Game-Changing Legislation
The BSCA is a game changer. As the first major federal gun safety legislation in decades, the law expands gun safety measures like increased background checks, and targets interstate gun trafficking. The law also addresses violence more broadly by expanding school-based mental health services, reducing obstacles to schools' billing for services under Medicaid, and creating a technical assistance center to facilitate compliance and operations. Most importantly, it treats schools as a key point for observation and intervention.
Now is the time to take action to ensure that your state maximizes the new federal funding and expands mental health care services.
The first step is to identify your state’s key decision makers. These likely include:
- State Education Agencies (SEAs)
- State Health and Medicaid Departments
- The Governor’s Office
Determine who is crucial in your state and check your contacts for a direct line of communication.
As always, affiliates can coordinate with partners to build authority and momentum. For coalition work, affiliates might start with:
- Superintendents and School Board Associations
- State School Nurse Associations
- State Pediatric Academy Chapters
- State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations
