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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2025 - 2026
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 11, 2024 01:45 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Nick Miller |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Crisis Prevention Hotline on College IDs |
| In the near future, I intend to introduce new legislation requiring higher education institutions in Pennsylvania to print the national 9-8-8 crisis hotline number on student identification cards. The number 9-8-8 became the designated national crisis number when the Federal Communications Commission officially designated it as the dialing code to connect individuals in crisis with prevention and mental health experts or counselors in 2022. According to a national survey of college students by the Healthy Minds Study, an estimated 49% of college students have symptoms of depression or anxiety disorder. My goal with this bill is to further prevent the risk of harm where possible by encouraging outreach for help. Resources like 9-8-8 are available around the clock for students, and we should be doing what we can to connect them with such beneficial services. My legislation will require each college or university in the Commonwealth to print, at minimum, the 9-8-8 code on the front or back of student ID cards. This will apply to both physical and digital ID cards. There is also flexibility provided in the bill so that colleges and universities may choose to tailor the IDs to include other specifics as deemed necessary, like campus or local numbers. Students often carry their college IDs with them everywhere they go in order to enter buildings, use campus transportation, access food service and more. Expanding crisis response policy to provide an easily accessible hotline number on a student’s identification card will be another resource for potential lifesaving help. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Memo Updated: December 11, 2024 01:46 PM