S.B. 118 Mental Health Services in Higher Education: transcript

Senate Education Committee, Feb 13, 2026

1. Sen. Jen Plumb1:05:50speaker not certain

   So mental health services and higher education. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This big room. I tell you what, it's Now Gets you a little nervous. Now, Is this a substitute we have online? Um, it should be, or is it already? Did we move the substitute before? I don't think we did. I'm trying to, hang on a second. Let me pull up the, the, there is a first substitute that had some language clarifications and now in my head I'm, we wouldn't, yeah, we wouldn't have had an opport. Would we have had an opportunity to move it? I'm, I'm trying to think. We wouldn't have, if this is the committee, we wouldn't have had an opportunity, so, right. So yes, if, if, um, that's something I would love to do. There were some language suggestions working with the YI folks to make sure that there was some clarity on a couple of things. Okay. That would be Great. So thank

2. Committee chair1:06:39

   you, uh, Senator Hinkins.

3. Sen. David P. Hinkins1:06:41

   Thank you. I would make a motion that we delete title and body Senate bill one 18 and replace it with first substitute Senate bill one 18.

4. Committee chair1:06:49

   Okay. So the motion is to delete title and body SB one 18 and replace it with first substitute Senate bill one 18, uh, discussion. That motion seeing none. Uh, all in favor of the motion to delete and title and body of Senate bill one 18 Mental health services and higher education. And replace it with first substitute SB one 18. All in favor of that motion, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The chair rules that it motion is unanimous to the substituted bill. Senator Plumb.

5. Sen. Jen Plumb1:07:26

   Thank you. I will present to that bill and also have, um, had passed around to you an LRG prepared kind of bill analysis and way to summarize, um, what this bill is wanting to do. And, and by way of explaining how I ended up even in this con having this conversation with you is, um, I teach in higher education Professor Plum, if you can believe that's a real thing, but it, I actually do. Uh, and so I have a, a lot of concern and, and passion for how students are doing and what their wellness looks like, and had kind of probed around into ways that we might be able to help different campuses and different settings, um, provide for the mental health needs of, of some of their students. And the work that I do in addiction and, and opioid overdose death space also has given me a fair amount of exposure to peer support and how when employed appropriately and in the right ways and with the right folks, you can actually really get great outcomes from it. And as we were looking through different ways that we could potentially help, there was an opportunity I think that was, um, presented to me or kind of came to me as we were looking through these, that if we could kind of get more of a standardized concept of a peer support model in all of our 16 higher ed education settings, but allow each of those institutions to figure out what works best for them to have that local flavor of what works best at the University of Utah, may not be what works best at SCUU, which may not be what works best at Utah Tech. And to give those institutions, uh, a pathway to say, we would like to u employ a peer support model, and in our setting, we would like it to look like blank. And there is some funding that is going into this, uh, $1.5 million that's going into this concept right now. And it's done through a, a single vendor. And from what I understand, there's some settings where it's really been great that there's been, you know, a great uptake and, and good feedback. And it's been a, a great kind of addition to their offerings, but there's some settings where it's not the ideal. And for those settings, I wanted there still to be a way for each campus to be able to have that opportunity. So the key points as part of this bill is it does create the peer to peer coaching mental health counseling grant, which no new funding would be, be expanded to that. It would be transferred over from the current appropriation to it. It does task. The Utah Board of Higher Education with administering the grant requires, uh, institutions to either establish a peer coaching program with trained student volunteers or use funds for other mental health service supports in this space. And then it does appropriate that $1.5 million, um, as a revenue neutral reallocation. And, and I wanna be clear that this was by no means any attempt to, uh, squash out or take out any other contributor, because I do think in the campuses where that that entity is working well, they will continue on, they will be able to contract with them and continue moving forward. But if we leave out any of our institutions, it doesn't feel to me like that's a successful programming, um, strategy, uh, through the, you can see through the sub, it kind of gives the, I mean, not the sub, but the analysis, it gives the responsibilities and additional policies. It shows what the responsibilities of the institutions are, responsibilities as well as limitations of the peer co coaches are. And for anyone who's not worked around peer coaches, it's essentially someone who is of your ilk, um, who you can relate to. Um, I'm going back into the eighties by even bringing this up, but we ran a program at UCLA where I went, did my undergrad, called the peer health counselors PhDs. And we would run sup, you know, supportive spaces around eating and diet and even eating disorders and around how's your mental health and around substance use and abuse and around fitness. And it was a way for students to kind of be with somebody who could relate to them, who could learn from them, but could also recognize if you, if one of the students wasn't doing well, and start moving them into a more intensive therapeutic environment if it was needed. And, and still to this day, 30 ish years later, I still remember that back as, as some of the things that were most impactful for me as a young person who trusted young people, perhaps more than I trusted adults. And that pretty much sums this bill up. I'm certainly open to any questions from the committee.

