AED Laws and Requirements by State

How to read this table

Each column is one thing a state’s law can ask of an AED program, and each answer is one of four values. A Yes means the duty applies to AED owners in general, not just to schools or other named places.

• Yes Required of AED owners in general, outright or as a condition of the law’s civil immunity.
• Limited Required only in certain settings the law names, such as schools or health clubs.
• Encouraged Recommended by the law, not required.
• No Not in state law.

The columns, left to right: physician medical direction; CPR and AED training for the people expected to use the AED; keeping the AED inspected and maintained; notifying agencies about the AED, through either registration with a state or local program or placement reporting to EMS or a 911 center; reporting each use; calling 911 when an AED is used; a written plan or records; a school cardiac emergency plan; AEDs required at specific sites; and other rules. The last column is our rating of the state’s Good Samaritan protection.

How we built it: we read each state’s AED, Good Samaritan and school statutes, and the regulations they point to, on the state’s official legislature or code website, then summarized them in our own words. A duty counts as Yes whether the law imposes it outright or makes it a condition of the legal protection it gives AED owners, since either way a program that skips it is exposed. The list of statutes under the table shows what each row rests on, and each state’s page cites its sections and shows the date it was last reviewed.

Federal rules: OSHA and the FDA

Federal law doesn’t require most organizations to have an AED. OSHA has no AED standard, and the FDA regulates the devices themselves, not where they go.

OSHA: OSHA’s standards “do not specifically address automated external defibrillators,” and its first-aid rule asks for trained responders and supplies, not an AED. OSHA does encourage employers to have one. See OSHA AED requirements for what that means at work.

The FDA: since a 2015 final order, AEDs and their necessary accessories, such as pads and batteries, need FDA premarket approval. The FDA lists the approved AEDs and tells owners of older, unapproved models to keep them in service until they can replace them, though supplies for those models may run out. Problems go to the FDA through MedWatch, and recalls are posted in its recall database. Our AED recalls guide explains what to do when one affects you.

Other federal rules: airlines must carry an AED on passenger planes that need a flight attendant and can carry more than 7,500 pounds of payload (14 CFR 121.803). And the federal Cardiac Arrest Survival Act (42 U.S.C. 238q) gives people who use an AED, and owners that kept it maintained, told local responders where it is and trained expected users, legal protection where a state has none of its own.

Good Samaritan protection

Every state protects people who help in an emergency, but states differ on how fully they protect the AED’s owner. We rate each one Broad, Conditional or Limited, by stated criteria, with the reason from its statute.

• Broad Anyone who uses an AED in good faith is protected without needing training, and so is the AED’s owner, with no conditions beyond the usual exceptions (gross negligence, willful or wanton misconduct, care given for pay).
• Conditional Both the person who uses the AED and the AED’s owner are protected, but the protection depends on meeting program duties, such as maintaining the AED, notifying EMS, training users or having medical direction.
• Limited The person who uses the AED is protected, but the AED’s owner gets partial or no protection, only trained or authorized users are covered, or the protection doesn’t reach ordinary negligence.

By our rating, 18 jurisdictions are Broad, 21 are Conditional and 12 are Limited. A Conditional rating is a reason to keep good records: in those states, the owner’s protection depends on being able to show the AED was maintained and the law’s other duties were met. See every state’s rating and reason on Good Samaritan AED laws by state.

Many searches for a state’s “Good Samaritan law” are about a different law: the one that protects people who call 911 about an overdose from some drug charges. This table covers protection from being sued for giving emergency care with an AED.

AED registration and EMS notification

In 27 states, AED owners must tell a government agency about their AEDs: 8 run a formal registration and 24 require you to tell local EMS or a 911 center where each AED is.

The rules vary a lot. Some states want each AED registered with a state registry within a set number of days, with its exact location, and updated when it moves. Others only ask you to notify the local EMS agency once. A few apply the rule only to schools or to AEDs set out for public use. The state pages give each state’s details and the statute behind them.

Registration helps beyond the law: some 911 centers use AED registries to send a caller to the nearest AED. Registering each AED with its manufacturer is worth doing too, so recall and safety notices reach you. Keep every confirmation with your program records; AED Log’s document library files them with the AEDs they cover. See how to start an AED program for the full setup.

What every state has in common

No state requires every business to have an AED, every state protects people who help in good faith in an emergency, and almost every state that regulates AEDs ties upkeep to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Maintenance follows the manufacturer. 34 states require AED owners to keep their AEDs inspected and maintained, and in 28 of them the law points to the manufacturer’s guidelines. Where a state sets no rule, those same instructions are what keep an AED ready: check the status indicator, replace pads and batteries before they expire, and write each check down. See AED maintenance.

Training is expected, even where it isn’t required. 23 states require training for the people expected to use an AED, 18 require it only in certain settings such as schools, and 1 encourage it. Some Good Samaritan laws also make an owner’s protection depend on training. See CPR and AED certification.

Schools are where requirements are growing fastest. 40 jurisdictions now require a school cardiac emergency response plan, many of them added since 2024, such as New York’s Desha’s Law. See AEDs in schools by state.

Keep your program compliant automatically

Whatever your state asks, the work is the same: inspect each AED on schedule, replace pads and batteries before they expire, keep responders’ cards current and record every use. AED Log does the tracking and reminds you first.

• Monthly inspections on a phone, saved with the date and the inspector (inspection tracking)
• A warning before every pad, battery and certification expires (compliance alerts)
• Registrations, EMS notices, medical direction letters and plans filed with each AED (document management)
• A report for every AED use (incident reporting)
• Physician medical direction for $65 per AED per year, for the nine states that require it (Medical Direction)

Plans start at $114 a year for one AED, with unlimited users and locations. Start a free trial (no credit card) or talk to us.