Pupil and student safety: identification cards.

Assembly Member Mark González, with principal coauthors Solache and Cervantes and additional colleagues, presents a measure that expands crisis-support information printed on pupil and student identification cards to include LGBTQ+-specific resources, situating this as part of a broader safety and mental-health framework in schools and colleges. The proposal builds on existing requirements that place crisis lines on IDs for youth and higher education students and introduces a phased addition of The Trevor Project’s LGBTQ+-focused hotline information, aligned with concerns raised about harassment and well-being among LGBTQ+ students.

The measure requires public and private schools serving grades 7–12 to continue printing the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number on both sides of pupil IDs, with an optional QR code linking to county mental-health resources starting in 2025. It also adds a mandatory requirement beginning July 1, 2026 that pupil IDs include The Trevor Project’s LGBTQ+-specific hotline information, available by telephone and text. For higher education institutions, the existing practice of listing crisis resources on IDs would remain in place and would be supplemented from July 1, 2026 with The Trevor Project’s hotline information, again accessible by phone and by text. The bill retains the preexisting National Domestic Violence Hotline requirement for 7–12 and higher education IDs, with its historical start date in 2020.

Transitional provisions allow continued use of unissued ID cards that do not meet the new LGBTQ+-related requirements, so schools and campuses can exhaust existing stock before full compliance, while the measure’s operative framework takes effect on July 1, 2025. There is no new appropriation attached to the measure; costs associated with printing, updating, and maintaining IDs would fall to districts and higher education institutions under their existing budgeting and procurement processes. Enforcement mechanisms or penalties are not specified in the measure, leaving compliance to general administrative oversight and existing ID-program governance.

In supporting findings, the authors reference research on LGBTQ+ student experiences and outcomes, including elevated rates of harassment and mental-health challenges. The findings note studies suggesting that LGBTQ+ students facing a hostile environment may experience negative academic and well-being impacts, while other research indicates that access to affirming resources correlates with improved graduation outcomes. The measure thus ties its technical changes to a broader policy aim of making crisis-support information more visible to students and to LGBTQ+-identified pupils, within the context of ongoing efforts to address harassment and mental health in educational settings.