6. Committee chair1:11:58

   Okay. Uh, we're gonna come back to the, uh, committee for, uh, questions. Anybody like to discuss this bill? Seeing none, we're gonna come to members of the audience, anyone from the public like to come to this, come to come to the mic. Go ahead, make some room for folks to state your name for the record and who you represent. Okay. We can sit together.

7. Rick Atkin, CEO, Trula1:12:28

   Chair committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm Rick Atkin with trula and the Trula Foundation. We're based in St. George, Utah. We currently facilitate this system-wide peer-to-peer support program in partnership with ushi. I'm here with concerns about SB one 18 and not because supporting mental health of our students is wrong, but because this bill changes a structure that is already working, this program was built in a collaboration, um, between the legislature students and our team. After a successful pilot, it was designed to get upstream of mental health issues on our campuses. We know that for every dollar invested in our students, it saves Utah $4 downstream. Roughly about 40% of our students are not mentally ill, but they're not. Well. These languishing students account for a disproportionate share of not only dropouts, but also suicides to reach them. This program was intentionally designed to operate at scale. Um, it is embedded in hundreds of academic courses and degree requirements. It runs 12 hours a day, six days a week, and it offers more than 30 types of peer support. It also leverages a private donor scholarship fund for students who are helping their peers. And to date, it's already contributed over half a million dollars to, um, over 500 students in all of our degree granting institutions. That scholarship would be lost if this model is dismantled after just three years. This program was widely integrated at 14 of our 16 public institutions. Last year alone, it delivered nearly 30,000 peer support services to almost 15,000 students and is on track to approach 50,000 services this year. We agree with Senator Plumb. Schools need more mental health resources, however, fragmenting one of the most effective peer-based programs in the nation reduces mental health resources for Utah students. It does not increase them because it breaks what currently is working. My request is simple. Let's circle the bill today and allow Ushi and other stakeholders to collaborate with the stake, uh, the legislature to ensure we are best supporting our students. I'm more than happy to answer any other questions about the program. Thank you so much for your time today.

8. Committee chair1:14:41

   Thank you. I could move over. Oh, no, I, you could sign away. No fighting over. Go ahead and, uh, state your name for the record. Tell us who you represent.

9. Katie Mazzie, Associate Commissioner, Utah System of Higher Education1:15:00

   Thank you. Chair Johnson. Uh, sent, uh, I'm Katie Azzie. I'm with the Utah System of Higher Education. Um, here to say that the Utah Board of Higher Education has not taken a position on SB one 18 as our board and our office tend to give a lot of deference to institutions and their on the ground expertise when it comes to, uh, the more in the weeds details of student affairs and what initiatives students need. Uh, but I do know that there have been questions about the $0 fiscal note. So my primary objective in being here today is I wanted to reinforce, uh, what the sponsor Senator Plumb, uh, had already clarified, which is that this is a $1.5 million existing appropriation from the 2022 general session, uh, for peer mental health coaching. And it's not a new funding request in 2026 from our board. As to the proposed statutory change here, I would add that mental health funding is crucial to student success, and the system is very grateful to this body's ongoing support in the mental health arena. We recognize the state is in a constrained revenue environment this year where incremental new funding to meet persistent mental health needs is tough to come by. The bill language allows institutions to continue using their share of these funds toward the peer coaching program as an upstream solution, as the original intent language stated in 2022, or to use the resources for different mental health solutions if they deem that as what their unique student populations most need. Um, I have discussed Senate Bill one 18 with the 10 legislative affairs folks across Yushi. Um, and at this point they have voiced no objections about the institutions being given additional deference in how to spend the funds. So that's all I would add. Thank you.

