(a) (1) Unless a student athlete declines the payment of premiums, an athletic program shall be responsible for paying the premiums of each of its student athletes whose household has an income and asset level that does not exceed the level for Cal Grant A recipients set forth in Section 69432.7 for insurance covering claims resulting from their participation in the athletic program.

(2) An athletic program shall be responsible for paying the insurance deductible amount applicable to the claim of any student athlete who suffers an injury resulting from his or her participation in the athletic program and makes a claim relating to that injury.

(3) If a student athlete suffers an injury resulting from his or her participation in the athletic program that requires ongoing medical treatment, the athletic program shall provide, for a minimum of two years following the student athlete’s graduation or separation from the institution of higher education, one of the following:

(A) The necessary medical treatment.

(B) Health insurance that covers the injury and the resulting deductible amounts.

(4) This subdivision shall not apply to preexisting medical conditions that predate the student athlete’s participation in the athletic program.

(b) An athletic program shall adopt and implement guidelines to prevent, assess, and treat sports-related concussions and dehydration. In addition, an athletic program shall adopt and implement exercise and supervision guidelines for any student athlete identified with potentially life-threatening health conditions who participates in an athletic program.

(c) An institution of higher education that receives, as an average, less than ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in annual income derived from media rights for intercollegiate athletics shall not be subject to the requirements of this section.

(d) An institution of higher education to which this section applies shall rely exclusively on revenue derived from media rights for intercollegiate athletics to defray any costs accrued under this section.

(Added by Stats. 2012, Ch. 625, Sec. 1. (SB 1525) Effective January 1, 2013.)