I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2599 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to require State educational agencies 

and tribal educational agencies receiving funds under section 520A of 

such Act to establish and implement a school-based student suicide 

awareness and prevention training policy and school threat assessment 

team policy, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2019 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. DEUTCH, and Mr. 

FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to require State 

educational agencies and tribal educational agencies receiving funds under section 520A of such Act to establish 

and implement a school-based student suicide awareness 

and prevention training policy and school threat assessment team policy, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Suicide and Threat 

3 Assessment Nationally Dedicated to Universal Prevention 

4 Act of 2019’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 The Congress finds as follows: 

7 (1) Since 2010, suicide has been the second8 leading cause of death for young people ages 10–24. 

9 In 2016, 6,159 young people ages 10–24 completed 

10 suicide. 

11 (2) Based on the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior 

12 Survey of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre13 vention (in this section referred to as ‘‘CDC’’), 7.4 

14 percent of youth in grades 9–12 reported that they 

15 made at least one suicide attempt in the past 12 

16 months. 

17 (3) While there is no complete count of suicide 

18 attempts in the United States, CDC data suggests 

19 that for every reported suicide death, approximately 

20 11.4 people visit a hospital for self-harm-related in21 juries. 

22 (4) In 2016, suicide was the 10th-leading cause 

23 of death overall in the United States, with over 

24 44,000 people completing suicide, and there were 

25 more than twice as many suicides in the United 

26 States as there were homicides. 


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1 (5) Youth often display warning signs and sig2 nals before harming themselves or others. Research 

3 shows that 70 percent of those who complete suicide 

4 tell someone of their plans or give another warning 

5 sign, and 80 percent of school shooters tell someone 

6 of their plans. 

7 (6) According to the CDC, the rates of suicide 

8 among American Indians and Alaska Natives have 

9 been increasing since 2003 and are the highest of 

10 any racial or ethnic group in the United States. In 

11 addition, recent studies of CDC data from 2001 

12 through 2015 show that suicide rates for Black chil13 dren aged 5 through 12 were roughly two times 

14 higher than those of similarly aged White children. 

15 (7) Research has shown that evidence-based 

16 school threat assessment teams reduce suicide; inter17 personal violence, bullying, and aggression; school 

18 staff anxiety about violence; and expulsion and sus19 pension rates. Evidence-based school threat assess20 ment teams have been shown to increase the willing21 ness of students to seek help for threats of violence 

22 and mental illness, use of school counseling, and pa23 rental involvement. 

24 (8) Research has shown that evidence-based 

25 school threat assessment teams can lead to a reducVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2599.IH H2599

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1 tion in racial disparities between White, Black, and 

2 Hispanic students in school disciplinary outcomes 

3 and legal actions. Additionally, research shows that 

4 evidence-based school threat assessment teams can 

5 help combat the school-to-prison pipeline. 

6 SEC. 3. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION 

7 TRAINING AND TEAMS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Public Health Serv9 ice Act is amended by inserting after section 520A of such 

10 Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–32) the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 520B. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVEN12 TION TRAINING AND TEAMS. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on receipt of 

14 funds under section 520A, each State educational agency 

15 and tribal educational agency that receives such funds, di16 rectly or through a State or Indian Tribe, shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) establish and implement— 

18 ‘‘(A) a school-based student suicide aware19 ness and prevention training policy; and 

20 ‘‘(B) a school threat assessment team pol21 icy; and 

22 ‘‘(2) collect and report information in accord23 ance with subsection (d). 

24 ‘‘(b) SCHOOL-BASED STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS

25 AND PREVENTION TRAINING POLICY.—A school-based 


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1 student suicide awareness and prevention training policy 

2 implemented pursuant to subsection (a)— 

3 ‘‘(1) shall be evidence-based; 

4 ‘‘(2) shall provide evidence-based training to 

5 students in grades 6 through 12 regarding— 

6 ‘‘(A) suicide education and awareness, in7 cluding warning signs of self-harm or suicidal 

8 ideation; 

9 ‘‘(B) methods that students can use to 

10 seek help for themselves and others; and 

11 ‘‘(C) student resources for suicide aware12 ness and prevention; 

13 ‘‘(3) shall provide for retraining of such stu14 dents every school year; 

15 ‘‘(4) may last for such period as the State edu16 cational agency or tribal educational agency involved 

17 determines to be appropriate; and 

18 ‘‘(5) may be implemented through any delivery 

19 method, including in-person trainings, digital 

20 trainings, or train-the-trainer models. 

