Suicide and Threat Assessment Nationally Dedicated to Universal Prevention Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2599 To amend the Public Health Service Act to require State educational agencies and tribal educational agencies receiving funds under section 520A of such Act to establish and implement a school-based student suicide awareness and prevention training policy and school threat assessment team policy, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 8, 2019 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. DEUTCH, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to require State educational agencies and tribal educational agencies re- ceiving funds under section 520A of such Act to establish and implement a school-based student suicide awareness and prevention training policy and school threat assess- ment team policy, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2599 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Suicide and Threat 2 Assessment Nationally Dedicated to Universal Prevention 3 Act of 2019’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 The Congress finds as follows: 6 (1) Since 2010, suicide has been the second- 7 leading cause of death for young people ages 10–24. 8 In 2016, 6,159 young people ages 10–24 completed 9 suicide. 10 (2) Based on the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior 11 Survey of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 12 vention (in this section referred to as ‘‘CDC’’), 7.4 13 percent of youth in grades 9–12 reported that they 14 made at least one suicide attempt in the past 12 15 months. 16 (3) While there is no complete count of suicide 17 attempts in the United States, CDC data suggests 18 that for every reported suicide death, approximately 19 11.4 people visit a hospital for self-harm-related in- 20 juries. 21 (4) In 2016, suicide was the 10th-leading cause 22 of death overall in the United States, with over 23 44,000 people completing suicide, and there were 24 more than twice as many suicides in the United 25 States as there were homicides. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2599 IH (5) Youth often display warning signs and sig- 1 nals before harming themselves or others. Research 2 shows that 70 percent of those who complete suicide 3 tell someone of their plans or give another warning 4 sign, and 80 percent of school shooters tell someone 5 of their plans. 6 (6) According to the CDC, the rates of suicide 7 among American Indians and Alaska Natives have 8 been increasing since 2003 and are the highest of 9 any racial or ethnic group in the United States. In 10 addition, recent studies of CDC data from 2001 11 through 2015 show that suicide rates for Black chil- 12 dren aged 5 through 12 were roughly two times 13 higher than those of similarly aged White children. 14 (7) Research has shown that evidence-based 15 school threat assessment teams reduce suicide; inter- 16 personal violence, bullying, and aggression; school 17 staff anxiety about violence; and expulsion and sus- 18 pension rates. Evidence-based school threat assess- 19 ment teams have been shown to increase the willing- 20 ness of students to seek help for threats of violence 21 and mental illness, use of school counseling, and pa- 22 rental involvement. 23 (8) Research has shown that evidence-based 24 school threat assessment teams can lead to a reduc- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2599 IH tion in racial disparities between White, Black, and 1 Hispanic students in school disciplinary outcomes 2 and legal actions. Additionally, research shows that 3 evidence-based school threat assessment teams can 4 help combat the school-to-prison pipeline. 5 SEC. 3. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION 6 TRAINING AND TEAMS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Public Health Serv- 8 ice Act is amended by inserting after section 520A of such 9 Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–32) the following: 10 ‘‘SEC. 520B. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVEN- 11 TION TRAINING AND TEAMS. 12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on receipt of 13 funds under section 520A, each State educational agency 14 and tribal educational agency that receives such funds, di- 15 rectly or through a State or Indian Tribe, shall— 16 ‘‘(1) establish and implement— 17 ‘‘(A) a school-based student suicide aware- 18 ness and prevention training policy; and 19 ‘‘(B) a school threat assessment team pol- 20 icy; and 21 ‘‘(2) collect and report information in accord- 22 ance with subsection (d). 23 ‘‘(b) SCHOOL-BASED STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS 24 AND PREVENTION TRAINING POLICY.—A school-based 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 2599 IH student suicide awareness and prevention training policy 1 implemented pursuant to subsection (a)— 2 ‘‘(1) shall be evidence-based; 3 ‘‘(2) shall provide evidence-based training to 4 students in grades 6 through 12 regarding— 5 ‘‘(A) suicide education and awareness, in- 6 cluding warning signs of self-harm or suicidal 7 ideation; 8 ‘‘(B) methods that students can use to 9 seek help for themselves and others; and 10 ‘‘(C) student resources for suicide aware- 11 ness and prevention; 12 ‘‘(3) shall provide for retraining of such stu- 13 dents every school year; 14 ‘‘(4) may last for such period as the State edu- 15 cational agency or tribal educational agency involved 16 determines to be appropriate; and 17 ‘‘(5) may be implemented through any delivery 18 method, including in-person trainings, digital 19 trainings, or train-the-trainer models. 