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