California

California Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi is known best for her sponsorship of the state's youth sports concussion safety laws, but her voice in the legislature may be silenced by a shoplifting scandal.

In 2011, California enacted a strong youth sports concussion safety law, which was strengthened in 2012 to add training on concussions to the first aid certification required of high school coaches.

In addition to the twenty-five states that have passed youth sports concussion safety laws, new concussion safety rules have been enacted both by the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) and by individual state high school athletic associations in a number of states, including California, Delaware, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey and Tennessee.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is implementing a new concussion rule for the 2010-11 academic year which not only requires immediate removal of any athlete suspected of having suffered a concussion but bans his return until cleared to play by an appropriate health-care professional. This rule also covers youth leagues that play under high school rules or modified high school rules, but does not apply in those states where even stricter concussion laws have been recently passed.