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Committee approves bill requiring parental notice and written consent for most school-based mental-health services
Summary
House Bill 24-20, as amended, would bar initiation of school-based mental-health services for students without prior written parental notice and consent, with a suicide-risk exception; members debated a $5,000 civil penalty per violation and the potential chilling effect on student supports before the committee passed the bill.
The Committee on Education passed House Bill 24-20 as amended, a measure that would prohibit the initiation of school-based mental-health services for a student unless the school gives prior notice and receives written consent from the students parent or guardian. The bill includes an exception allowing suicide-risk assessments or screenings when there is a credible indication a student is at risk of suicide.
Representative Steele described a balloon amendment that clarified the bills scope to target ongoing interventions and to remove the earlier multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) language that raised concern among licensed practitioners. "This legislation ... is about local control and involving the families and the parents for transparency," Steele said when moving the bill to the floor as amended.
A central point of debate was the bills civil-penalty provision. Jason explained the penalty language reads as a $5,000 civil penalty for each violation, and without additional specification a "violation" would be each instance the statute was violated. "Arguably, yes," he told members when asked if multiple days of the same service could generate multiple separate violations. Several members warned that the penalty and enforcement pathway (complaints to county or district attorneys or the attorney general, with potential court action) could chill non-emergency student supports and draw prosecutorial resources into school matters.
Members also discussed special situations. The chair and Jason clarified that if a child is in the custody of the Department for Children and Families, that department acts in loco parentis for educational decisions. Supporters framed the bill as protecting parental authority over sensitive services; opponents warned it would impede access to help for vulnerable students, including LGBTQ youth and students subject to home-based violence.
Madam Chair called the question and the bill passed as amended in committee; a small number of members asked to have their votes recorded. The committee directed that the amended bill be printed for the House floor and left implementation details and enforcement practices to be resolved in subsequent stages.
