When 12-year-old Yahushua Robinson died while running during a PE class in triple-digit temperatures, his mother couldn’t help but feel the tragedy was preventable.
Now, a little more than a year later, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a bill aimed at ensuring that all California students are better protected during heat waves.
Senate Bill 1248 — called Yahushua’s Law — will require public schools to adopt uniform safety guidelines for physical activity during extreme weather. Robinson’s family played a key role in getting the legislation to Newsom’s desk.
“This law symbolizes a commitment to the safety of children and the embodiment of Yahushua’s values by recognizing our shared humanity within each student,” Christina Laster, an advocate for the Robinson family, said in a statement about the bill.
Yahushua died in August 2023 after collapsing during his gym class at Canyon Lake Middle School in Lake Elsinore. The high temperature that day was 107 degrees.
The boy died of a heart defect, with heat and physical exertion contributing factors, according to a Riverside County Coroner’s Bureau report.
His mother, Janee Robinson, is a physical education teacher in the same school district and told ABC7 that she kept her students inside on that windy hot day.
“These students should not have been outside and to think that my child died while my students were inside,” she told the station.
Yahushua’s law, which will take effect in July 2026, will eliminate the need for teacher discretion during heat waves by requiring districts to implement a standard set of guidelines to keep students safe. The bill will also require districts to create policies for other types of hazardous weather — such as poor air quality or high winds.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield).
“No student should ever lose their life on campus to extreme weather when we can take steps to protect them by preparing statewide plans to minimize exposure to the most harmful elements of exposure,” she said in a statement. “I commend Yahushua Robinson’s family … for lending their emotional strength and compassion to others to help ensure that no other student loses his life in this way.”