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 re-
ceiving funds under section 520A of such Act to establish 
and implement a school-based student suicide awareness 
and prevention training policy and school threat assess-
ment team policy, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Suicide and Threat 
Assessment Nationally Dedicated to Universal Prevention 
Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Since 2010, suicide has been the second- 
leading cause of death for young people ages 10–24. 
In 2016, 6,159 young people ages 10–24 completed 
suicide. 
(2) Based on the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior 
Survey of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention (in this section referred to as ‘‘CDC’’), 7.4 
percent of youth in grades 9–12 reported that they 
made at least one suicide attempt in the past 12 
months. 
(3) While there is no complete count of suicide 
attempts in the United States, CDC data suggests 
that for every reported suicide death, approximately 
11.4 people visit a hospital for self-harm-related in-
juries. 
(4) In 2016, suicide was the 10th-leading cause 
of death overall in the United States, with over 
44,000 people completing suicide, and there were 
more than twice as many suicides in the United 
States as there were homicides. 
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(5) Youth often display warning signs and sig-
nals before harming themselves or others. Research 
shows that 70 percent of those who complete suicide 
tell someone of their plans or give another warning 
sign, and 80 percent of school shooters tell someone 
of their plans. 
(6) According to the CDC, the rates of suicide 
among American Indians and Alaska Natives have 
been increasing since 2003 and are the highest of 
any racial or ethnic group in the United States. In 
addition, recent studies of CDC data from 2001 
through 2015 show that suicide rates for Black chil-
dren aged 5 through 12 were roughly two times 
higher than those of similarly aged White children. 
(7) Research has shown that evidence-based 
school threat assessment teams reduce suicide; inter-
personal violence, bullying, and aggression; school 
staff anxiety about violence; and expulsion and sus-
pension rates. Evidence-based school threat assess-
ment teams have been shown to increase the willing-
ness of students to seek help for threats of violence 
and mental illness, use of school counseling, and pa-
rental involvement. 
(8) Research has shown that evidence-based 
school threat assessment teams can lead to a reduc-
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tion in racial disparities between White, Black, and 
Hispanic students in school disciplinary outcomes 
and legal actions. Additionally, research shows that 
evidence-based school threat assessment teams can 
help combat the school-to-prison pipeline. 
SEC. 3. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION 
TRAINING AND TEAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Public Health Serv-
ice Act is amended by inserting after section 520A of such 
Act (42 U.S.C. 290bb–32) the following: 
‘‘SEC. 520B. STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS AND PREVEN-
TION TRAINING AND TEAMS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on receipt of 
funds under section 520A, each State educational agency 
and tribal educational agency that receives such funds, di-
rectly or through a State or Indian Tribe, shall— 
‘‘(1) establish and implement— 
‘‘(A) a school-based student suicide aware-
ness and prevention training policy; and 
‘‘(B) a school threat assessment team pol-
icy; and 
‘‘(2) collect and report information in accord-
ance with subsection (d). 
‘‘(b) SCHOOL-BASED STUDENT SUICIDE AWARENESS 
AND PREVENTION TRAINING POLICY.—A school-based 
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student suicide awareness and prevention training policy 
implemented pursuant to subsection (a)— 
‘‘(1) shall be evidence-based; 
‘‘(2) shall provide evidence-based training to 
students in grades 6 through 12 regarding— 
‘‘(A) suicide education and awareness, in-
cluding warning signs of self-harm or suicidal 
ideation; 
‘‘(B) methods that students can use to 
seek help for themselves and others; and 
‘‘(C) student resources for suicide aware-
ness and prevention; 
‘‘(3) shall provide for retraining of such stu-
dents every school year; 
‘‘(4) may last for such period as the State edu-
cational agency or tribal educational agency involved 
determines to be appropriate; and 
‘‘(5) may be implemented through any delivery 
method, 
including 
in-person 
trainings, 
digital 
trainings, or train-the-trainer models. 
‘‘(c) SCHOOL THREAT ASSESSMENT TEAM POLICY.— 
A school threat assessment team policy implemented pur-
suant to subsection (a) shall— 
‘‘(1) be evidence-based; 
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‘‘(2) identify and establish a school threat as-
sessment team within each school, consisting of two 
or more school personnel, with the team designated 
to provide triage, and serve as a liaison to interven-
tion, for all reported threats of suicide and inter-
personal violence within the school; 
‘‘(3) provide evidence-based training to each 
such team on how to identify, assess, and respond 
to threats of suicide and interpersonal violence, in-
cluding training on— 
‘‘(A) identification of threats, signs, and 
behaviors that could result in harm towards 
one’s self or others; 
‘‘(B) evaluation of the seriousness of the 
threat or danger posed; 
‘‘(C) intervention to reduce the risk of vio-
lence; and 
‘‘(D) followup to assess intervention re-
sults; 
‘‘(4) provide for retraining of the members of 
each such team no less frequently than every 3 
school years; 
‘‘(5) establish guidelines to ensure that— 
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‘‘(A) where a credible threat is identified, 
the response conforms with any applicable State 
and school disciplinary policies; and 
‘‘(B) disciplinary action is not applied dis-
proportionately to students on the basis of race, 
color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability; 
and 
‘‘(6) create procedures and protocols for coordi-
nating with local law enforcement, State reporting 
websites, and tip lines. 
‘‘(d) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION AND REPORT-
ING.—Each State educational agency and tribal edu-
cational agency that receives funds under section 520A 
shall, with respect to each school served by the agency, 
collect and report to the Secretary the following informa-
tion: 
‘‘(1) For the school-based student suicide 
awareness and prevention training policy required by 
subsection (a)(1)(A): 
‘‘(A) The number of student trainings con-
ducted. 
‘‘(B) The number of students trained, 
disaggregated by age and grade level. 
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‘‘(3) The term ‘tribal educational agency’ has 
the meaning given to such term in section 6132 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965.’’. 
Æ 
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