Bill Text: TX HB2954 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to a suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention grant program for certain public elementary schools.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-3)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-05-25 - Committee report printed and distributed [HB2954 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2954-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to a suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention grant program for certain public elementary schools.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-3)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-05-25 - Committee report printed and distributed [HB2954 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2954-Introduced.html
87R5041 BDP-D | ||
By: Thompson of Harris | H.B. No. 2954 |
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relating to a suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention | ||
program for certain public elementary school campuses. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 38, Education Code, is | ||
amended by adding Section 38.3515 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 38.3515. SUICIDE PREVENTION, INTERVENTION, AND | ||
POSTVENTION PROGRAM. (a) In this section, "postvention" includes | ||
activities that promote healing necessary to reduce the risk of | ||
suicide by a person affected by the suicide of another. | ||
(b) To the extent funds are appropriated to the agency for | ||
that purpose, the agency shall establish a suicide prevention, | ||
intervention, and postvention program for optional implementation | ||
at an elementary school campus of a school district described by | ||
Subsection (c). | ||
(c) A school district may implement the program established | ||
under this section at a campus of the district if the district or | ||
campus has: | ||
(1) experienced suicide loss among elementary school | ||
students enrolled in the district; or | ||
(2) a reasonable concern regarding the risk of suicide | ||
among elementary school students enrolled in the district. | ||
(d) The agency may prioritize school districts described by | ||
Subsection (c)(1). | ||
(e) For each elementary school campus at which the program | ||
is implemented, the agency shall: | ||
(1) conduct: | ||
(A) an eligibility assessment of whether a | ||
district that implements the program meets the criteria provided | ||
under Subsection (c); and | ||
(B) a needs-based assessment to identify | ||
individual needs of each campus in the program; | ||
(2) provide, in coordination with the Health and Human | ||
Services Commission, comprehensive Suicide Safer Early | ||
Intervention and Prevention systems for each campus in the program; | ||
(3) provide recommendations for research-based best | ||
practices for suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention | ||
policies; | ||
(4) develop a method for eligible districts to request | ||
the assistance of public and private community-based mental health | ||
resources; | ||
(5) ensure that informational materials distributed | ||
by an eligible district are age-appropriate and evidence-based; and | ||
(6) at the request of an eligible district, provide | ||
support to the campus in the program, including by: | ||
(A) identifying the individual needs of the | ||
campus through the assessment conducted under Subdivision (1)(B); | ||
(B) implementing research-based best practices | ||
for suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention; and | ||
(C) working with mental health professionals, | ||
school counselors, teachers, nurses, administrators, and other | ||
staff, as well as law enforcement officers and social workers who | ||
regularly interact with students, to prevent suicide among students | ||
enrolled at the campus. | ||
(f) Each school district that implements the program under | ||
this section shall provide written notice to a parent or guardian of | ||
each student enrolled at a campus in the program. The required | ||
written notice must include: | ||
(1) current information on suicide rates; | ||
(2) evidence-based informational materials | ||
identifying strategies to recognize the signs and symptoms of | ||
possible suicidal ideation that are age-appropriate for children | ||
who are three years of age or older; | ||
(3) information about suicide prevention strategies | ||
involving restricting access to the means of suicide; and | ||
(4) a list of available school and community resources | ||
to support students or community members who may be at risk for | ||
suicide. | ||
(g) In developing the program under this section, the | ||
agency, in consultation with the Health and Human Services | ||
Commission, shall make the considerations described by Section | ||
38.351(f). | ||
(h) In addition to the policies and procedures developed by | ||
a school district under Section 38.351(i), a district that | ||
implements the program shall develop practices and procedures | ||
concerning suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention that: | ||
(1) include a procedure for providing notice to a | ||
parent or guardian of a student regarding a recommendation for | ||
early mental health intervention regarding the student within a | ||
reasonable amount of time after the identification of early warning | ||
signs of risk for suicide, including: | ||
(A) declining academic performance; | ||
(B) depression; | ||
(C) anxiety; | ||
(D) isolation; | ||
(E) unexplained changes in sleep or eating | ||
habits; and | ||
(F) destructive behavior toward self and others; | ||
(2) include a procedure for providing notice of a | ||
student identified as at risk of attempting suicide, including a | ||
student who is or may be the victim of or who engages in bullying, to | ||
a parent or guardian of the student within a reasonable amount of | ||
time after the identification of early warning signs, including the | ||
signs listed in Subdivision (1); | ||
(3) designate at least one person to act as a liaison | ||
officer in the district for the purposes of identifying students in | ||
need of suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention; | ||
(4) provide information concerning available | ||
counseling alternatives to parents and guardians of district | ||
students to consider when a student is identified as possibly in | ||
need of suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention; and | ||
(5) include procedures to support the return of a | ||
student to regular school attendance following hospitalization or | ||
residential treatment for a mental health condition or substance | ||
abuse. | ||
(i) The practices and procedures developed under Subsection | ||
(h) must be included in: | ||
(1) the annual student handbook; and | ||
(2) the district improvement plan under Section | ||
11.252. | ||
(j) The agency: | ||
(1) may accept donations for purposes of this section | ||
from sources without a conflict of interest; and | ||
(2) may not accept donations for purposes of this | ||
section from an anonymous source. | ||
(k) Nothing in this section is intended to interfere with | ||
the rights of parents or guardians and the decision-making | ||
regarding the best interest of the child. Practices and procedures | ||
developed in accordance with this section are intended to notify a | ||
parent or guardian of a need for suicide prevention, intervention, | ||
or postvention so that a parent or guardian may take appropriate | ||
action. | ||
(l) Nothing in this section authorizes a school district | ||
employee to recommend prescription medication for a student or to | ||
interfere with medical decisions to be made by the student's parent | ||
or guardian. | ||
(m) The commissioner shall adopt rules to administer this | ||
section. | ||
(n) This section expires September 1, 2025. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2021-2022 | ||
school year. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |