Wyoming lawmakers defeat suicide prevention legislation

Wyoming lawmakers defeated legislation Wednesday intended to help reduce spiking levels of teen suicide in the state.

The bill — with failed at introduction by a 34-26 margin — would have required school districts to provide mandatory training for students to recognize peers at-risk for suicide. Advocates thought the initiative could help to offset a rising trend in one of the nation’s highest-risk states for death by suicide by building off 2014 law requiring teachers to undergo similar training.

Though there are suicide prevention resources in Wyoming including the state’s Safe to Tell Program and a suicide prevention hotline, experts have pressed the state to go further. In 2017, the state completed a suicide prevention plan that, among other objectives, sought to implement increased levels of training in public and private forums to help people recognize at-risk behavior for suicide.

While House Majority Floor Leader Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, noted school districts can do this on their own, House Bill 62 would have established a priority with a “light hand.” Others said the legislation would have sent a message that state leaders were trying to solve the problem by giving students and educators tools to recognize high-risk behavior before it escalates.

Read more: https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-lawmakers-defeat-suicide-prevention-legislation/article_bb792570-cdd4-560d-8c29-e6fa0b4d3385.html
(Casper Star Tribune)