Existing law requires the board of trustees of a school district or governing body of a charter school to ensure that information relating to mental health resources appears on the back of any identification card issued to a pupil at a school within the school district or the charter school. (NRS 388.1335) Section 1 of this bill requires each public school to publish on an Internet website maintained by the school and to provide at the school information relating to mental health and certain resources for caring for the mental health of pupils. Section 1 also requires each public school to conduct a live assembly at least once every 3 months during the school year for the pupils of the school to provide education and information relating to mental health. Existing law prescribes the authority and duties of a school counselor, school psychologist and school social worker. (NRS 391.293, 391.294, 391.296) Section 2 of this bill prohibits a public school from using artificial intelligence to perform the functions and duties of a school counselor, school psychologist or school social worker which relate to the mental health of pupils. Existing law, in general, requires a child between 6 and 18 years of age to attend public school. (NRS 392.040) Existing law requires the board of trustees of a school district to prescribe a minimum number of days that a pupil must be in attendance for the pupil to obtain credit or be promoted to the next higher grade. (NRS 392.122) Existing law excuses a child from those attendance requirements when satisfactory written evidence, including a certificate from certain providers of health care, is presented to the board of trustees of the school district in which the child resides that the child's physical or mental condition or behavioral health is such as to prevent or render inadvisable the child's attendance at school or his or her application to study. (NRS 392.050) Section 3 of this bill additionally excuses a child from attendance for the dates immediately preceding and immediately following any date or dates to which a certificate from a provider of health care applies. Existing law deems as a truant a pupil who is absent from school without the approval of a teacher or principal of the school, unless the pupil is absent: (1) because the pupil is physically or mentally unable to attend school; or (2) for the observance of a religious holiday. (NRS 391.130) A day on which a pupil is absent for those reasons must be: (1) deemed as approved, with certain exceptions; and (2) credited towards the minimum number of days that a pupil must be in attendance to obtain credit or be promoted to the next higher grade, if the pupil has completed course-work requirements. (NRS 392.122, 392.130) Section 6 of this bill provides that a pupil is not a truant if the pupil is absent from school: (1) for the bereavement of the death of an immediate family member; (2) because the pupil is experiencing distress relating to bullying; or (3) for certain other mental or behavioral health reasons. Section 6 requires the parent or legal guardian or other person having control or charge of a pupil who is absent from school for those reasons to notify the teacher or principal of the school within 3 days after the absence. Section 6 then deems those absences as approved, except that only a certain amount of absences for each reason may be approved within 1 school year. Section 5 of this bill requires those days on which the pupil was absent under those circumstances to be credited towards the minimum number of days that the pupil must be in attendance to obtain credit or be promoted to the next higher grade, if the pupil has completed course-work requirements. Section 4 of this bill provides that an absence that is approved under those circumstances is not considered an absence that a school is required to indicate on a report card issued to a pupil. Section 5 prohibits the denial of credit to a pupil or the promotion of a pupil to the next higher grade because the pupil did not attend school for the minimum number of days required if: (1) the pupil has earned at least a weighted 3.0 grade point average, on a 4.0 grading scale, for the school year; and (2) the absences, without which would otherwise allow the pupil to receive credit or be promoted to the next grade, were caused by or relate to bullying or physical, mental or behavioral health. Existing law: (1) regulates the practice and requires the licensure of certain mental health professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical professional counselors, registered nurses, social workers, alcohol and drug counselors and problem gambling counselors; and (2) prohibits unlicensed persons from engaging in the practices of those professions. (Chapters 630, 632, 633 and 641-641C of NRS) Section 7 of this bill prohibits, with certain exceptions, an artificial intelligence provider from offering to users in this State an artificial intelligence system that is specifically programmed to provide a user with a service or an experience that would constitute the practice of professional mental or behavioral health care if provided by a natural person. Section 7 also prohibits, with certain exceptions, an artificial intelligence provider or a natural person who is not licensed to practice professional mental or behavioral health care from making certain representations that would lead a person to believe that the provider, the artificial intelligence system operated by the provider or the natural person is capable of or qualified to provide mental or behavioral health care. Section 8 of this bill imposes certain restrictions and prohibitions on the use of an artificial intelligence system by a licensed provider of mental and behavioral health care.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 388.1335, 392.050, 392.118, 392.122, 392.130
BDR: 388.1335, 392.050, 392.118, 392.122, 392.130