SB 37-EXTEND SUICIDE PREVENTION COUNCIL  1:30:55 PM CHAIR DUNLEAVY announced the consideration of SB 37. SENATOR ANNA FAIRCLOUGH, sponsor of SB 37, said the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council was created in 2001 and changed numerous times since then. Over the last four years, the legislature has added different voices to the council and created a strategic plan to look at the issue of suicide. For many years Alaska has had the unfortunate distinction of being number one in the nation for suicide; it's a plague in both urban and rural areas. SB 37 proposes to extend the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council until 2019. 1:38:21 PM KATE BURKHART, Executive Director, Statewide Suicide Prevention Council, said her testimony was to inform the committee of the Council's progress on the recommendations made by Legislative Audit and to answer questions about the fiscal note for SB 37. She expressed appreciation for the work that Legislative Audit did last year to inform the legislature about the council's work, which led to improvements on the council. Legislative Audit's first recommendation was to rectify the fact that the council had not previously appointed or evaluated her as executive director/coordinator. The council participated with the executive committees of the Alaska Mental Health Board (AMHB) and the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (ABADA) late last year to conduct her evaluation and establish a process by which to do it every year in December. Legislative Audit also recommended that the council memorialize its current leadership and resource sharing arrangement with the Alaska Mental Health Board and the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse to ensure that when leadership changes those practices continue in order to support the council. Early in 2013 the three entities executed a memorandum of agreement to memorialize how business is done and to reiterate the council's commitment to assume responsibility for its financial needs to the greatest extent possible. She noted that the other two boards currently support much of the council's operations. The third recommendation was for the council to develop performance measures that support the council's statutory duties and submit annual progress reports. She said the council is working toward complying with that recommendation. The council has performance measures clearly articulated in the state plan and will report on those in the implementation report that is due in several weeks. The council is working with the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) to translate those into similar language for use by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). MS. BURKHART pointed out in the fiscal note that $415,000 goes directly to the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) each year to support school-based suicide prevention. 1:37:22 PM At ease 1:38:22 PM CHAIR DUNLEAVY noted that Senator Olson arrived at 1:35. Finding no public testimony, he asked the will of the committee. SENATOR MICCICHE commented on the heartbreak of suicide and expressed appreciation for the work the council does helping people that previously had few places to turn. 1:39:03 PM SENATOR MICCICHE moved to report SB 37 from committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal note(s). CHAIR DUNLEAVY announced that without objection SB 37 moved from the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee.