Legislature(2019 - 2020)SENATE FINANCE 532
04/24/2019 09:00 AM Senate FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB95 | |
| SB10 | |
| SB74 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 10 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 74 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 95 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 66 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE BILL NO. 10
"An Act extending the termination date of the
Statewide Suicide Prevention Council; and providing
for an effective date."
9:04:37 AM
SENATOR SCOTT KAWASAKI, SPONSOR, introduced himself.
JACOB GERRISH, STAFF, SENATOR SCOTT KAWASAKI, introduced
himself.
Senator Kawasaki discussed SB 10. He read from a Sponsor
Statement (copy on file):
Senate Bill 10 would extend the termination date of
the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council to 2027,
ensuring another eight years of support for suicide
prevention efforts in Alaska. The Council would
otherwise be terminated on June 30, 2019.
According to the Alaska Department of Health and
Social Services Section of Epidemiology, the suicide
rate in Alaska increased by 13 percent between 2012
and 2017, making suicide the leading cause of death
for Alaskans between the ages of 10 and 64. As a
matter of public health, the state has a
responsibility to address this disturbing trend and
must actively continue to pursue strategies to prevent
suicide in Alaska.
The Statewide Suicide Prevention Council was created
in 2001 and consists of 14 public and private members,
including four state legislators. Under AS 44.39.350,
the Council is statutorily responsible for:
?Advising legislators and the Governor on ways to
improve Alaskans' health and wellness by reducing
suicide;
?Improving public awareness of suicide and risk
factors;
?Enhancing suicide prevention efforts;
?Working with partners and faith-based
organizations to develop healthier communities;
?Creating a statewide suicide prevention plan and
putting it in action; and
?Building and strengthening partnerships to
prevent suicide.
The Council holds public meetings, publishes a 5-Year
State Suicide Prevention Plan, and works with schools
and community groups to provide resources that educate
Alaskans on how to prevent suicide.
Last year, the Council partnered with the Alaska
Community Foundation and Alaska Children's Trust to
continue the GCI Suicide Prevention Grant Program.
Nine grants were funded in 2017 across the state,
totaling $100,000. The Council also helped secure
funding for a 5-year grant from the National Institute
of Mental Health to create the Alaska Native
Collaborative Hub for Resilience Research, which will
help Alaska Native communities share knowledge, guide
research, and identify culturally relevant suicide
prevention strategies in rural Alaska.
Terminating the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council
would jeopardize the state's efforts at addressing
this heartbreaking, but preventable, issue. I
respectfully ask for your support of SB 10 this year.
Senator Kawasaki added that the council would sunset on
June 30, 2019 if it were not extended.
9:07:46 AM
Senator Olson considered the extension of the council and
reflected on the proposed eight-year extension. He wondered
how to determine whether the council had been effective.
Senator Kawasaki responded that there had been recent
progress in the area of prevention.
9:09:08 AM
Senator Olson queried whether there were numbers to show
the council had been effective in reducing suicide.
Senator Kawasaki preferred to let council members discuss
the work of the council.
9:10:02 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof noted that there was invited testimony
to address questions.
9:10:32 AM
KRIS CURTIS, LEGISLATIVE AUDITOR, ALASKA DIVISION OF
LEGISLATIVE AUDIT, referenced the audit "A Sunset Review of
the Department of Health and Social Services, Statewide
Suicide Prevention Council (council)" dated August 3,
2018(copy on file). She read from the report conclusions
from the front page of the audit:
The audit found the council operated in the public's
interest by actively broadening the public's awareness
of suicide prevention and coordinating the efforts of
other suicide prevention entities including State
agencies, regional groups, coalitions, and local
communities. Additionally, the council fulfilled its
statutory duty by issuing the 2018-2022 Suicide
Prevention Plan and working closely with stakeholders
to add and refine the plan's strategies, resources,
and indicators. The audit also concluded that
administrative improvements were needed to ensure
council meetings are adequately public noticed and the
executive director is consistently evaluated on an
annual basis.
