B-Roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Keeping Kids Safe: Governor Hochul Signs Legislation at Buffalo Bills Training Camp Requiring Public Schools to Have Cardiac Emergency Response Plans

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Desha’s Law (S.5539A/A.785A), a bill requiring every public school in NY to have a cardiac emergency response plan in place. The Governor was joined by the bill’s sponsor, Senator April Baskin, and is named after Senator Baskin’s late cousin, who tragically passed away at school.The bill signing took place at the Buffalo Bills Training Camp where the Governor was joined by Desha’s family, and leaders from the NFL and Buffalo Bills. Bills Safety Damar Hamlin, the Bills, and NFL have been powerful advocates for heart health and implementing critical training and resources in schools and youth sports following Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest in January 2023 in which he had to be resuscitated on the field during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Governor Hochul previously signed legislation requiring camps and youth sports programs to establish automated external defibrillator, or AED, implementation plans and to have at least one person trained to properly use the AED at camps, games and practice.

B-ROLL: B-Roll is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page has photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Well, first of all, good morning and there's no place I'd rather be than right here right now. It's exciting to be here, but unfortunately, there was a tragedy that brought us to this moment. So we celebrate the first few days of Bill's training camp, and finally our withdrawal pains from Buffalo Bills can end. We can get real engaged with our beloved team again.

There's a family that has an open wound. A family that may never heal because of the loss of their little girl day. She was only 12 years old playing basketball in gym class. For reasons unknown, she went down and while there were defibrillators in the area in the school, they were locked up. People didn't know how to use them. There wasn't proper training, and I believe perhaps her little life could have been saved. And her now 25-year-old sister who was nine years old at the time, would've grown up with an older sister to teach her the ways of what it's like to be a teenager, young adult, and a mom.

I'm a mom. It's really hard to think of the loss of any of our children. We know that a cardiac emergency response plan could have saved her life. So I want to thank the incredible champions, Senator April Baskin, who has a deep personal connection. Desha was her cousin. Thank you, Senator. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for sharing her story, and I'm convinced as a result of this, there'll be lives saved that we'll never know about, but that's okay. And more families don't have broken hearts. More families enjoying summertime together because of your leadership.

I also want to commend Assemblymember Solages for her leadership in this as well. For taking it through the Assembly, getting it over the finish line, and now it is now presented to my desk.

This also adds to a law I signed a few years ago that Demar Hamlin supported. I know he is around, but he is certainly a little busy. That's important too. That requires youth sports programs and camps to have emergency defibrillator plans in place. Because think about them, not all sports are happening inside of school, right? Little league football fields, soccer fields, they're outdoors. And so these youth programs have to have a plan as well.

Now, if a student has a cardiac arrest, there's going to be a trained force, trained individuals, and a plan in place. So, no family ever has to go through this heartbreak again. So, I look forward to signing this and perhaps when we present the signing pens to Desha’s mom and sister and family, they'll know that well they don't have their beloved little girl but there's other families that may keep theirs. So, I'm proud to be here today, proud to be here with all of you and people from the American Heart Association and others who stepped up to talk about how important this is. You'll be hearing from them momentarily.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Assemblymember Solages, and thank her once again for being a great champion of this legislation.