10. Unknown speaker1:16:28speaker not certain

    Can, can I ask a question of you? Yes, sir. Uh, I, I'm just, I'm just curious if, if there was difficulty with what was going on with this. Uh, I, I don't understand why that wasn't part of the of view. She's request to reallocate the funds.

11. Katie Mazzie, Associate Commissioner, Utah System of Higher Education1:16:46

    Yep. So our, our board has not taken a position in each institution engages in the program in different ways. Uh, I don't know the, the details of the ways that they engage or what their outcome or their, um, pleasure or displeasure with the current program is. So I'm not prepared to speak to that today. Um, but any flexibility in funding is something in an institution wouldn't turn down.

12. Unknown speaker1:17:07speaker not certain

    Thank you. Appreciate that.

13. Committee chair1:17:13

    Oh, see, you just wanna keep Me Jack the box. Go ahead and state your name for the record and, uh, tell us who you represent.

14. MaryAnn Christensen, Executive Director, Utah Legislative Watch1:17:22

    Maryanne Christensen, Utah Legislative Watch. And I don't know if I'm for or against this bill. This bill is heartbreaking for me because I think what our kids need is friends. And here we have a whole program for assigning people to be friends. And I can't figure out what's wrong on our college campuses that people don't have friends. This bill feels more like an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff rather than a fence at the top. And so I, I recognize there may be a problem and I appreciate trying to deal with the problem, but it, it just breaks my heart that, that, that our kids are bro so broken, I guess. So thank you for your time.

15. Committee chair1:18:10

    Thank you. Any other comments? Do we have people online? What it takes? If I stay away, then nobody Can. Okay. So we have some people online. So, uh, let's, Celeste, Celeste, Celeste. Celeste, uh, turn your camera on. Celeste Lyman. State your name for the record and then go ahead.

16. Celesta Lyman, Nutrition faculty, Southern Utah University1:18:43

    Okay. Um, thank you chair and committee members. I appreciate the opportunity. My name is Celeste Lyman and I am nutrition faculty at Southern Utah University. And I actually have my students, um, in my nutrition counseling classes in my undergraduate class, in my graduate class, actually give them the assignment to be, um, um, peer tutored or peer peer mentored peer coach by the trula, um, team. And it's very be beneficial, not just only for their mental health, but it helps them as these students are going into the medical field as doctors, as physician assistants, as dieticians. So this gives them an opportunity to see what it's like and the benefit of coaching. So not only are they helped during their semester, but they're also gonna be able to help people in the future. The graduate students receive, um, training as well, that eight hour training provided by Trula. And so it's a fabulous resource and I hope that, um, Trula will continue to be able to, uh, provide those services for us here at Southern Utah University. So thank you very much.

17. Committee chair1:19:46

    Thank you. Okay, Andrew. Richie, go ahead. Andrew.

18. Andrew Richey, Lead Coach, Trula1:20:07

    Hello. Yes, my name is Andrew Richie. I am currently a student at Southern Utah University, and I'm currently one of the, uh, lead coaches at, uh, for, for the trula Campus Organization. Um, with my, I've been with trula for over Tru, uh, I think this, this is my second year now with trula. And I just wanted to speak to some of the things that has impacted me in my time here at trula. Uh, first with, um, is that as a, as a trula coach, it's given me the opportunity to, uh, to grow professionally, to develop skills, to speak with my peers as I continue in a, uh, in a, in my educational pursuit to become, uh, a therapist and to, and, and to grow my ability in that way. So Trula has given me that opportunity as well as, um, through, through Trula. I'm doing my internship for my capstone project, um, at Southern Utah University. And so that's been an individualized process where True's leadership has given me that opportunity to, to intern with them, which has been extremely helpful for me in my education. Um, and then the scholarship money has also played a, a big important role in my, in my family. Uh, I was married a year and a half ago, and my wife and I recently just had our first little son. He's three months old. And so this money is directly helping us as we, uh, as we raise our little boy. And, uh, so that's been extremely helpful. The, the last thing that I would say is that in my time as a trula coach, I've been able to coach, um, many students probably in the hundreds at this point, and with the, with each student. Um, what I love about Trula is that it gives the student the opportunity to, um, to come with what they're wanting to discuss, and it, it puts them in the driver's seat and we are able to help them with whatever difficulties they might be facing. And I, this morning had a, a student that I was speaking with and they said that they wanted to work more on their, on, like developing social relationships and, and building a friend group. And so this is a process that I've been a part of and have been grateful for. And so, uh, I just want to thank the chair and the committee members for this opportunity to speak. Thank you very much.

