HB 1309 Summary

• Establishes a suicide prevention task force within the Department of Health to examine and evaluate methods to improve education, awareness, support services, and inmate outreach to prevent suicides in state correctional facilities

• Task force composition includes the directors of health and public safety as co-chairs, two former inmates who attempted suicide, one senator, one representative, one psychiatry professor, one alcohol and drug abuse division member, and representatives from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and Mental Health America of Hawaii

• Task force members shall serve until January 1, 2026, meet no less than quarterly, and may meet virtually; members receive no compensation and are exempt from conflict of interest laws and public meeting requirements

• Task force shall submit an interim report to the legislature by twenty days prior to the 2022 regular session and a final report with strategic plan by twenty days prior to the 2026 regular session

• Task force terminates on July 1, 2026; Act takes effect July 1, 2021 and is repealed January 1, 2026