STATEMENT TO

 

[First Reprint]

 

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

ASSEMBLY, No. 970

 

with Senate Floor Amendments

(Proposed by Senator SINGLETON)

 

ADOPTED: FEBRUARY 19, 2021


 

      These Senate amendments:

·         remove section 2 of the bill, which generally required boards of education to ensure that each student in the grades seven through 12 annually receives a health screening for depression;

·         establish in the Department of Education the Mental Health Screening in Schools Grant Program in which school districts may apply for funding to make an annual health screening for depression available to each student in the grades seven through 12. The amendments lay out various conditions school districts are required to meet in implementing depression screening programs under the grant program and the information to be included in the applications for grant funding;

·         establish a non-lapsing Mental Health Screening in Schools Grant Program Fund;

·         require the Commissioner of Education to develop a report, or contract with a research institution or organization to develop a report, evaluating depression screening programs in school districts participating in the Mental Health Screening in Schools Grant Program as well as other school districts that have developed depression screening programs; and

·         appropriate from the General Fund $750,000 to the Mental Health Screening in Schools Grant Program Fund and $250,000 to support the development of the report required under the bill.