Sen. Bullard's Bill Is A 'Child Mental Health Data Grab'

  Senator Bullard has a bill (SB1123) requiring parents & guardians of all children in public schools to give all private medical records to their public school district, regarding all past & present mental health care.
 https://legiscan.com/OK/text/SB1123/2020
​  The bill appears to allow all the faculty & staff of the district to have all the mental health records of all the students who had gotten any care or treatment for anything which is loosely called a mental health facility, for things including for traumatic events, such as victimization & molestation, bullying, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, family counseling, and other matters.
  Current law already empowers mental health clinicians to notify law enforcement of safety concerns relating to a patient. But this law would force every parent to not only tell the school administration everything, but also empower the school to have meetings with all past or present clinicians; and then sort out all the data and discuss within themselves what should be done about the child's history. 

 

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  Other concerns involve the security of this data & what happens if data breaches occur. Also, by declaring an emergency, the enacted cannot be delayed by the people thru a veto referendum.
  SB1123 would no longer let parents use discretion in what they disclose to educators about a child's behavioral health history.  It mandates that all parents must tell all, to the public schools.
  And children will have their past behavioral health history revealed to people who are not healthcare professionals nor licensed to uphold the ethical standards of a clinician.
  The terms of this bill will not include any rules for how school districts handle the massive data that will be collected. Instead, our elected lawmakers will empower the Dept. of Education to make rules which are not subject to any vote of the people or the legislature. And those rules will also go into effect as an emergency act.

Bill Summary
An Act relating to students; directing the parent or legal guardian of a student to disclose to a school upon enrollment or transfer whether the student has received or is receiving certain mental health services; providing definition; requiring designated school personnel to hold certain meeting within certain time period to determine whether accommodations are needed; requiring certain disclosure to comply with certain acts; providing for promulgation of rules; providing for codification; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

 §43A-1-103.  Definitions.
When used in this title, unless otherwise expressly stated, or unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:
 "Facility"
means any hospital, school, building, house or retreat, authorized by law to have the care, treatment or custody of an individual with

• mental illness, or
   
• drug or alcohol dependency,
   
• gambling addiction,
   
• eating disorders,
   
• an opioid substitution treatment program,
   

​including, but not limited to,

• public or private hospitals,
   
• community mental health centers,
   
• clinics, satellites or facilities;
   

provided, that facility shall not mean a child guidance center operated by the State Department of Health;

Emergency Declared

SECTION 3. It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby  declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.