An Act to create 36.25 (13h) of the statutes; Relating to: provision of virtual mental health services for students at certain UW System institutions. (FE)
Summary
SB306 would require the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents to contract with a vendor to provide virtual mental health services for students at UW System institutions with no more than 30,000 full-time undergraduate students, measured as of the preceding April 1. The services would be intended to supplement existing campus-based mental health offerings and extend access beyond traditional business hours. The bill specifies that the vendor’s services should include evidence-based wellness content, behavioral health coaches, and licensed mental health providers experienced in serving higher education students.
In selecting a vendor, the Board of Regents would be directed to prioritize providers with at least five years of experience serving colleges and universities and with software that supports collaboration between the vendor and campus clinical staff. The bill also requires annual reporting to the Board and the Legislature, including usage statistics at both the system-wide and individual institution levels. Those reports would be distributed to the standing committees with jurisdiction over higher education matters.
Impact
The bill would create a new statutory requirement in s. 36.25 (13h) governing UW System mental health service procurement for qualifying institutions. It would not directly change student eligibility rules or campus counseling laws, but it would impose a statewide mandate on the Board of Regents to secure and oversee a virtual mental health vendor for smaller UW institutions and to collect and report utilization data. The affected parties would include the Board of Regents, participating UW campuses, students at institutions under the enrollment threshold, and any contracted mental health service provider.
Sentiment
The available record shows no committee transcript, vote tally, or recorded debate, so there is no documented public sentiment from discussion in the materials provided. Based on the bill text alone, the proposal appears oriented toward expanding student access to mental health support and improving service availability outside normal business hours, suggesting a generally supportive policy goal. However, the bill ultimately failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1, indicating it did not advance to enactment.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided transcripts or votes. Potential areas of debate implied by the bill include whether the state should mandate a centralized vendor contract for certain UW campuses, whether the enrollment cutoff appropriately targets institutions with the greatest need, and whether the reporting and vendor-selection requirements are sufficiently flexible for campus-level needs. Another possible issue is the balance between supplementing existing campus services and relying on an external virtual provider rather than expanding on-site counseling capacity.
Crossfiled
An Act to create 36.25 (13h) of the statutes; Relating to: provision of virtual mental health services for students at certain UW System institutions. (FE)