19. Committee chair1:22:18

    Any other online comments? Alexis? Huh? Alexis Alcott. Alexis Alcott, uh, go ahead. State your name for the record and who you're representing and where you're at.

20. Alexis Allcott, Wellness Coach Coordinator, Trula1:22:34

    Hello, chair and committee members. Uh, thank you for this opportunity to speak today. My name's Alexis Alcott, and I'm a USU grad, and I currently work at trula as the Wellness Coach coordinator. Um, I wanna state my concern that this bill may threaten funding to trula, which is a program that really changed my college experience. When I began as a coach at trula, uh, I was a relatively confused student. I just moved from BYU to Utah State, um, and I just needed some more support. Um, I didn't know what I wanted to study. I needed a stronger community, and trula really changed that for me, um, through trula. I didn't just become a coach. Um, it, though that is probably one of the most formative experiences I've had in my life thus far, I was also able to serve as a marketing intern, an administrative assistant, and eventually as a lead coach like Andrew, uh, before. Um, and as I completed my degree at Utah State, Trula walked with me every step of the way. It gave me durable skills, meaningful friendships, leadership experience, a scholarship that helped me stay in school, and a resume building opportunity that directly shaped my professional path. I also wanna speak to Trulia's unique impact in consideration of this bill. While at Utah State, I also worked at as a peer support worker on campus, and I saw firsthand how support initiatives that are added to faculty and staff responsibilities can unintentionally become overlooked. Meetings consistently didn't happen. Supervision sometimes was minimal, and connection while well intended, often fell short. Uh, trula is intentional, it's attentive, it's honest, and it's persistent. That's why, for me, my experience with Trula completely altered how I view peer support, uh, on campus. And, and as a coach, I've watched students' mindsets shift. I've seen them feel more prepared, more confident, and more committed to staying in school. And most importantly, I've seen them feel truly seen and heard. Uh, today many students are struggling with their mental health, a lack of direction, and a deep sense of disconnection. I believe, like the woman who was speaking before, that friendship is so important. Being able to be connected is what our society needs right now. And I believe that Trula provides that. Um, it provides connection that builds trust, forward momentum, and fosters resilience and hard work that makes better people in our campus communities. Um, and that's why I believe we need Trula to stay continuing functioning as it is doing the work. It's already doing so exceptionally well and serving that many students who rely on it. Thank you so much for your time today.

21. Committee chair1:25:19

    Thank you. Seeing no other comments, we're gonna come back to the committee for further discussion and action.

22. Committee chair1:25:29

    Senator Mikel,

23. Unknown speaker (addressed as Senator Mikel)1:25:31speaker not certain

    I just wanna ask one clarifying question. Is that okay? And this is for this for Senator Plumb. I'll be, I'll be short. Uh, and, and this, I, I actually like Trula. I remember when we did that funding request. Um, are, are you getting rid of trula? Gimme, gimme the lowdown on that.

24. Sen. Jen Plumb1:25:45

    Absolutely not. That is 100% not the goal. Um, I think that there are spaces, as, as you've heard here at SUU in particular, is one campus that it seems has been really benefited by this. And, and I think that I want that to carry on, but I also want the spaces that aren't receiving that to have a way to potentially have that sort of peer supportive services come in. And so the way I would see it, I, I'm not master of the universe, but the way I would see it is that in the campuses where it's doing great, awesome, we just go forward and keep those contracts going and keep those true programs going. And in the campuses where it's not, they have a little bit of funding to try to put together their own peer program or work on putting a peer program together. That's, that's how I see this. Um, I, it's, it's very interesting because, you know, when you sit up here and, and I'm, you know, these students are bringing me to tears. They're my people. I love hearing them, helping each other, and, and that's exactly what I want, and exactly what the goal of this bill is. If the committee is not concerned about those other campuses, I can understand that too. Um, that's where my heart, my kind of heart in this space was to make sure that all the campuses could have the same benefits. And if one program's not meeting it in all of them. And I've learned that from my own statewide program. There's some spaces where we've thrived and been per the perfect fit, and there's others where, where something else fits better. And I would like that to be opened up to all 16 institutions.