Ms. Curtis referenced Page 4 of the audit, which showed the
council's schedule of expenditures and funding sources. The
council was funded by General Fund (GF) appropriations for
just over $650,000 in FY 18. The expenditures for the
council were just under $600,000 in FY 18.
Ms. Curtis referenced Pages 9 and 10 of the audit, which
showed a list of council activities. She noted that the
council was very active. The council had two
recommendations for the council, which were administrative
and should be easily addressed. She read the
recommendations listed on Page 12 of the audit:
Recommendation No. 1: The council's executive director
should develop and implement procedures to ensure
public notices for meetings are published timely and
accurately.
From July 2014 through March 2018, five of the 18
meetings held (28 percent) were not public noticed or
not public noticed properly. Specifically, two were
not published on the State's Online Public Notices
system, two were published with incorrect meeting
dates, and one was published one day prior to the
meeting. Th e deficiencies were caused by a lack of
written procedures to ensure notices are posted timely
and contain accurate meeting dates.
Recommendation No. 2: The council chair should develop
and implement written procedures to ensure performance
evaluations are completed annually for the council's
executive director.
Between July 2014 and March 2018, two evaluations were
completed for the executive director; however, two
more should have been completed. Specifically, there
were no evaluations for the period of November 2014 to
November 2015, and November 2015 to June 2016. Per
discussion with council staff and the previous council
chair, it is unclear why the evaluations were not
completed for the executive director.
The responses to the audit began on Page 23. The council
and the department concurred with the report conclusions
and recommendations.
9:13:10 AM
BEV SCHOONOVER, ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STATEWIDE
SUICIDE PREVENTION COUNCIL, thanked the committee for their
work. She noted that she had been acting in the role of
executive director since January 2019. She said that the
council had been established by the legislature in 2001 and
served as an advisory council to the governor and the
legislature regarding suicide awareness and prevention. She
shared that there were 13 volunteer members, appointed by
the governor, and 4 ex-officio members appointed by the
legislature. She stated that the council had one, full-time
staff member, co-located in the shared offices with the
Alaska Mental Health Trust board and the Advisory Board on
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. She related that the council met
three times per year via video conference, and held one,
in-person meeting, per year, typically in a rural
community.
Ms. Schoonover noted that most of the council's activities
involved coordinating collaborative efforts between
stakeholders, supporting outreach in educational programs
through the Suicide Awareness Prevention and Postvention
grant programs, advocating for federal and private funding,
and providing technical assistance as needed. She shared
that one example of statewide coordination efforts was the
completion of the 5-year prevention plan entitled,
Recasting the Net: Promoting Wellness to Prevent Suicide
in Alaska. She furthered that thanks to extensive public
input and stakeholder collaboration hundreds of Alaskans,
from all over the state, participated in the creation of
the plan. She related that the number one goal identified
in the plan by all the stakeholders was that Alaskans
accept responsibility for preventing suicide.
Ms. Schoonover expressed the belief that all Alaskans have
been touched by suicide and had the responsibility to
address and reduce the risk of suicide statewide. She said
that the council brought Alaskans together to talk about
suicide, to evaluate prevention efforts, advised agencies,
the governor, and the legislature on how wellness can be
promoted, and coordinated state agencies and other entities
so that they could work together more effectively to
prevent suicide. She noted that no other agency performed
the statewide coordinator function. She urged the committee
to extend the council through 2027.
9:16:17 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof thought Ms. Schoonover had touched on
the primary role of the council, which was to coordinate
local organizations all over the state. She thought the
critical role of connecting resources was important.
9:17:09 AM
Senator Bishop asked what Ms. Schoonover had considered to
get more resources in communities to address the high rate
of suicide in the state.
Ms. Schoonover noted that there had been a vacancy in the
Division of Behavioral Health for a Prevention Specialist
that had recently been filled by Leah van Kirk. She thought
Ms. Van Kirk, along with Eric Boyer from AMHTA, and Project
Assistant Eric Morrison, working with the council would
prove especially fruitful in suicide prevention in 2020.
