South Carolina H 4298: Clemson University golf champs

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4298 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 03, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4298

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 59-63-75, RELATING TO CONCUSSION PROTOCOL FOR STUDENT ATHLETES, SO AS 
TO REVISE PROTOCOLS BY REQUIRING CERTAIN CONCUSSION RECOGNITION AND MANAGEMENT TRAINING, 
BY INCLUDING RETURN TO LEARN PROTOCOL REQUIREMENTS, BY IMPOSING REQUIREMENTS ON 
STUDENT ATHLETES, AND BY IMPOSING RECORD-KEEPING REQUIREMENTS ON SCHOOLS, AMONG 
OTHER THINGS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 59-63-75 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
59-63-75. (A) The South Carolina 
Department of Health and Environmental Control Public Health, in consultation with the State Department 
of Education, shall post on its website nationally recognized guidelines and 
procedures regarding the identification and management of suspected concussions 
in student athletes. The Department of Health and 
Environmental ControlPublic Health also 
shall post on its website model policies that incorporate best practices 
guidelines for the identification, management, return to 
learn, and return to play decisions for concussions reflective of 
current scientific and medical literature developed by resources from or 
members of sports medicine community organizations including, but not limited 
to, the Brain Injury Association of South Carolina, the South Carolina Medical 
Association, the South Carolina Athletic Trainer's Association, the National 
Federation of High Schools, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. 
Guidelines developed pursuant to this section apply to South Carolina High School League-sanctioned eventsschools.

 (B) A 
local school district shall develop guidelines and procedures based on the 
model guidelines and procedures referenced in subsection (A).

 (C)(1) Each year prior to participation in athletics, each 
school district shall provide to all coaches, volunteers, student athletes, and 
their parents or legal guardian, an information sheet on concussions which 
informs of the nature and risk of concussion and brain injury, including the 
risks associated with continuing to play after a concussion or brain injury. 
The parent or legal guardian's receipt of the information sheet must be 
documented in writing or by electronic means before the student athlete is 
permitted to participate in an athletic competition or practice.

 (2)(a) All coaches, athletic directors, 
athletic staff, parent volunteers, parents, and athletes without other training 
on concussion evaluation and management shall complete online training on proper 
concussion recognition and management in high school sports. The requirements 
of this subitem may be satisfied by:

 (i) successfully completing the HEADS 
UP online concussion recognition and management training offered by the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or other similar online training 
approved by the State Department of Education; and

 (ii) submission to the school district 
of a certificate indicating successful completion of this training.

 (b) Training required in subitem (a) 
must be provided at no charge.

 (c) A school district shall maintain 
records of persons who successfully completed the training required in 
subitem(a) for three years after submission.

 (d) Successful completion of the concussion 
recognition and management training required in this item expires three years after 
the date of completion but may be renewed upon successful completion of the 
training and submission to the school district of a certificate indicating 
successful completion of this training.

 (D)(1) If a coach, athletic trainer, 
official, or physician suspects that a student athlete, under the control of 
the coach, athletic trainer, official, or physician, has sustained a concussion 
or brain injury in a practice or in an athletic competition, the student 
athlete shall be removed from practice or competition at that time.

 (2) 
A student athlete who has been removed from play may return to play if, as a 
result of evaluating the student athlete on site, the athletic trainer, 
physician, physician assistant pursuant to scope of practice guidelines, or 
nurse practitioner pursuant to a written protocol and 
trained in the recognition and management of concussions as required in 
subsection (C)(2) determines in his best professional judgment that the 
student athlete does not have any signs or symptoms of a concussion or other brain injury.

 (3) 
A student athlete who has been removed from play and evaluated 
and who is suspected of having a c