Transportation panel sends suicide prevention bill to House Floor

Editor’s Note: The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline’s hotline can be reached by calling 988.  

A minute can be all it takes to stop a suicide.

That’s what Trish Merelo, co-chair of the Coalition for Suicide Prevention in Public Infrastructure, told the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee on Wednesday.

Merelo’s teenage son died by suicide when he jumped from the Natchez Trace Parkway bridge in Tennessee in 2016. Since then, she’s been an advocate for putting up physical barriers that could prevent those having suicidal thoughts from taking further action.

Are there some bridges in Minnesota that have had an inordinate number of such instances? And, if so, what measures could be taken to make it more difficult to jump?

Rep. Bjorn Olson (R-Fairmont) would like to find out, so he’s sponsoring HF3169, a bill that, as amended, was approved by the committee and is on its way to the House Floor.

The bill would require the Transportation and Health departments to collaborate on identifying Minnesota bridges with a history of suicide-related deaths, then develop a methodology for determining when and where suicide reduction measures should be incorporated into bridge projects. From there, suicide reduction railings would be implemented where appropriate.

With the amendment, an appropriation of $750,000 was removed from the bill, leaving it now a no-cost proposal that focuses more upon research than altering infrastructure.

States across the country are considering legislation that falls under the broad umbrella of “Kayla’s Hope,” named for Kayla Gaebel, a young woman who died by suicide on Minneapolis’ Washington Avenue Bridge. Her mother, MJ Weiss Blair, was among the testifiers in favor of the bill.

“This addresses a preventable public health crisis,” she said. “By requiring data collection, clear criteria and evidence-based safety measures, this bill ensures that Minnesotans respond to these tragedies with compassion, responsibility and foresight.”

“When someone is in a suicidal crisis, their best ally is time,” Merelo said. “Any few extra seconds or minutes or hours, just something to let that darkness lift just a little, can mean the difference between life and death.

“If you pass this, Minnesota will be at the forefront of a growing proactive approach by state agencies to treat bridge safety as a public health issue and not just a structural one.”