II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2492 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide best practices on student 

suicide awareness and prevention training and condition State educational 

agencies, local 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 

Mr. GARDNER (for himself, Mr. JONES, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. COONS, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide best 

practices on student suicide awareness and prevention 

training and condition State educational agencies, local 

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. 

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 Training and 

3 Awareness Nationally Delivered for Universal Prevention 

4 Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘STANDUP 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 died by 

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 dying by suicide, and there were more 

25 than twice as many suicides in the United States as 

26 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 die by suicide 

4 tell someone of their plans or give another warning 

5 sign. 

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

7 among American Indians and Alaska Natives have 

8 been increasing since 2003 and are the highest of 

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

10 addition, recent studies of CDC data from 2001 

11 through 2015 show that suicide rates for Black chil12 dren ages 5 through 12 were roughly two times 

13 higher than those of similarly aged White children. 

14 SEC. 3. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION 

15 TRAINING. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Public Health Serv17 ice Act is amended by inserting after section 520A of such 

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

19 ‘‘SEC. 520B. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVEN20 TION TRAINING POLICIES. 

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

22 funds under section 520A, each State educational agency, 

23 local educational agency, and tribal educational agency 

24 that receives such funds, directly or through a State or 

25 Indian Tribe, for activities to be performed within elemenVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:55 Sep 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2492.IS S2492

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1 tary and secondary schools, including the Project AWARE 

2 State Education Agency Grant Program, shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) establish and implement a school-based 

4 student suicide awareness and prevention training 

5 policy; 

6 ‘‘(2) consult with stakeholders (including prin7 cipals, teachers, parents, other school leaders) in the 

8 development of the policy under subsection (a)(1); 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(3) collect and report information in accord11 ance with subsection (c). 

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

13 AND PREVENTION TRAINING POLICY.—A school-based 

14 student suicide awareness and prevention training policy 

15 implemented pursuant to subsection (a)— 

16 ‘‘(1) shall be evidence-based; 

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

18 students in grades 6 through 12, in coordination 

19 with school-based mental health service providers as 

20 defined in section 4102(6) of the Elementary and 

21 Secondary Education Act of 1965, if applicable, re22 garding— 

23 ‘‘(A) suicide education and awareness, in24 cluding warning signs of self-harm or suicidal 

25 ideation; 


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

2 seek help for themselves and others; and 

3 ‘‘(C) student resources for suicide aware4 ness and prevention; 

5 ‘‘(3) shall provide for retraining of such stu6 dents every school year; 

7 ‘‘(4) may last for such period as the State edu8 cational agency, local educational agency, or tribal 

9 educational agency involved determines to be appro10 priate; and 

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

12 method, including in-person trainings, digital 

13 trainings, or train-the-trainer models. 

14 ‘‘(c) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AND REPORT15 ING.—Each State educational agency, local educational 

16 agency, and tribal educational agency that receives funds 

17 under section 520A shall, with respect to each school 

18 served by the agency, collect and report to the Secretary 

19 the following information: 

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

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

23 disaggregated by age and grade level. 

24 ‘‘(3) The number of help-seeking reports made 

25 by students after implementation of such policy. 


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1 ‘‘(d) EVIDENCE-BASED PROGRAM LISTING.—The 

2 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall coordinate 

3 with the Secretary of Education to make publicly available 

4 the policies established by State educational agencies, local 

5 educational agencies, and tribal educational agencies pur6 suant to this section and the training that is available to 

7 students and teams pursuant to such policies, including 

8 identification of whether such training is available to 

9 trainees at no cost. 

10 ‘‘(e) IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE.—A State edu11 cational agency, local educational agency, or tribal edu12 cational agency shall establish and begin implementation 

13 of the policies required by subsection (a)(1) not later than 

14 the beginning of the third fiscal year following the date 

15 of enactment of this section for which the agency receives 

16 funds under section 520A. 

17 ‘‘(f) 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 ‘local education agency’ has the 

22 meaning given to such term in section 8101 of the 

23 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

24 ‘‘(3) The term ‘State educational agency’ has 

25 the meaning given to such term in section 8101 of 


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1 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

2 1965. 

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

4 the meaning given to such term in section 6132 of 

5 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

6 1965. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 520B–1. BEST PRACTICES FOR STUDENT SUICIDE 

8 AWARENESS AND PREVENTION TRAINING. 

9 ‘‘The Secretary of Health and Human Services, act10 ing through the Assistant Secretary of the Substance 

11 Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in co12 ordination with the Secretary of Education, shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) publish best practices for school-based stu14 dent suicide awareness and prevention training, pur15 suant to section 520B, that are based on— 

16 ‘‘(A) evidence-based practices; and 

17 ‘‘(B) input from relevant Federal agencies, 

18 national organizations, and related stake19 holders; 

20 ‘‘(2) publish guidance, based on the best prac21 tices under paragraph (1), to provide State edu22 cational agencies, local educational agencies, and 

23 tribal educational agencies with information on stu24 dent suicide awareness and prevention best prac25 tices; 


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1 ‘‘(3) disseminate such best practices to State 

2 educational agencies, local educational agencies, and 

3 tribal educational agencies; and 

4 ‘‘(4) provide technical assistance to State edu5 cational agencies, local educational agencies, and 

6 tribal educational agencies.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

8 The amendments made by this Act shall only apply 

9 with respect to applications for assistance under section 

10 520A of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb– 

11 32) that are submitted after the date of enactment of this 

12 Act. 

Æ 


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