North Carolina Student Lifeline Act
House Bill 772, the North Carolina Student Lifeline Act, requires schools and postsecondary institutions to make the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the NC Peer Warmline phone numbers available to students in a variety of places. The bill directs local school boards, charter schools, regional schools, laboratory schools, private church schools, qualified nonpublic schools, community colleges, and UNC constituent institutions to adopt policies ensuring the numbers are shared and kept current annually. If the numbers change, institutions must update the information; otherwise, they must use specified phrases that include 988, text HOME to 741741, and 855-733-7762.
The required disclosures must appear in multiple student-facing locations, including new student IDs for grades 6-12, school websites, student device home screens, agendas or calendars, suicide awareness materials, and registration documents. The bill does not require schools to issue student IDs, but if they do, the crisis information must be placed conspicuously. The act takes effect when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2025-2026 school year.
The bill amends multiple sections of the North Carolina General Statutes governing public schools, charter schools, regional schools, laboratory schools, private church schools, qualified nonpublic schools, community colleges, and UNC constituent institutions. It creates a uniform statewide requirement that these institutions provide crisis hotline and warmline contact information and maintain annual verification procedures, expanding existing school communication obligations into a mental-health and suicide-prevention notice requirement. The practical effect is to impose a new administrative and posting duty on a broad range of educational entities, while not creating a new hotline or changing eligibility for services.
The available voting history suggests strong bipartisan support, with the House passing second reading 108-0. No committee transcript is available, but the bill’s subject matter and unanimous vote indicate broad agreement with the goal of improving student access to suicide prevention and crisis support resources. The overall sentiment appears favorable and noncontroversial in the recorded legislative action.
No specific points of contention are reflected in the available materials. The bill’s main operational issues are likely to be implementation details, such as where the information must be posted, how schools verify current numbers annually, and how private and nonpublic institutions comply. The only explicit flexibility in the text is that schools are not required to issue student IDs, though if they do, the hotline information must be included.