The Vermont House gave preliminary approval Thursday to a bill that seeks to find out more about why people take their own lives.
The bill, H.184, requires the Agency of Human Services to collect information on suicides and submit a report to the Legislature each year analyzing why people took their lives.
The bill seeks to find trends in suicide deaths, identify risk factors for suicide, look at gaps in systemic responses to people at risk of suicide, and inform suicide prevention work, among other things.
A previous version of the bill would have required the Department of Mental Health, which works within the Agency of Human Services, to submit the report. The revised bill gives the responsibility to the agency.
H.184 is on track to pass the full House on Friday before moving over to the Senate. The bill is one of four that the House Health Care Committee prioritized this year.
