Legislature(2019 - 2020)ADAMS ROOM 519
05/15/2019 09:00 AM House FINANCE
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| SB10 | |
| SB43 | |
| HB79 | |
| SB16 | |
| HB79 | |
| SB16 | |
| Adjourn | |
| SB16 | |
| Start |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | SB 43 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 10 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 16 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 79 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SENATE BILL NO. 10
"An Act extending the termination date of the
Statewide Suicide Prevention Council; and providing
for an effective date."
9:01:19 AM
AT EASE
9:01:40 AM
RECONVENED
Co-Chair Wilson drew attention to the new fiscal impact
note from the Department of Health and Social Services
(DHSS)/House Finance Committee, Behavioral Health, OMB
Component Number 2651. She read directly from the comments
box on the first page:
This revised fiscal note reflects a funding level of
$400.0 for pass-through grants in FY20. Additionally,
the following intent language will be added:
It is the intent of the legislature that grant funding
be divided 50% to rural school districts and 50% to
urban school districts. Further, it is the intent of
the legislature that the Suicide Prevention Council
and the Department of Education and Early Development
work together to develop a long-term sustainability
plan for suicide prevention training. The plan should
include implementation of a "Train the Trainer" model
so districts can provide ongoing training. The plan
should be submitted to the Presiding Officers of the
legislature and the Legislative Finance Division by
December 1, 2019
Co-Chair Wilson thanked Representative Tarr for her
comments regarding the language. She reported that
obtaining detailed information about the grants was
difficult, and she wanted to ensure the grantees were
getting the right type of training. She had spoken to
Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner, Department of Health
and Social Services (DHSS) and with his permission put his
comments on record: "He commits to working during the
interim on transparency and accountability with the school
districts on these grants going forward to ensure that when
a suicide happens the right team would respond and focus
more on the prevention portion and help students identify
when they might be experiencing major issues and identify
who receives the reporting. She noted that the grant was
made a one-time increment. She requested that the
department testify to the committee in the following
session to discuss the improvements regarding the intent
language and whether it implemented the "Train the Trainer"
model. Currently, the program consists of online training
for teachers and others. She envisioned the program aimed
more directly at the students. She thanked the House and
Senate bill sponsors for assisting with the changes and
felt the changes were positive.
9:04:44 AM
Representative Carpenter appreciated the new language in
the fiscal note. However, he was concerned with being able
to measure the effectiveness of the program. He noted
that the suicide rate had hardly decreased in the seven
years the program was operating. He questioned whether the
program was effective in preventing suicides. He wanted
some sort of a gauge to ensure the training reduced
suicide. He opined that the state provided training was
unable to address the real issue that existed at the family
and community level. He thought the state would be spending
a significant amount of money yet, not address the root
cause of the problem.
9:06:41 AM
Co-Chair Wilson did not believe some of his statements were
accurate. She spoke of her experience with being a part of
the state education taskforce when the program was
initially implemented. The taskforce traveled to a
community and created a student taskforce in the school
district that were trained to communicate with other
students. The school had the highest suicide rate in the
state and currently had the lowest rate of suicide. The
students learned to identify when a classmate was
experiencing problems and had a reporting mechanism. She
indicated that Representative Carpenter could be correct.
However, the changes added parameters to the grant program
and alerted the council to the committees concerns. She
knew of programs that were effective in lowering the rate
of suicide. She agreed the problem began at home, but the
student brought the issues to school and expressed them to
their peers. She advocated for providing proper training to
students to be able to recognize when their peers were in
trouble and how to respond. She believed in making the
program accountable and enable the collection and analysis
of statistical data that was available. She had had
personal discussions with folks in communities and the
legislature and emphasized that all wanted to reduce the
number of suicides in the state.
9:09:06 AM
Representative Carpenter wanted to see the data showing the
effectiveness of the program. He agreed and understood the
need to prevent and reduce suicide in the state and that
some type of training was warranted. He relayed his
personal experience of receiving suicide prevention
training for over 20 years. He had not heard about the
effectiveness of the states program. He was looking
forward to seeing the results of the program the following
session.
Co-Chair Wilson thought the committee had made it clear to
the commissioner he would be held accountable. She related
that the grant had previously been a pass through grant and
the commissioner was aware that the committee wanted
details by school district. She intended to hear from each
member of the council regarding implementation of the
changes in the following session.
9:11:12 AM
Vice-Chair Johnston MOVED to report SB 10 out of Committee
with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal
note.
There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered.
SB 10 was REPORTED out of committee with a "do pass"
recommendation and with one new fiscal impact note from the
House Finance Committee for the Department of Health and
Social Services.
9:11:28 AM
AT EASE
9:14:15 AM
RECONVENED