9:18:33 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof commended the council for coordinating
across agencies.
9:19:18 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof OPENED public testimony.
9:19:43 AM
SAM TRIVETTE, JUNEAU SUICIDE PREVENTION COALITION, JUNEAU,
thanked Senator Kawasaki and the co-sponsors for sponsoring
the bill. It was the third legislative session that he had
testified for the extension of the council. He was a
survivor of suicide loss. He lost his son to suicide on
June 28, 2007. He asserted that the council had linked him
to national experts and resources helping to tackle this
major public health problem and was the glue that bound
together all the people in the state working on suicide
prevention issues. He provided several examples of the
positive changes he had witnessed due to the work of the
council: destigmatizing suicide, The Care Line (Alaskas
suicide prevention hotline) had seen a three-fold increase,
over the last four fiscal years, to over 21,000 calls in FY
2019.
Mr. Trivette discussed suicide prevention efforts in
schools. He shared that the data showed that the rate of
kids willing to contact an adult with risk concerns was
over 42 percent. There had been a substantial increase in
hospitals and health care centers that screened for
suicide, which was a major change from 5 years ago. He
urged the committee to support the extension of the
council.
9:24:10 AM
BARBARA FRANKS, CHAIR, STATEWIDE SUICIDE PREVENTION,
NINILCHIK (via teleconference), testified that she was the
mother of a child that died by suicide. Her son had died by
suicide on December 14, 1997. She shared that two days
later her husband died from cancer. She had known there
were people that were advocating for cancer support, but at
that time she had not found support groups for suicide. She
referenced her colleague Cynthia Erickson, who had been
recognized for her work with Grandmas House. She believed
that domestic violence, sexual assault, drugs, and alcohol
were related to suicide. She said that in 2013, the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline had received over a
million calls. She said that in 2018, 2,224,408 people had
called the number. She expressed deep appreciation for the
work of the council and statewide allies.
9:28:37 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof thanked Ms. Franks for her powerful
testimony.
SHARON FISHEL, EDUCATION SPECIALIST, DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT (via teleconference),
testified in support of the bill. She had lost her son to
suicide in 2010.
Co-Chair von Imhof requested further information on how the
department coordinated with schools in the state.
Ms. Fishel noted that the funding provided through the
council was the primary source of funding for suicide and
trauma work accomplished through DEED. She stated that the
there were currently 23,000 users for online professional
development. She said that wile DEED offered many
professional development resources to all districts, by far
the largest and most popular were the online suicide
prevention courses supported by the funding. She relayed
that the department also provided competitive school-based
suicide prevention grants on a three-year competitive
process to up to 10 districts throughout the state. She
said that every year schools provided progress reports. She
shared that the Nome School District had a youth leaders'
program that taught groups of students to be leaders in
their communities based on the Natural Helpers Program. She
said that these youth were making positive changes in their
communities. She relayed that it was difficult to say how
many lives had been saved by the programs and she lamented
that suicide was the leading cause of death for those 14 to
24-years old in the state.
9:32:26 AM
Ms. Fishel believed that school districts were doing
phenomenal work across the state.
9:33:06 AM
KATIE BOTZ, SELF, MINNESOTA (via teleconference), testified
in support of the bill. She thought Alaska was second in
the country for its number of suicides. She believed that
suicide was a taboo subject. She revealed that she had
considered suicide. She lamented that there were many
people that did not have an adequate support system. She
urged support for the extension of the council.
9:35:54 AM
Co-Chair von Imhof CLOSED public testimony.
Co-Chair von Imhof listed the people available for
questions.
9:36:27 AM
AT EASE
9:36:8 AM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Stedman discussed FN1 from the Department of
Health and Social Services, OMB Component Number 2651. The
note showed $648,400 in the governor's FY 20 request, with
flat funding for the subsequent five years.
Co-Chair von Imhof set the bill aside for further review.
SB 10 was HEARD and HELD in committee for further
consideration.