25. Unknown speaker1:27:11speaker not certain

    Thank you for the question. So, So are you saying that the other institutions don't have access to, to this program?

26. Sen. Jen Plumb1:27:17

    I'm saying that from the conversations, and it's so interesting to me that none of the conversation pieces came up as people to, to speak about it, but that it hasn't necessarily been the best fit. Not by any fault necessarily of anyone's, but you don't always have the best fit with one program in 16 spaces, regardless of what that may be. And so, um, what the stories people have shared with me is there are spaces like with everything where a program just hits all the, the nails and there are spaces where it hasn't. And in those spaces where it's not, I would like there to be some funding available for those campuses to be able to have either a way to maybe build it forward with a program like trula or build it on their own.

27. Committee chair1:27:58

    Senator Mikel, did you have a follow up? Uh,

28. Unknown speaker (Senator Mikel)1:28:01

    Just my, my, I don't have a follow up question, but I remember when we funded trula and it seems to me that it's, it's working awesome. I'm glad we did it. I remember it was representative last at the time and I worked with him on that. Um, it seems to me like we, using this legislation, given some flexibility, we could probably have a true type model everywhere. So maybe this is an infomercial and maybe, maybe this legislation will actually help help in in the long run, rather than heard.

29. Committee chair1:28:26

    I appreciate that. Senator Hage.

30. Unknown speaker (addressed as Senator Hage)1:28:30

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just, uh, have a question, and I know it's probably not necessarily for her, but maybe somebody here with the, somebody else with the higher ed or with the mental health, the health and human services, but it sounds to me like there's not enough funding for the mental health then. So, and I, and I don't think it's fair to take all this money away from higher educations, uh, classrooms to, to do work for mental health people. But I wonder why we aren't, uh, going to Health and Human Services for funding for these mental, uh, mentally challenged people and whatnot that they're, you know, to try to keep people on in, in school and try to help 'em with their situation. I mean, this is not fair to take the money from education when there's a lot deeper pockets in, uh, health and human services for this and try to expand this to other campuses. Evidently they're not being adequately funded because of that. And so I'm sure it sounds like the program works well. I know some people, it's SUU that it's working very well, and so where they have funding and where they're using it, it's working well. But evidently a lot of these are not used. This, the, the, whatever the program is, I have no idea. I mean, I just, I've, I have a niece that that works in this, uh, down at, uh, SUU and she swears by this. So anyway, I just wanna say that that can't we go after, I mean, I, I, I hate to see this funding being pulled from a program that's being successful, uh, when there's other money that we should be using for, uh, for higher ed, in my opinion, that we should be looking at that, uh, from the mental he, you know, mental health people and, you know, that can help us. Uh, I can tell you that when we started talking and looking at this, it was during the summer and we had a former intern, so from last session, the 2025 session, and he was kinda doing a temporary help out in our, our caucus while our administrator was having her baby. And he had just recently graduated. And so he actually had kind of a bunch of friends in, in different campus spots across the state and, and also in the campus that he had been at, and I won't call out names or anything, but, um, they, he went on a little bit of a, a research fact finding mission and depending, and, and granted it was summer, so I'm sure there were some different staffing considerations depending on the campus, it would take, uh, there were a couple that could get, if a student called and said, I'd like some mental health support that could get help in the next one to two days. And there were some others that said, we probably can't get you help this summer, but we can get you some resource list you could try to call off campus. And there were others that said, let's get you set up first thing for fall when the campus starts. So there's, there is definitely a need there.

