Plan to fund suicide fight in Arkansas shy a backer

Council committee votes ‘no position’ on measure

The Arkansas Suicide Prevention Council's executive committee on Wednesday withdrew its support from proposed legislation less than 24 hours after its co-chairman threw the council's support behind the bill in testimony before state lawmakers.

Council Co-Chairman Steven Blackwood told the Joint Budget Committee on Tuesday that House Bill 1705 by Rep. Tim Lemons, R-Cabot, was recommended by the Arkansas Suicide Prevention Council, which was created in 2015 to serve as the state's central body for setting statewide priorities to prevent suicide.

However, the council did not take a position on the proposed legislation until Wednesday, when the executive committee voted to "clarify that the council has no position" on the bill, which would appropriate $2.3 million to the state Department of Human Services' Behavioral Health Services Division for suicide prevention next fiscal year. Lemons said that money would come from any federal grants the state could secure.

The House approved Lemons' bill Wednesday, and the Senate is expected to move on the measure today. In a phone interview before his bill hit the House floor, Lemons said he was "sorry" that the council chose not to support it, but he still planned to move forward.

"This will give us an empty bucket we hope to fill with grant money," Lemons said. "If we want to combat suicide, we need to think outside the box."

Arkansas in 2015 rose from No. 16 to No. 10 in the national ranking of suicides per capita with 571 deaths, according to the Health Department.

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The council's about-face on HB1705 happened two days after the state Legislature passed a separate bill that requires the Arkansas Department of Health to maintain a suicide prevention hotline call center "to the extent that funding is available." That legislation -- House Bill 1775 by Rep. Bob Johnson, D-Jacksonville -- was formally endorsed by the council and now awaits Gov. Asa Hutchinson's signature.

Joe Martin, the Health Department's injury and violence prevention section chief, said he hopes the call center will open in June.

Divisions have formed in the 23-member Suicide Prevention Council, and some members fear that HB1705 could undermine the board's mission and lead to a less-coordinated suicide prevention effort by appropriating money to the Department of Human Services.

By law, the Health Department is tasked with suicide prevention programs in Arkansas, so opponents of Lemons' bill have said it doesn't make sense to give the money to a separate agency. They also worry that it could affect future grant funding.

"I think it would completely disrupt the suicide prevention program as it stands today," council member Tanya Phillips said at Wednesday's meeting.

A Department of Human Services spokesman said the department didn't help craft HB1705, but said it would collaborate with other state partners and contractors if suicide-prevention funding were directed to DHS.

Blackwood, who said he was unable to attend the Suicide Prevention Council meeting Wednesday, said Lemons' bill would take a more holistic approach to suicide prevention by leveraging existing "statewide prevention frameworks." He also emphasized that it wouldn't take any money or grant opportunities away from the Health Department.

While the council never formally voted on the particulars of the legislation, Blackwood said council members last year agreed to pursue the broader goals he believes HB1705 would accomplish.

Wednesday's tense meeting underscored fissures that have formed in the council since the start of the year. Disagreements and organizational problems ran so deep that the council failed to submit any legislative proposals of its own prior to the bill filing deadline several weeks ago.

Instead, individual members and nongovernmental organizations moved forward with proposals on their own.

Taylor LoBue, founder of the Central Arkansas Veterans Mental Health Council, told the board that it needed to resolve its problems or install new leaders.

"It's not dollars at stake here," he said. "It's lives."

Metro on 03/30/2017

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