20 ‘‘(c) SCHOOL THREAT ASSESSMENT TEAM POLICY.— 21 A school threat assessment team policy implemented pur- 22 suant to subsection (a) shall— 23 ‘‘(1) be evidence-based; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 2599 IH ‘‘(2) identify and establish a school threat as- 1 sessment team within each school, consisting of two 2 or more school personnel, with the team designated 3 to provide triage, and serve as a liaison to interven- 4 tion, for all reported threats of suicide and inter- 5 personal violence within the school; 6 ‘‘(3) provide evidence-based training to each 7 such team on how to identify, assess, and respond 8 to threats of suicide and interpersonal violence, in- 9 cluding training on— 10 ‘‘(A) identification of threats, signs, and 11 behaviors that could result in harm towards 12 one’s self or others; 13 ‘‘(B) evaluation of the seriousness of the 14 threat or danger posed; 15 ‘‘(C) intervention to reduce the risk of vio- 16 lence; and 17 ‘‘(D) followup to assess intervention re- 18 sults; 19 ‘‘(4) provide for retraining of the members of 20 each such team no less frequently than every 3 21 school years; 22 ‘‘(5) establish guidelines to ensure that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 2599 IH ‘‘(A) where a credible threat is identified, 1 the response conforms with any applicable State 2 and school disciplinary policies; and 3 ‘‘(B) disciplinary action is not applied dis- 4 proportionately to students on the basis of race, 5 color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability; 6 and 7 ‘‘(6) create procedures and protocols for coordi- 8 nating with local law enforcement, State reporting 9 websites, and tip lines. 10 ‘‘(d) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AND REPORT- 11 ING.—Each State educational agency and tribal edu- 12 cational agency that receives funds under section 520A 13 shall, with respect to each school served by the agency, 14 collect and report to the Secretary the following informa- 15 tion: 16 ‘‘(1) For the school-based student suicide 17 awareness and prevention training policy required by 18 subsection (a)(1)(A): 19 ‘‘(A) The number of student trainings con- 20 ducted. 21 ‘‘(B) The number of students trained, 22 disaggregated by age and grade level. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 2599 IH ‘‘(C) The number of help-seeking behaviors 1 undertaken by students after implementation of 2 such policy. 3 ‘‘(D) The number and type of threats of 4 suicide, mental illness, or interpersonal violence 5 reported by students. 6 ‘‘(2) For the school threat assessment team pol- 7 icy required by subsection (a)(1)(B): 8 ‘‘(A) The number and type of threats of 9 suicide, mental illness, or interpersonal violence 10 reported. 11 ‘‘(B) The number of suicide attempts and 12 completions in the school. 13 ‘‘(C) The method of reporting within the 14 school a threat of suicide, mental illness, or 15 interpersonal violence, such as in-person report- 16 ing, electronic reporting, and anonymous re- 17 porting. 18 ‘‘(D) The number of false reports received. 19 ‘‘(E) The response to each threat reported. 20 ‘‘(F) The demographic information of the 21 students being reported or self-reporting, 22 disaggregated by age, grade level, gender, race, 23 and ethnicity. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 2599 IH ‘‘(G) The point of contact for each school’s 1 team. 2 ‘‘(e) EVIDENCE-BASED PROGRAM LISTING.—The 3 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall coordinate 4 with the Secretary of Education to make publicly available 5 the policies established by State educational agencies and 6 tribal educational agencies pursuant to this section and 7 the training that is available to students and teams pursu- 8 ant to such policies, including identification of whether 9 such training is available to trainees at no cost. 10 ‘‘(f) IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE.—A State edu- 11 cational agency or tribal educational agency shall establish 12 and begin implementation of the policies required by sub- 13 section (a)(1) not later than the beginning of the third 14 fiscal year following the date of enactment of this section 15 for which the agency receives funds under section 520A. 16 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 17 ‘‘(1) The term ‘evidence-based’ has the meaning 18 given to such term in section 8101 of the Elemen- 19 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘State educational agency’ has 21 the meaning given to such term in section 8101 of 22 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 23 1965. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 2599 IH ‘‘(3) The term ‘tribal educational agency’ has 1 the meaning given to such term in section 6132 of 2 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 3 1965.’’. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS