SAVE OUR STUDENTS ACT H.B. 5482 (H-1):
SUMMARY OF HOUSE-PASSED BILL
IN COMMITTEE
House Bill 5482 (Substitute H-1 as passed by the House)
Sponsor: Representative Andrea K. Schroeder
Ways and Means
Senate Committee: Health Policy and Human Services
CONTENT
The bill would enact the "Save Our Students Act" to do the following:
-- Require the board of a school district or intermediate school district (ISD) or the board of directors of a public school academy (PSA) to ensure that the telephone number of a local, State, or national suicide prevention hotline was printed on each student identification (ID) card provided to a pupil in grades 6 to 12.
-- Require the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop or adopt model information materials regarding suicide prevention services, suicide, depression, and anxiety, and to provide the model information materials a school district, ISD, or PSA upon request.
-- Specify that a school district, an ISD, a PSA, a public school, a member of a board of a school district or ISD, or a member of a board of directors of a PSA or his or her designee would not be liable in a criminal action or for civil damages arising from the failure to include the hotline telephone number on pupil ID cards.
Under the bill, beginning one year after the bill's effective date, the board of a school district or ISD or the board of directors of a PSA that offered any of grades 6 to 12 would have to ensure that each ID card provided to a pupil have printed on it the telephone number of a local, State, or national suicide prevention hotline. The telephone number would have to be a local, State, or national suicide prevention hotline that could be accessed for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week by pupils who attempted to use the number.
The DHHS would have to develop or adopt model information materials regarding suicide prevention services, suicide, depression, and anxiety, and would have to provide the model information materials to a school district, ISD, or PSA upon request.
The board of school district or a board of directors of a school that offered any of grades 6 to 12 would be encouraged to display the model information materials developed or adopted by the DHHS on or in any of the following:
-- The school's website homepage.
-- A conspicuous location in the school counselor's office or the office of any school employee of the school qualified to act in a counseling role under the Revised School Code.
-- A conspicuous location in the office of the school principal or chief administrator of the school.
A school district, an ISD, a PSA, a public school, a member of a board of a school district or ISD, or a member of a board of directors of a PSA or his or her designee would not be liable in a criminal action or for civil damages arising from the failure to include the suicide prevention hotline telephone number on pupil ID cards. The bill would not eliminate, limit, or reduce any other immunity or defense that a person described above could have under other State law.
Legislative Analyst: Stephen Jackson
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have a minimal fiscal impact on school districts, ISDs, and PSAs. These costs would be borne by those schools that teach grades 6 to 12 and provided the suicide prevention hotline information on student ID cards. These costs likely would be minimal and would be associated with additional printing costs for student ID cards, which could be absorbed with current expenditures devoted to the printing of ID cards.
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.