–By Victoria Doll
On Feb. 6 a bill titled “Senate Bill 42” passed in the State Senate. Senate Bill 42, sponsored by Senator Denise Harper Angel, D-Louisville, requires hotline information for suicide prevention, sexual assault and domestic violence on school-issued student IDs for public schools and public universities in Kentucky.
Senate Bill 42 requires that grades six through 12, as well as all Kentucky-University students have the hotline information linked on their student IDs.
Secondary schools that do not issue student IDs are not affected.
Inspiration for the Senate Bill 42 stems from a statistic given by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: suicide is the second leading cause of death for Kentuckians ages 15-34 and that every 12 hours someone in Kentucky loses their life to suicide.