21 ‘‘(c) SCHOOL THREAT ASSESSMENT TEAM POLICY.— 

22 A school threat assessment team policy implemented pur23 suant to subsection (a) shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) be evidence-based; 


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1 ‘‘(2) identify and establish a school threat as2 sessment team within each school, consisting of two 

3 or more school personnel, with the team designated 

4 to provide triage, and serve as a liaison to interven5 tion, for all reported threats of suicide and inter6 personal violence within the school; 

7 ‘‘(3) provide evidence-based training to each 

8 such team on how to identify, assess, and respond 

9 to threats of suicide and interpersonal violence, in10 cluding training on— 

11 ‘‘(A) identification of threats, signs, and 

12 behaviors that could result in harm towards 

13 one’s self or others; 

14 ‘‘(B) evaluation of the seriousness of the 

15 threat or danger posed; 

16 ‘‘(C) intervention to reduce the risk of vio17 lence; and 

18 ‘‘(D) followup to assess intervention re19 sults; 

20 ‘‘(4) provide for retraining of the members of 

21 each such team no less frequently than every 3 

22 school years; 

23 ‘‘(5) establish guidelines to ensure that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) where a credible threat is identified, 

2 the response conforms with any applicable State 

3 and school disciplinary policies; and 

4 ‘‘(B) disciplinary action is not applied dis5 proportionately to students on the basis of race, 

6 color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(6) create procedures and protocols for coordi9 nating with local law enforcement, State reporting 

10 websites, and tip lines. 

11 ‘‘(d) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AND REPORT12 ING.—Each State educational agency and tribal edu13 cational agency that receives funds under section 520A 

14 shall, with respect to each school served by the agency, 

15 collect and report to the Secretary the following informa16 tion: 

17 ‘‘(1) For the school-based student suicide 

18 awareness and prevention training policy required by 

19 subsection (a)(1)(A): 

20 ‘‘(A) The number of student trainings con21 ducted. 

22 ‘‘(B) The number of students trained, 

23 disaggregated by age and grade level. 


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1 ‘‘(C) The number of help-seeking behaviors 

2 undertaken by students after implementation of 

3 such policy. 

4 ‘‘(D) The number and type of threats of 

5 suicide, mental illness, or interpersonal violence 

6 reported by students. 

7 ‘‘(2) For the school threat assessment team pol8 icy required by subsection (a)(1)(B): 

9 ‘‘(A) The number and type of threats of 

10 suicide, mental illness, or interpersonal violence 

11 reported. 

12 ‘‘(B) The number of suicide attempts and 

13 completions in the school. 

14 ‘‘(C) The method of reporting within the 

15 school a threat of suicide, mental illness, or 

16 interpersonal violence, such as in-person report17 ing, electronic reporting, and anonymous re18 porting. 

19 ‘‘(D) The number of false reports received. 

20 ‘‘(E) The response to each threat reported. 

21 ‘‘(F) The demographic information of the 

22 students being reported or self-reporting, 

23 disaggregated by age, grade level, gender, race, 

24 and ethnicity. 


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1 ‘‘(G) The point of contact for each school’s 

2 team. 

3 ‘‘(e) EVIDENCE-BASED PROGRAM LISTING.—The 

4 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall coordinate 

5 with the Secretary of Education to make publicly available 

6 the policies established by State educational agencies and 

7 tribal educational agencies pursuant to this section and 

8 the training that is available to students and teams pursu9 ant to such policies, including identification of whether 

10 such training is available to trainees at no cost. 

11 ‘‘(f) IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE.—A State edu12 cational agency or tribal educational agency shall establish 

13 and begin implementation of the policies required by sub14 section (a)(1) not later than the beginning of the third 

15 fiscal year following the date of enactment of this section 

16 for which the agency receives funds under section 520A. 

17 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) The term ‘evidence-based’ has the meaning 

19 given to such term in section 8101 of the Elemen20 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘State educational agency’ has 

22 the meaning given to such term in section 8101 of 

23 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

24 1965. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The term ‘tribal educational agency’ has 

2 the meaning given to such term in section 6132 of 

3 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

4 1965.’’. 

Æ 


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