Bill adding Suicide and Domestic Violence Hotline Numbers to Student ID Cards Passes

The House and Senate unanimously passed House Bill 254, sponsored by Representative Griffith, that requires all public schools that serve students in grades 7-12 that issue student identification cards to have printed on those cards the telephone or text numbers for the National Suicide Prevention and National Domestic Violence Hotlines and allows them to add the National Sexual Assault, Teen Dating Violence and Bullying Hotlines.

I would have changed the bill in two ways: 1) require all students to have ID cards in Delaware public and charter schools, from grades 1 to 12, and 2) put the numbers on all the cards for grades 1 to 12. Perhaps that is an idea for next session.

House Bill 254 Sponsors	Yes Votes	No Votes
Griffith, Baumbach, Chukwuocha, Heffernan, K.Johnson, Mitchell, Moore, Morrison, K.Williams, Briggs King, M.Smith	House Passes 41-0. Baumbach Bennett Bentz Bolden Brady Bush Carson Chukwuocha Cooke Dorsey-Walker Griffith Heffernan K.Johnson K.Williams Kowalko Lambert Longhurst Lynn Matthews Minor-Brown Mitchell Morrison Osienski S.Moore Schwartzkopf Wilson-Anton  Briggs King Collins D.Short Dukes Gray Hensley M.Smith Morris Postles Ramone Shupe Smyk Spiegelman Vanderwende Yearick	None
McBride, Brown, Sokola	Senate Passes 20-0-1. Brown Ennis Gay Hansen Lockman Mantzavinos Paradee Pinkney Poore S.McBride Sokola Sturgeon Walsh Bonini Hocker Lawson Lopez Pettyjohn Richardson Wilson	Townsend (Absent)
Current Status:	Sent to the Governor.

Lead sponsor Repesentative Krista Griffith: “Tragically, a growing number of our young people have their lives upended by dating violence, sexual assault, and mental health crises. This is a trend we need to stop- and vulnerable people must get the help they need in these situations. To help connect students to life-saving resources, I’ve introduced legislation that would require public secondary schools and higher education institutions to include crisis hotline numbers on student identification cards.

With the contact information for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, the National Domestic Violence Hotlines, and local campus police at their fingertips, students will have direct access to the help they need.I’m pleased that HB 254 received unanimous support in the House Education Committee, and I look forward to seeing this important legislation advance through the General Assembly.”