MENTAL HEALTH ACTION ON CAMPUS

Creates the Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act. Provides for intent, legislative findings, purposes of the Act, and definitions. Provides that to raise mental health awareness on college campuses, each public college or university in this State must complete specified tasks. Provides that the board of trustees of each public college or university must designate an expert panel to develop and implement policies and procedures that (i) advise students, faculty, and staff on the proper procedures for identifying and addressing the needs of students exhibiting symptoms of mental health conditions, (ii) promote understanding of the rules of Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to increase knowledge and understanding of student protections under the law, and (iii) provide training if appropriate. Provides that because peer support programs may be beneficial in improving the emotional well-being of the student population, each public college or university must develop and implement a peer support program utilizing student peers to support individuals living with mental health conditions on campus; specifies best practices for the peer support programs. Provides that each public college or university must form strategic partnerships with local mental health service providers to improve overall campus mental wellness and augment on-campus capacity; specifies what the partnerships must include. Requires the Board of Higher Education to develop a Technical Assistance Center; specifies the duties of the Center. Requires each public college or university to evaluate the required programs under the Act using specified criteria. Effective July 1, 2020. House Floor Amendment No. 2 Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes. Provides that 2 years after the effective date of the Act, and once every 5 years thereafter, the Technical Assistance Center must propose to the General Assembly an updated ratio of clinical, non-student staff members to students based on actual ratios in this State and any new information related to appropriate benchmarks for clinician-to-student ratios. Provides that the updated benchmark must represent a ratio of no less than one clinical, non-student staff member to 1,250 students. Removes a provision providing that 5 years after the effective date of the Act, each public college or university must maintain a ratio of one clinical, non-student staff member to 1,000 students. Provides that the monitoring measures of local partnership programs must include the ratio of clinical, non-student staff to student population and the number of linkage agreements and contracts in place based on student population (rather than only the number of linkage agreements and contracts in place based on student population). Provides that the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, in conjunction with the Illinois Community College Board and the Board of Higher Education, must make recommendations to the General Assembly on the amounts necessary to implement the Act. Provides that the initial recommendation must be provided by the Commission no later than December 31, 2019 and any appropriation provided in advance of this recommendation may be used for planning purposes. Provides that no provision of the Act may be funded by student fees created on or after July 1, 2020 (rather than new student fees). Makes other changes. Effective July 1, 2020, except that certain provisions are effective immediately.