Bills targeting suicide prevention up for Assembly approval

The state Assembly is poised to approve bills intended to prevent suicide in Wisconsin.

The bills up for passage Thursday came from recommendations of a bipartisan task force created by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to look at ways to reduce suicide.

Key proposals include requiring schools to include contact information for suicide prevention hotlines on student identification cards; creating a new suicide prevention program within the state Department of Health Services; and providing more than $1 million in grants for schools and local governments to create prevention programs.

Approval by the Assembly on Thursday would send the proposals to the state Senate, which isn’t expected to meet again until January. Gov. Tony Evers would have to sign them into law before they would take effect.