SB 101-STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRES AND SURVEYS    2:51:36 PM CHAIR DAVIS announced consideration of SB 101. TOM OBERMEYER, staff to Senator Davis, sponsor of SB 101, said the primary reason for SB 101 is to allow the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to be administered in the schools with passive parental consent. That means that if parents are given adequate notice and an opportunity to review the survey and don't want their children to take it, they can notify the school in writing that they do not want their children to participate. In addition, an exception in the bill allows a child who is sitting to take the survey to refuse to answer some or all questions. He added that this survey is important to all of the school districts and the centers for disease control, to help them find out what activities are most affecting the health and welfare of children in the public school system. CHAIR DAVIS commented that another reason for the change is that the districts and non-profit organizations have been having problems getting enough people to take the survey. 2:53:24 PM JENNIFER SCHMIDT, representing herself, Fairbanks, AK, supported SB 101. As well as being a parent, she said she has been a nurse since 1972 and served for 12 years as a school board member. She supports this issue because the standard risk assessment is an important tool; it is anonymous and provides guidelines that protect students and families that are from small communities. It also doesn't use language that students haven't already heard in the media. It doesn't address just sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, but the use of seat belts, diet, activity and other important health issues. While on the school board, she served on the Curriculum and Wellness Committees, and found that in order to make good decisions about programs and curriculum, good data is needed. One year the Program Planning and Evaluation Department made a huge effort to get families to participate. And even though they had good turn out locally, the state still didn't have enough data to validate, so they could only compare it to federal data. She said that other providers and agencies that address adolescent health issues need to know what the trends are affecting them - for instance seat belt use has increased while tobacco use has decreased. Also as a parent, Ms. Schmidt said, she thinks it is important to know what's going on so they know what issues to discuss with their kids. 2:57:36 PM JOAN DIAMOND, Alaska Public Health Association, supported SB 101. The state spends a lot of money trying to get the consent forms back; it's incredibly labor intensive trying to get enough participation to make this data valid. She has been in public health since this assessment began, and parents have always been concerned whether this takes class time away from the students, but it does not take enough time away to overshadow the amount of value the data provides. Alaska is only one of three states still using active consent. 3:00:26 PM SENATOR THOMAS asked if she believes this is a pro-active step in finding out what kids are doing in their lives in order to help prepare them better. MS. DIAMOND responded that using this data, kids can be provided with an environment that will help them succeed rather than reacting to the negative things they do. 3:02:24 PM PAULA EASLEY, Trustee, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (AMHTA), said she is also chair of the Trust Planning Committee. She supported SB 101. She said it will significantly increase participation in this important survey, and that in the past years the state has not been able to get the 60 percent participation needed to validate the data. Getting sufficient participation has been expensive and this will do it at much less cost. The data is used to identify risky behaviors and to compare it to that of other states. She mentioned the attempted suicide rate here, which is about 12 percent, is about 4 percent higher than the rest of the U.S. 3:05:10 PM CHAIR DAVIS closed public testimony. SENATOR DYSON commented that he was the author of the original legislation requiring active consent and that Alaska's constitution is one of the few states with privacy in it. It is his view that the state does not have a right to know these details about families and kids. People want to get more studies so they can get more money to do good things, but found districts are always able to get active participation for inoculations and field trips. So, he didn't think the issue was that parents are accidentally failing to provide permission. The questions are very invasive and young children should not even be exposed to them. He is talking about the fundamental rights of parents' and children's privacy. [SB 101 was held in committee.] 3:11:15 PM There being no further business to come before the committee, Senator Davis adjourned the meeting at 3:11 p.m.