Senate BillIntroduced
S 5295: Prohibits children twelve years old and younger from playing tackle football.
What S 5295 does, verified January 8, 2026
The bill aims to protect children from tackle football by prohibiting them from playing, practicing, or engaging in organized tackle football until they are 12 years old. The law allows children under 12 to participate in non-contact forms of football. Any entity that allows children under 12 to play tackle football may face a civil penalty. The term "tackle" refers to physically impeding a player's forward movement by stopping or forcing them to touch the ground with any part of their body except hands or feet.
Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: REFERRED TO HEALTH (2026-01-07)Alert me
Quick answers about S 5295
- What is the current status of S 5295?
- As of January 8, 2026, S 5295 is recorded as "Introduced": it has been introduced and is waiting for its first committee hearing or floor vote. The last recorded action, on January 7, 2026, was "REFERRED TO HEALTH".
- Did S 5295 pass?
- Not yet. S 5295 has been introduced and has not passed either house.
- Who wrote S 5295, and where is it now?
- S 5295 was authored by Sen. Luis Sepúlveda. Its committee of record is Senate Health.
Author and sponsors
Full contact details, staff, and committees with Connect, $16/moUnlockRecent actions2 total · showing 2
| Jan. 07, 2026 | REFERRED TO HEALTH |
| Feb. 20, 2025 | REFERRED TO HEALTH |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, February 20, 2025 · 399 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5295 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to prohibiting chil- dren twelve years old and younger from playing tackle football The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "John Mack- 2 ey youth football protection act". 3 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2596 to 4 read as follows: 5 § 2596. Prohibition of tackle football. 1. No child twelve years old 6 or younger shall play, practice, or otherwise engage in organized tackle 7 football; provided however, that nothing within this section shall 8 prohibit children twelve years old and younger from playing, practicing, 9 or otherwise participating in any form of football which does not 10 involve tackling. 11 2. Any school, league or other entity whose purpose is to allow chil- 12 dren to participate in football, who allows children twelve years old or 13 younger to play, practice, or otherwise engage in tackle football shall 14 be liable for a civil penalty under the provisions of title two of arti- 15 cle one of this chapter. 16 3. For the purposes of this section: 17 (a) "Organized tackle football" shall include any practice, game or 18 other activity which involves engaging in tackle football and which is 19 organized by a school, or public or private league or other entity whose 20 purpose is to allow children to participate in contact football. 21 (b) "Tackle" shall mean to physically impede the forward movement of a 22 player who is in possession of the ball to the extent that: 23 (i) the player's forward movement is stopped and the player is unable 24 to resume such forward movement; or 25 (ii) the player is forced to touch some part of their body to the 26 ground other than the player's hands or feet. 27 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09312-01-5
Text of S 5295 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions