Amends the Interagency Children's Behavioral Health Services Act. Requires the Department of Human Services, in coordination with a statewide association representing a majority of hospitals, to establish and offer a voluntary training that will be recorded and made available on the Department's website to all hospital social workers, clinicians, and administrative staff to inform them of BEACON, a centralized resource for Illinois youth and families seeking services for behavioral health needs, with the goal of encouraging families to seek assistance through BEACON and the Interagency Children's Behavioral Health Services Team. Provides that the training shall include how families and hospital staff can access BEACON, the process once a case is entered into BEACON, and State and community programs accessible through BEACON. Amends the Medical Assistance Article of the Illinois Public Aid Code. Requires a psychiatric hospital to contact a youth or the youth's parents, guardian, or caregiver about the BEACON portal (rather than the Family Support Program and the Specialized Family Support Program) prior to referring the youth to the Department of Children and Family Services because the youth was left at the psychiatric hospital beyond medical necessity. Amends the School Code. Requires the State Board of Education, in consultation with the Children's Behavioral Health Transformation Team in the Office of the Governor and relevant stakeholders, to report its work and make available resource materials, including model policies and guidance informed by a phased approach to implementing universal mental health screening in schools. Requires the State Board of Education to report its work by September 1, 2026. Provides that mental health screenings shall be offered by school districts to students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12, at least once a year, beginning with the 2027-2028 school year.
Senate Committee Amendment No. 3: Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Reinserts the provisions of the bill with the following changes. Provides that on or before September 1, 2026, the State Board of Education, in consultation with the Children's Behavioral Health Transformation Team in the Office of the Governor and relevant stakeholders, shall report its work and make available resource materials, including model procedures (rather than policies) and guidance informed by a phased approach to implementing universal mental health screening in schools. Provides that the model school district procedures (rather than policies) to facilitate the implementation of mental health screenings, shall include specified matters. Provides that mental health screenings shall be offered by school districts to students enrolled in grade 3 (rather than kindergarten) through grade 12, at least once a year, beginning with the 2027-2028 school year. Provides that the requirement to offer mental health screenings shall be in effect only for school years in which the State has successfully procured a screening tool that offers a self-report option for students and is made available to school districts at no cost. In provisions concerning youth left in a psychiatric hospital beyond medical necessity, requires a hospital to attempt to contact the youth and the youth's parents, guardian, or caregiver about the BEACON portal and assist with entering the youth's information into the BEACON portal to begin the process of connecting the youth and family to available resources (rather than assist with connections to the designated Family Support Program coordinator in the service area by providing educational materials developed by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services).

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 105 ILCS 5/2, 305 ILCS 5/5, 405 ILCS 165/35
Engrossed: 105 ILCS 5/2, 305 ILCS 5/5, 405 ILCS 165/35