NY State Senate Bill 2021-S6241

Senate Bill S6241

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Directs the office of mental health to develop materials relating to suicide prevention for school-aged children; authorizes school districts to include suicide prevention in health class curriculum

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Mental Health Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to mental health
Apr 19, 2021	referred to mental health

2021-S6241 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9030
Current Committee:: Senate Mental Health
Law Section:: Mental Hygiene Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §7.07, Ment Hyg L; add §804-e, Ed L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S4176, A4703

2021-S6241 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs the office of mental health to develop materials relating to suicide prevention and identifying signs of depression for school-aged children; authorizes school districts to include suicide prevention in health class curriculum.

2021-S6241 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S6241

SPONSOR: RITCHIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to developing mate-
rials relating to suicide prevention for school-aged children, and to
amend the education law, in relation to including suicide prevention in
health education curriculum

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to require the Office of Mental Health in
consultation with the State Education Department to identify or develop
materials relating to suicide prevention in school-aged children,
including materials regarding social media safety and cyberbullying.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one requires the Office of Mental Health and the State Education
Department to identify or develop materials for educators regarding

suicide prevention among school aged youth and requires materials to be
made available on the State Education Departments website, including
information regarding social media safety and the prevention of cyber-
bullying.

Section two requires the commissioner of the education department to
make materials available on the departments website and also that
instruction regarding the prevention of suicide, social media safety and
cyberbullying may be provided to all secondary school pupils and shall
be taught by teachers certified in health education.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

It is critical that we make materials available to students that bring
awareness to the importance of suicide prevention as well as social
media safety and cyberbullying.

Since youth spend a vast majority of their time in an educational envi-
ronment, it is important that educators and staff members are aware of
the mental well-being of students. This bill would provide resources to
education staff on the risk of suicide, how to prevent its occurrence,
and on factors such as social media safety and cyberbullying which may
trigger feelings of helplessness and suicide in teens and young adults.

Schools and educators will have the materials they need to inform
students about the resources available should a student have suicidal
thoughts, as well as information regarding the dangers that exist when
social media is misused.

The recent, tragic loss of two young residents of St Lawrence county,
and countless other similar tragedies around our state have demonstrated
the need to raise awareness of the dangers that can exist online and on
social media, as well as to provide resources to young people who are
experiencing feelings of helplessness and suicide.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New legislation.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date
on which it shall have become law.

2021-S6241 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6241
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 19, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. RITCHIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health
 
 AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to developing  mate-
   rials  relating to suicide prevention for school-aged children, and to
   amend the education law, in relation to including  suicide  prevention
   in health education curriculum
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 7.07 of the mental hygiene law is amended by adding
 a new subdivision (i) to read as follows:
   (I) THE OFFICE SHALL, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT,
 IDENTIFY OR DEVELOP MATERIALS FOR EDUCATORS REGARDING SUICIDE PREVENTION
 MEASURES AND SIGNS OF DEPRESSION AMONG SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WHICH MAY BE
 USED BY SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND BOARDS OF COOPERATIVE EDUCATIONAL SERVICES,
 AT THEIR OPTION, TO EDUCATE STUDENTS ABOUT SUCH TOPICS AS SUCH DISTRICTS
 AND  BOARDS  DEEM APPROPRIATE. SUCH EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS SHALL INCLUDE,
 BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, INFORMATION REGARDING SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION, HOW
 DEPRESSION MANIFESTS ITSELF IN  DIFFERENT  CULTURES,  WARNING  SIGNS  OF
 SUICIDE,  ACTIONS  TO  TAKE  ONCE  A  CHILD  IS  IDENTIFIED AS A RISK OF
 SUICIDE, SOCIAL MEDIA SAFETY AND THE PREVENTION OF CYBERBULLYING, AND  A
 LIST  OF EDUCATIONAL WEBSITES REGARDING SUICIDE AND CHILDREN. SUCH MATE-
 RIAL SHALL BE AVAILABLE  ON  THE  EDUCATION  DEPARTMENT'S  WEBSITE.  THE
 OFFICE  SHALL  PROVIDE  A  HYPERLINK  ON  ITS WEBSITE TO THE PAGE OF THE
 EDUCATION DEPARTMENT'S WEBSITE THAT DISPLAYS SUCH MATERIALS.
   § 2. The education law is amended by adding a  new  section  804-e  to
 read as follows:
   § 804-E. INSTRUCTION REGARDING THE PREVENTION OF SUICIDE AMONG SCHOOL-
 AGED  CHILDREN.  1. THE COMMISSIONER SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE ON THE DEPART-
 MENT WEBSITE MATERIALS IDENTIFIED OR DEVELOPED BY THE OFFICE  OF  MENTAL
 HEALTH  IN  CONSULTATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION (H)
 OF SECTION 7.07 OF THE MENTAL HYGIENE LAW.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD10892-01-1

 S. 6241                             2
 
   2. INSTRUCTION REGARDING THE PREVENTION OF SUICIDE MAY BE INCLUDED  IN
 THE  HEALTH  EDUCATION PROVIDED TO ALL SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS AND SHALL
 BE TAUGHT BY TEACHERS CERTIFIED IN HEALTH EDUCATION. RELATED COURSES  IN
 THE  SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM MAY BE TAUGHT IN A MANNER SUPPORTIVE OF
 HEALTH  EDUCATION  REGARDING THE PREVENTION OF SUICIDE AMONG SCHOOL-AGED
 CHILDREN.
   3. SCHOOL AUTHORITIES SHALL BE AUTHORIZED  TO  PROVIDE  THE  NECESSARY
 FACILITIES, TIME AND PLACE FOR THE INSTRUCTION SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION
 AND  TO  PROVIDE  LEARNING  AIDS AND CURRICULUM RESOURCE MATERIALS WHICH
 CONTRIBUTE TO EFFECTIVE TEACHING METHODS AND LEARNING IN  HEALTH  EDUCA-
 TION  REGARDING  THE  PREVENTION  OF  SUICIDE AMONG SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN
 INCLUDING INSTRUCTION IN SOCIAL  MEDIA  SAFETY  AND  THE  PREVENTION  OF
 CYBERBULLYING.
   §  3.  This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
 the date on which it shall have become a law.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.