31. Sen. Jen Plumb1:30:59

    Exactly what you're getting at and why that has not been prioritized by our mental health system. I don't have an answer there for you either, but I, I agree with you that there is, there's a pretty wide need and, and like I said, I think SUU is an example of where this particular program has really hit the nail on the head and is is doing great work. It isn't like that everywhere though, is, that's kind of where I was coming at this from the angle of,

32. Unknown speaker (addressed as Senator Hage)1:31:22

    And, and Mr. Chairman, I just like to say, I know everybody needs their friend and a purpose in life, but, uh, I really hate to see this being pulled from a, a ongoing, it's only been there three years. I mean, you're not even getting to see the graduates from this, uh, uh, four year program. I mean, it, it takes four years to get through it at the minimum. Sure. Uh, somebody like me, it'd probably say six or seven years. But anyway, they, uh, Well, and again, it wouldn't Be pulled I'd to see, I'd like to see us, uh, keep this program in place. So I'm probably opposed to this bill right now, but I would like to pursue the Health and Human Service Department. Sure. See why we can't get some money or some, uh, institutional money there instead of paying psychiatrists, which, you know, I'm not gonna say one thing or another about that, but, uh, you know, we could use some of that money, just like I said, might have to buy friends, but that's what we gotta do. We gotta do it. That's life, isn't it? Thank You. That's life. Thank

33. Unknown speaker1:32:15speaker not certain

    You. Well, thank You. I, I I I, I kind of echo, uh, what, what you were saying, uh, Senator Hinkins, I, I hate to see us. Uh, Well, we just heard the, the young man say that he's raising a little three month old baby and just got married and, and I hate to see the rug pulled out from somebody that's planning on that, uh, uh, this time. And so I, I'm opposed to the, at this time. I gotcha. You understand?

34. Unknown speaker1:32:39speaker not certain

    Yeah. Oh, I thank you a hundred percent. A hundred percent. And I, I feel it Too. I, I think I would be opposed to, I, I, you know, if if something's not working, then I think there's an appropriations process to say that some of the money we want to pull, okay. And there's another process for proposing something different. And, and I hate to see us messing with something that's actually in place that's working that, you know, and, and you say, well, we could use that money other places. Well then, you know, cut the funding for this and use it other places. I, I mean, I just hate us to see, you know, you know, you think about programs that we've had started, right? What if, what if someone came up and said, oh, we don't really like that program, but we'd sure like to use that money. And so I, I, I dunno, I think I'm opposed to this as well.

35. Sen. David P. Hinkins1:33:32

    Mr. Chairman, if I may, could I make a motion that we Sure. Uh, move to another item on the agenda and, uh, leave this on the, in our committee so that if there's something that comes up, but right now, I would like to see us move to another item on the agenda.

36. Committee chair1:33:44

    Okay. So the motion, that motion is in order. The motion is to move to the next item on the agenda. Uh, any discussion to that motion? Seeing none, we're gonna come back to you to some

37. Sen. Jen Plumb1:33:57

    No, I, I, I think that I appreciate that because I think there's clearly more depth to get into here. And, and I think I have some conversations to have as well with other folks to be like, had you thought about this? Had you thought about that? What about this consideration? So maybe I've lit Ophir on all of you to help get some more funding into those, those spaces to help with the mental health of our youth. 'cause I think we all know how crucial it is. And, and this has been valuable, so I appreciate that. Yeah. We're, we're messing with people's lives that, you know, suicidal and all kinds of things, and yeah, I just hate to see us upset the apple poor heart at this, at this time. Hear. Thank you.

38. Committee chair1:34:28

    I hear you. Thank you. Uh, thank you. And, and so you summed and you summed. So the motion is to move to the next item on the agenda. Uh, all in favor of that motion, say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The chair rules? That is unanimous. Thank you. I

39. Committee chair1:34:44speaker not certain

    Always love the voices from above you, Don. You don't know who it's gonna be. Sometimes when it's Adams, you're like, ah, President, that's, that's Senator Fillmore Wright, And it's God.

40. Unknown speaker1:34:55speaker not certain

    Oh, that was, that was Senator Wilson. That was Senator Fillmore. Oh, so did you vote too, Senator Wilson? Yeah, we got his, it was actually God. Okay. Yeah. Okay. No, I, I did vote on it. Yes. Okay.

41. Committee chair1:35:09

    So the chair rules, that is unanimous. Thank you, uh, for the presentation.