STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 550

with Assembly Floor Amendments

(Proposed by Assemblywoman LAMPITT)

ADOPTED: MARCH 25, 2021

      These floor amendments provide that, in addition to the telephone number for the New Jersey Suicide Prevention Hopeline (NJ Hopeline), a public school that includes any of the grades seven through 12 that issues student identification cards, and an institution of higher education that issues student identification cards:

· is required to provide the contact information for a crisis text line; and

· may, in addition to the NJ Hopeline, provide contact information for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, an on-campus crisis center, or any other mental health support service.

      The floor amendments also make a technical change to the effective date to provide that all provisions of the bill will take effect in the first full school year or in the first full academic year, as applicable, following the date of enactment.