Olsen falls short on mental health initiative
Last Friday, as reported by The Statesman, key Utah State University Student Association members visited the Utah State Capitol for Higher Education Day. One of those members was USUSA president Trevor Olsen, who also serves as the president of the Utah Student Association, which is comprised of the student body presidents of universities throughout the state.
While at the Capitol, USUSA and USA lobbied for a resolution that draws attention to the mental health challenges faced by higher education students in Utah. With university students facing mental health disorders at alarming rates, it is necessary, appropriate and laudable of USUSA and USA to ramp up efforts to combat a problem that plagues campuses around the state and country. Their collaborative efforts and ideas eventually produced the Mental Health Resolution, for which they were building support among legislators on Higher Education Day.
The resolution, however, is underwhelming. Calling it a “resolution” is almost a misnomer, because it isn’t even an official resolution — that is, it was not formally sponsored and submitted to the bill file by a legislator in either the House or Senate. Olsen and the USA missed the deadline to submit the bill, so no committee or chamber will ever discuss it in an official capacity, it will not be voted on and it cannot be codified.
In an interview, Olsen admitted that he wasn’t aware of the bill file deadline until the day after it passed. Even if the deadline wasn’t missed, Olsen said they still would have pursued a resolution instead of a bill. A resolution would do little to aid struggling students, since resolutions serve as barely more than an official endorsement of an idea.
Olsen said they opted for a resolution instead of a bill because he and the USA were “unprepared” to ask for appropriated funds, and were still trying to come up with a specific amount to request. He hopes that an actual bill can be passed next session.
In order for a bill to be passed next session, it will have to be sponsored by a member of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Unfortunately, Olsen quashed a willing sponsor of the future bill, Representative Steve Eliason (R-Sandy), by failing to publicly support Eliason’s current bill, H.B. 265, that would have created tax credits to incentivize more psychiatrists to practice in Utah.
Olsen said he wasn’t willing to endorse the bill as the head of the USA without consulting the body of the organization. He was only given an hour to make his decision about a bill he “had no information about,” he said. It should be noted that he had access to the sponsor of the bill, and that both chambers of the legislature regularly pass legislation with just a few minutes of consideration.
When Eliason agreed to sponsor the mental health bill next year, but only in exchange for a public endorsement of his own, Olsen said he felt “politicked.” Did he forget that he was lobbying for legislation at the political Capitol of the state? He very well may have jeopardized the success of the bill next year by alienating a potential sponsor. Sponsoring a bill is not a decision legislators take lightly, because they rarely do more than a handful per session.
Olsen has certainly made progress in advancing the mental health crusade, and deserves commendation for his efforts. However, he should have recognized and taken advantage of his opportunity to secure a sponsor. Really, he should have worked to ensure that a bill was submitted this session to help combat the mental health crisis as soon as possible.
— braydensobrien@gmail.com