SB 24-057

Senate Bill 24-057 aims to help farmers and agricultural workers in Colorado by creating a program focused on mental health support, suicide prevention, and crisis management. The bill establishes a public awareness campaign, a free and confidential hotline for emotional support, and plans to assist workers during natural disasters. It also involves collaboration with state agencies to ensure effective services and collects data to improve the program over time. Since it has been signed into law, this initiative is now in place to directly benefit agricultural workers facing mental health challenges.

Official Summary

The bill creates the agricultural workforce mental health and suicide prevention program (program) in the department of agriculture (department). The purpose of the program is to address the challenges facing agricultural workers and to provide agricultural workers mental health support, suicide prevention services, and crisis management services. As part of the program, the department shall: Create a public awareness campaign to promote suicide prevention among agricultural workers; Contract with a nationally recognized nonprofit organization to offer a free and confidential crisis support hotline for agricultural workers; Develop a mental wellness plan for agricultural workers who are affected by a natural disaster and its financial and industry-related repercussions; Coordinate suicide prevention and crisis management services with state agencies, including the department of human services and the behavioral health administration; Collaborate with the behavioral health administration to ensure callers to the 988 crisis hotline and callers to the crisis support hotline are served; and Collect data on the program and recommend legislative changes as necessary. The bill requires the department to submit a report summarizing the data collected on the program and recommendations on or before September 1, 2025, and September 1 every other year thereafter, to the house of representatives agriculture, water, and natural resources committee and the senate agriculture and natural resources committee, or their successor committees. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)