BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 1390

By: Menéndez

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that more efforts should be made in public schools to help students and others understand the relationship between drug and alcohol abuse and suicide, acquire essential knowledge and skills in recognizing warning signs of suicide, and gain awareness of help‑seeking behaviors and available community suicide prevention services. C.S.S.B. 1390 seeks to address this issue by providing for those efforts as they relate to suicide prevention in public school curriculum and certain educational programs concerning suicide prevention and substance abuse prevention.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 1390 amends the Education Code to change the basis on which suicide prevention training must be provided to existing public school district and open-enrollment charter school educators from a schedule adopted by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to at least once every five years. The bill includes emphasis on mental health and suicide prevention as additional requirements for the health enrichment curriculum offered by districts. The bill requires the State Board of Education, in adopting the essential knowledge and skills for the health enrichment curriculum, to adopt essential knowledge and skills that address:

· the relationship between drug and alcohol use and suicide;

· recognizing signs of suicidal tendencies and other warning signs of suicide; and

· help‑seeking behaviors and available community suicide prevention services.

C.S.S.B. 1390 specifies that the mental health concerns for which a local school health advisory council is required to recommend certain policies, procedures, strategies, and curriculum include suicide. The bill requires such a council to make policy recommendations to the applicable district in order to increase parental awareness of suicide-related risk factors and warning signs and available community suicide prevention services.

C.S.S.B. 1390 amends the Health and Safety Code to revise the list of recommended best practice‑based programs and research-based practices relating to early mental health prevention and intervention, substance abuse prevention and intervention, and suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention the Department of State Health Services, in coordination with TEA and regional education service centers, is required to provide and annually update for implementation in public schools within the general education setting. The bill requires the suicide prevention programs on the list to include components that provide for training counselors, teachers, nurses, administrators, and other staff, as well as law enforcement officers and social workers who regularly interact with students, to assist students in returning to school following treatment of a mental health concern or suicide attempt. The bill replaces the authorization for a school district to develop practices and procedures concerning each area that must be included in the list with a requirement to do so and specifies that the practices and procedures must include procedures to support the return of a student to school following hospitalization or residential treatment for a mental health condition or substance abuse and for suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention. The bill specifies that "postvention" includes activities that promote healing necessary to reduce the risk of suicide by a person affected by the suicide of another.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.S.B. 1390 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute does not include the following provisions:

· a requirement for the State Board of Education, in adopting the essential knowledge and skills for the health enrichment curriculum, to adopt essential knowledge and skills that address the risk of suicide or violent behavior as a side effect of psychotropic medication; or

· a requirement for a local school health advisory council to make policy recommendations to the applicable district in order to increase school personnel awareness of risks and side effects associated with psychotropic medications.