Senate Bill 958 Summary

• Adopts the Manpower Sports Student Protection Act to promote student athlete safety by organizing athletic competitions fairly by size, regardless of school type

• Defines "manpower sports" as sports with significant person-to-person contact that may increase head injury exposure, including football without limitation

• Prohibits school districts from participating in organizations governing extra-curricular activities and athletics if those organizations distinguish between public and private schools for counting students or classifying schools in manpower sports, effective beginning the 2016-2017 school year

• Allows public and private schools to voluntarily move up a classification level without violating the prohibition

• Establishes legislative findings regarding concussion prevalence (3.9 million sports-related concussions annually) and litigation concerns to support the intent of fair athletic organization