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Senate Bill (SB) 1318 - Pupil health: suicide prevention policies: pupil suicide crisis, signed into law on Sept. 27, 2024, and Assembly Bill (AB) 727 - Pupil and student safety: identification cards, signed into law on Oct. 10, 2025, by Governor Gavin Newsom, amends California Education Code 215, relating to pupil health, and requires updated actions from the California Department of Education (CDE) and local education agencies (LEAs)* by July 1, 2026.
CDE Responsibilities on or before July 1, 2026
On or before July 1, 2026, the CDE is responsible for updating the existing suicide prevention model policy to “address intervention protocols in the event of a pupil suicide crisis*…” (EdCode 215).
This model policy should include the following:
- The order in which staff and external agencies will operate in a pupil suicide crisis:
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School mental health professionals* will be contacted first.
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If a school mental health professional is not available, the policy should identify a trained school employee who will be contacted to “provide a warm handoff to a mental health professional*.” Visit the Youth Behavioral Health Training Programs page on the CDE website for information on how to satisfy the training requirement for school employees per the California Education Code 49428.15.
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If a trained, pre-identified school employee is not available, the policy should identify “one or more… qualified mental health professionals” to be contacted. Visit the Youth Suicide Prevention page on the CDE website for a list of resources.
- The involvement and notification of law enforcement is limited to cases when a student’s life is in “imminent danger” and requires more than mental health professional services.
- The process officers use to decide whether notifying a parent could endanger a student in a suicide crisis. The student must be told if their parent or guardian is notified.
*Definitions are included in the Glossary at the end of this email.
LEAs Responsibilities beginning on July 1, 2026
Beginning July 1, 2026, all LEAs are responsible for printing the two ways students can reach the Trevor Project’s LGBTQ’s suicide hotline on student identification cards (EdCode 215):
- Telephone number: 1-866-488-7386
- Text START to 678-678
LEAs Responsibilities on or after July 1, 2026
On or after July 1, 2026, LEAs must update all existing student suicide prevention policies by the LEA’s next regularly scheduled review process. The policy must be updated to “incorporate best practices identified in the department’s model policy,” which will be available on the Youth Suicide Prevention page on the CDE website by July 1, 2026 (EdCode 215).
Thank you for taking the time to review these updates and for your continued leadership. If you have any questions regarding the upcoming changes, please do not hesitate to reach out to San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Communications and Intergovernmental Relations at IGR@sbcss.net.
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