FINAL BILL REPORT
HB 1230
C 173 L 23
Synopsis as Enacted
Brief Description: Requiring school districts and other public education entities to make information from the department of health available.
Sponsors: Representatives Callan, Harris, Thai, Reeves, Senn, Ortiz-Self, Ormsby, Kloba, Duerr, Doglio, Berry, Riccelli, Morgan, Davis, Ramel, Bergquist, Pollet, Tharinger, Peterson, Stonier and Santos.
House Committee on Education
Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education
Background:

Department of Health.
The Department of Health (DOH) administers various programs and services that promote public health through disease and injury prevention, immunization, newborn screening, professional and health care facility licensing, and public education.  The DOH is also involved in the promotion of safe and healthy schools, and has related duties pertaining to environmental health, immunization, and sexual health education.
 
Information about Behavioral Health Resources.
Public schools are required to provide students with information about behavioral health resources.  For example, schools that issue student identification cards, staff identification cards, or both, must print on the cards:

  • the contact information for a national suicide prevention organization; and
  • the contact information for one or more campus, local, state, or national organizations specializing in suicide prevention, crisis intervention, or counseling, if available.

 
Additionally, public schools that maintain websites must publish on their homepage specific information about behavioral health resources, including contact information for suicide prevention organizations, and organizations specializing in depression, anxiety, or counseling for adolescents.  The schools must also post information on social media websites used by school districts for the purpose of notifying students, families, and the public of the behavioral health resources published on their website homepages.


Educational Service Districts.
Washington has nine regionally based educational service districts (ESDs) that provide cooperative informational services to local school districts and assist the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education in the performance of their duties.  Among other duties, the ESDs serve as a depository and distribution center for instructional materials and assist school districts in the preparation of their budgets.

Summary:

Department of Health.
The DOH must post and periodically revise on its website information about substance use trends, overdose symptoms and response, and the secure storage of prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and firearms and ammunition.  The information must be provided or otherwise made accessible to school districts, charter schools, state-tribal education compact schools, and ESDs, and must be formatted for the needs of public school students and families.
 
The posted information must be in the form of a template that can be revised as necessary and that:

  • includes website addresses and telephone numbers of one or more public health agencies with applicable information;
  • may include website addresses and telephone numbers of one or more private organizations with applicable information;
  • can be replicated for other health and safety topics that are germane to public schools;
  • can be easily and readily shared with schools and school districts; and
  • includes format and content options that schools and school districts may use to reflect regional, demographic, and cultural differences.

 
Education Entities—Information from the Department of Health.
Within existing resources, each school district that maintains a website must post a prominent link on their homepage, and the homepage of each school within the district, to information from the DOH that addresses substance use trends, overdose symptoms and response, and the secure storage of prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and firearms and ammunition.
 
Each school district, for the purpose of informing students, families, and other persons about available health and safety resources, must also make the DOH information accessible through other internet-based communications, such as social media accounts used by the district, and through other digital and nondigital communications of the district.  The required information postings may be made multiple times annually and no less frequently than quarterly.
 
The website and other communication requirements for school districts pertaining to the delineated information from the DOH also apply to charter schools, state-tribal education compact schools, and, with some modifications, ESDs.

Votes on Final Passage:
House 58 39
Senate 29 20
Effective:

July 23, 2023