A bill to amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 to clarify limits on disclosure of student health records, and for other purposes.

Summary: Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Amendments of 2008 - Amends the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 to declare that nothing in the Act prohibits a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, or other healthcare professional or paraprofessional from consulting with or disclosing treatment records on a student who is 18 years old or older or who is attending a postsecondary educational institution to a healthcare professional or paraprofessional outside the educational institution in connection with the provision of treatment to the student.

Prohibits deeming the release by an educational institution of education records or related personally identifiable information, in the good faith belief that such release is necessary to protect against a threat to the health or safety of the student or other persons, to be a failure to comply with the Act regardless of whether it is subsequently determined that the specified conditions for such release did not exist.

Allows the release of education records to appropriate persons in an emergency if the knowledge of that information is necessary, according to the good faith belief of the educational institution or persons to whom the disclosure is made, to protect the health or safety of the student or other persons.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Family Educational Rights and 
Privacy Act Amendments of 2008''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Federal authorities charged with examining the tragic 
        shootings at Virginia Tech in April 2007 found that confusion 
        and overly-restrictive interpretations of Federal privacy laws, 
        State medical confidentiality laws, and regulations 
        unnecessarily impede the effective transfer of information that 
        could prove useful in averting tragedies. Some school 
        administrators are unaware of exceptions to Federal privacy 
        laws that could allow relevant information about a student's 
        mental health to be appropriately shared.
            (2) The purpose of this Act is to eliminate ambiguity in 
        Federal education privacy law to ensure that the Family 
        Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is not 
        interpreted as prohibiting information sharing between on-
        campus and off-campus health care providers when both are 
        involved in treating a student. Such ``consults'' are generally 
        permitted by State medical confidentiality law, and FERPA 
        should not be interpreted as posing an additional obstacle. The 
        Virginia Tech Review Panel recommended that changes to ``FERPA 
        should explicitly explain how it applies to medical records 
        held for treatment purposes''. The panel reported that 
        misinterpretation of how student treatment records are handled 
        under FERPA as the main source of confusion. FERPA protects the 
        privacy of both student education records and student treatment 
        records from being disclosed generally.
            (3) The Virginia Tech Review Panel recommended that Federal 
        privacy laws should be amended to include ``safe harbor'' 
        provisions that would insulate a person or organization from 
        the loss of Federal education funding for making a disclosure 
        with a good faith belief that the disclosure was necessary to 
        protect the health or safety of a student or member of the 
        public at large. The Commission further recommended that the 
        Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) be 
        amended to clarify the ability of educational institutions to 
        disclose information in emergency situations and to facilitate 
        treatment of students at off-campus facilities.
            (4) Mental disorders frequently begin during youth. 
        Research supported by the National Institute of Mental Health 
        found that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin 
        by age 14; three quarters have begun by age 24.
            (5) In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
        reported 4,316 suicides among young adults aged 15-24, making 
        it the third leading cause of death in this age group. There 
        were an additional 5,074 suicides among those aged 25-34, 
        making it the second leading cause of death in this age group.
            (6) Depression, mental illness, and suicide are problems on 
        college campuses. In 2006, 44 percent of college students 
        reported feeling so depressed it was difficult to function and 
        9 percent seriously considered suicide, according to a 2006 
        national survey conducted by the American College Health 
        Association.
            (7) While most people in the United States with a mental 
        disorder eventually seek treatment, a National Institute of 
        Mental Health study found pervasive and lengthy delays in 
        getting treatment, with the median delay across disorders being 
        nearly a decade. Over a 12-month period, 60 percent of those 
        with a mental disorder got no treatment at all.
            (8) A 2006 survey sponsored by the American College 
        Counseling Association found that 9 percent of enrolled 
        students sought counseling last year and 92 percent of 
        counseling center directors reported an increase in the number 
        of students with severe psychological disorders.
            (9) Recent events, including the campus shootings at the 
        Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois universities, have further 
        highlighted the deadly problems of mental illness and violence 
        in American schools. The Northern Illinois shooting resulted in 
        6 deaths while the Virginia Tech killings left 32 people dead, 
        making it the most lethal school shooting in United States 
        history.

SEC. 3. STUDENT HEALTH RECORDS.

    The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. 
1232g) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Consultation With Off Campus Medical Professionals.--Nothing 
in this section shall prohibit a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, 
or other recognized healthcare professional or paraprofessional acting 
in the individual's professional or paraprofessional capacity, or 
assisting in that capacity, from consulting with or disclosing records 
described in subsection (a)(4)(B)(iv) with respect to a student, to a 
physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, or other recognized healthcare 
professional or paraprofessional acting in the individual's 
professional or paraprofessional capacity, or assisting in that 
capacity, outside the educational agency or institution in connection 
with the provision of treatment to the student.''.

SEC. 4. SAFE HARBOR PROVISION.

    The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. 
1232g) is amended in subsection (f) by adding at the end the following: 
``The release by an educational agency or institution of education 
records or personally identifiable information contained in such 
records in the good faith belief that such release is necessary to 
protect against a potential threat to the health or safety of the 
student or other persons, shall not be deemed a failure to comply with 
this section regardless of whether it is subsequently determined that 
the specified conditions for such release did not exist.''.

SEC. 5. EMERGENCY EXCEPTION AMENDMENT.

    The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. 
1232g) is amended in subsection (b)(1)(I) by striking ``is necessary'' 
and all that follows and inserting ``is necessary, according to the 
good faith belief of the educational agency or institution or persons 
to whom such disclosure is made, to protect against a potential threat 
to the health or safety of the student or other persons; and''.