Legislature(2011 - 2012)HOUSE FINANCE 519
04/12/2012 09:00 AM House FINANCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB137 | |
| SB19 | |
| SB135 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | SB 137 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 19 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 135 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 23 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 119 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SCR 24 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | SB 160 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SENATE BILL NO. 137
"An Act requiring suicide awareness and prevention
training for certain school personnel."
9:59:00 AM
AT EASE
10:00:50 AM
RECONVENED
10:00:53 AM
Vice-Chair Fairclough MOVED to ADOPT the proposed committee
substitute for SB 137, Work Draft 27-LS0994\D (Mischel,
4/11/12) as a working document.
Co-Chair Stoltze OBJECTED for the purpose of discussion.
Vice-Chair Fairclough explained the changes in the new
committee substitute (CS) and drew the committee's
attention to page 1, line 9 of the bill, where legislative
intent language had been inserted; furthermore, on page 2,
line 21, a sunset provision was added that would repeal the
act on July 1, 2016.
Co-Chair Stoltze interjected that the bill's sunset was
structured to initiate a review of the program, rather than
an automatic repeal.
Co-Chair Stoltze WITHDREW his OBJECTION. There being NO
further OBJECTION, Work Draft 27-LS0994\D was ADOPTED.
SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS, SPONSOR, communicated that she had no
problems with the proposed CS. She explained that the bill
required annual mandatory youth suicide awareness and
prevention training for teachers, administrators,
counselors, and specialists employed by the school district
for grades 7 through 12. She related that the training was
important because Alaska had the nation's highest rate of
suicide per capita, specifically among teenagers, young
men, and Alaska Natives. She detailed that education
awareness was the key to suicide prevention; training
teachers to recognize the signs of at risk youth and
learning how to intervene had been proven to help reduce
teen suicides in many other states. The bill provided
specific immunity to teachers and school districts for acts
of omission while performing the duties authorized under
Section 3, subsections (c) and (d) of the legislation. She
stressed that SB 137 had bipartisan support, as well as
broad support in the health and education communities. She
highlighted the zero fiscal note and asked the committee to
support the legislation in order to help reduce the
"epidemic" of youth suicide that was devastating families
and communities throughout the state.
Co-Chair Stoltze pointed out that the legislative
internship program was a very important educational program
and welcomed an intern from Senator Davis's office.
10:03:58 AM
KATYA WASSILLIE, INTERN, SENATOR BETTYE DAVIS, discussed
the relevance of the bill to rural Alaska. During her
experience as a student in rural Alaska, she had observed
the closeness between the students and teachers. She
believed the close relationship between students and
teachers was unique in rural Alaska because the teachers
were part of a small community and had interactions with
students that were much different than in urban settings;
teachers in rural Alaska spent time with students in school
programs after the school day had ended, as well as during
community events. She concluded that teachers in rural
settings were in a good position to notice when a student
was showing potential signs of suicide.
Representative Gara thanked the sponsor for bringing the
bill forward and told a relevant personal story about a
friend who had lost a child to suicide. He believed that
teacher and counselor intervention and education would help
save lives. He thought that there were members of the
committee who were directly affected by the issue.
Representative Costello discussed a former student who had
lost a sibling to suicide. She believed that the bill
worked to address a significant problem in the state, but
wondered whether there were concerns related to increasing
training requirements for teachers. She added that creating
small learning environments within larger school settings
would allow a close relationship to form between students
and teachers and would result in benefits far beyond the
academics. She stressed the importance of providing
opportunities for teachers to get to know their students.
Senator Davis replied that the teachers union was very
supportive of the bill and did not see it as an added
training burden; teachers would be allowed to do the
training at their own leisure. She emphasized that the bill
was not only intended for teachers, but was also inclusive
of all school employees who interacted with students. She
offered that she had not heard any objections to the bill
and reiterated that there were not any concerns regarding
an increased training burden. She observed that the
legislation was only part of the answer to the suicide
problem in Alaska.
10:08:15 AM
Co-Chair Stoltze related a personal story. He agreed that
it was important to reach other school staff and that the
custodian often had a good and trusting relationship with
students.
Representative Wilson supported the bill, but believed the
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) should
provide a list of all of the training requirements on
school district staff. She commented that she was pleased
that the bill allowed school employees to complete the
training online, rather than requiring an in-service to do
so.
Vice-Chair Fairclough pointed out for the record that on
page 2, line 6 of the bill, the use of the title
"commissioner" was referring to the commissioner of DEED
and noted that the bill did not explicitly state which
commissioner it was referencing. Senator Davis responded
that the bill was referencing the commissioner of DEED.
Vice-Chair Fairclough wondered where exactly in the state
statutes the legislation would be inserted and observed
that the only reference code that she could see was on page
2, line 18 of the bill.
JEAN MISCHEL, ATTORNEY, LEGISLATIVE LEGAL SERVICES,
LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS AGENCY (via teleconference), explained
that due to the sunset provision, which gave the
legislation an effective date of less than five years, the
law was considered to be temporary. The law would not have
a place in statutes, but would reside in the session laws
as temporary law, unless the legislature voted to extend
the program. She added that legal services could clarify
the use of the terms "department" and "commissioner" on
page 2, line 18.
JAMES BIELA, FIELD ADVOCATE AND BOARD MEMBER, AMERICAN
FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION-ALASKA (via
teleconference), vocalized the foundation's support for the
legislation. He urged the committee to pass the bill and he
related that he was assigned to five villages and worked
with families, students, and school personnel on suicide
prevention. He discussed that teachers and school employees
were the main contact for students and were often the first
to identify at risk students. He relayed that teachers
often referred students to him when they noticed a sudden
behavior change, but that teachers sometimes felt
uninformed on the signs of suicide. He mentioned a case in
which a teacher had not been interested in suicide
training, but subsequent to the training, the teacher had
used the acquired knowledge to identify and help save the
life of a student on the verge of suicide. He discussed
other trainings that were conducted in his area that were
done at no cost to the district. The More Than Sad and
Signs of Suicide programs were also accessed annually by
the school districts. He stressed that increased trainings
would prevent further deaths and related that the most
recent suicide had been the past weekend, when a young man
took his life in Bethel. He encouraged the committee to
pass the legislation.
10:14:42 AM
CLARK FLATT, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE
JASON FOUNDATION, HENDERSON, TENNESSEE (via
teleconference), testified in support of the bill. He
explained that the legislation had been named after his son
and was also known as the Jason Flat Act. He expressed that
the legislation was very important. The act had first been
passed in Tennessee in 2007 and recently, Utah had become
the eighth state to pass the legislation. He detailed that
a marked annual reduction in youth suicide rates was
visible in Tennessee and compared that reduction to the
rising rates in other areas. He discussed the value of
equipping teachers with the information and knowledge to
help identify and refer students that were at risk for
suicide within the school system. He stated the 2009 and
2011 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey showed that Alaska
continued to increase in "those" statistics and commended
the state for its work on the issue.
SHARON STRUTZ-NORTON, BOARD MEMBER, STATE SUICIDE
PREVENTION COUNCIL, HOMER (via teleconference), spoke in
favor of the bill. She relayed that the bill was needed to
address suicide prevention in the school system. She
discussed that youths had shared stories at local health
fairs about themselves or friends who had contemplated
suicide. She believed that teachers, counselors, nurses,
coaches, and janitors were in a prime position to detect
behavioral changes, seek appropriate assistance, and refer
to resources; however, prevention training was needed to
provide the knowledge, confidence, and direction to help
the individuals know how to handle the situation. She
pointed out that the bill did not have a cost associated
with it and that many free educational resources existed.
She urged the committee's support of the legislation.
KATE BURKHART, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STATEWIDE SUICIDE
PREVENTION COUNCIL, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL
SERVICES, expressed the council's full support of the
legislation. She detailed that the bill fit within the
council's recommended statewide plan for the upcoming five
years, which would require training for all school
personnel; she believed that the bill was a great start.
Co-Chair Thomas CLOSED public testimony.
10:19:34 AM
AT EASE
10:19:41 AM
RECONVENED
Vice-Chair Fairclough pointed to the zero fiscal note from
the Department of Education and Early Development.
10:20:18 AM
Vice-Chair Fairclough MOVED to report HCSSB 137(FIN) out of
committee with individual recommendations and the
accompanying fiscal note. There being NO OBJECTION, it was
so ordered.
10:20:31 AM
HCSSB 137(FIN) was REPORTED out of committee with a "do
pass" recommendation and with a previously published zero
fiscal note: FN2 (DEED).
10:20:36 AM
AT EASE
10:21:39 AM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Stoltze stated that the committee intended recess
and continue with the meeting later in the day.
10:22:18 AM
RECESSED
5:32:20 PM
RECONVENED