Photo © Keith Lamond | Dreamstime.com
As the legislative session in Washington continues, swim industry members are pinning their hopes on a bipartisan bill that could enhance water safety by allowing the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs) for basic swim lessons.
It doesn’t sound sexy and maybe it’s not. But with states increasingly unable to pass learn-to-swim laws, it could help remove the barriers to swimming lessons and improve water safety.
In fact, in a recent survey of parents, nearly one in five respondents (19 percent) said their child doesn't know how to swim because they can't afford to pay for lessons. And with cutbacks in hours to public pools as a result of the ongoing staff problems, many districts are unable to hire additional staff certified in Water Safety Instruction.
An understanding of the importance of water safety crosses party lines and accordingly, the bill (HR 9298, the Safe Water Instruction for Minors, or SWIM, Act) is backed by House of members including Rep. W. Gregory Steube (R-FL) and co-sponsored by Reps. Deborah Ross (D-NC) and Donald Davis (D-NC) and Del. James Moylan (R-Guam).
Of course, there is no shortage of information on the importance of water safety, nor on the increase in drownings that happen each year. Meanwhile, studies show that basic swim lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent.
Industry organizations have already thrown their support behind the SWIM Act, including the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance, Association of Aquatic Professionals (AOAP) and the National Drowning Prevention Alliance.
This bill is important news for event owners in the swimming, diving and water sports arena. Creating individuals with swimming skills is the first building block in the development of a deeper bench of athletes down the line. Water safety is a bipartisan issue so the bill itself represents only a benefit.
As the legislative session continues, organizations are encouraging those interested to contact their local representative to encourage support for the bill. The Association of Aquatic Professionals has developed this form with relevant links to help users find their elected representative and create a letter or email (a sample can be found on the form). The form cites statistics as well as talking points for those who want to assemble their own letters or emails.
SDM will continue to cover the issue of whether the SWIM Act sinks or swims.
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