cleanup: removal of redundant words like 'such' and 'in,' and reorganization of lettered subparts into numbered paragraphs.

FISCAL

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the amended bill now requires fiscal impact review, suggesting potential state or local cost implications from the new QA/QI and training authorization requirements.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 23, 2025

Upper · Passed

May 23 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

upper

Apr 28, 2025

Upper · Passed

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

upper

Apr 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0. Page 869.) (April 23).

upper

Apr 2, 2025

Committee

Re-referred to Com. on HEALTH.

upper

Mar 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Mar 12, 2025

Committee

Referred to Com. on RLS.

upper

Feb 21, 2025

Introduced

Introduced. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors