The Second Chance Act was passed last year in Florida. Starting July 1, 2026, the law requires all high school students in the state to receive an electrocardiogram (EKG) evaluation to participate in school-sanctioned sports.
The bill was led by Rep. Jason Shoaf (R-Port St. Joe) and Sen. Corey Simon (R-Tallahassee) and signed last summer by Governor Ron DeSantis.
“The Second Chance Act is a promise to every parent in Florida that we will do our best to protect their children,” Shoaf said in a news release announcing the new EKG requirement.
Shoaf proposed House Bill 1135 following the death of 18-year-old Chance Gainer, a football player and honors student at Port St. Joe High School who collapsed and died due to sudden cardiac arrest during a game in 2024.
PanCare of Florida, a non-profit organization providing affordable primary care across northwest Florida, has partnered with Who We Play For, a Melbourne-based non-profit dedicated to eliminating preventable sudden cardiac arrest in young people, to provide low-cost heart screenings.
“We’re talking about 25 bucks, 30 bucks for these tests,” Shoaf says. “We don’t want cost to be a barrier for somebody to get into sports.”
Evan Ernst, the founder and CEO of Who We Play For, said in a press release that the organization is committed to making heart screenings accessible to every student athlete in Florida.
“Who We Play For is run on a simple belief that no family should have to face the same tragedies the Gainer family did, specifically in circumstances that could be prevented with proper precautionary actions,” Ernst says.
Gulf County School Superintendent Jim Norton shared at a recent luncheon in Perry that two students tested in Gulf County had already been discovered to have pre-existing heart conditions.
“We implemented [EKG screenings] voluntarily this past year,” Norton said. “We likely saved their lives.”
