Senate Bill 1063—Ensuring Easy Access to Mental Health Supports for Students

California’s SB 1063 mandates that, effective July 1, 2025, all public and private middle and high schools print the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline directly on student ID cards—with optional inclusion of a QR code linking to local mental health resources.  This seemingly modest design change signifies a powerful shift: integrating mental health resources into routine school artifacts increases visibility and normalizes help‑seeking. Embedding a scannable QR code is especially savvy—adapting policy to digital native students and opening a gateway to immediate, geolocated support with the tap of a smartphone.

Beyond the printed 988 number, SB 1063 expressly authorizes schools to include a QR code linking to county-level mental health resources. This digital bridge empowers students to tap into localized help with minimal friction—no searching, no guesswork.

 It elevates mental health literacy by pairing text-based crisis lines with rich, immediate online support. In an era when youth primarily consume information via smartphones, leveraging QR technology is both contemporary and practical, aligning policy tools with evolving communication habits.

SB 1063 isn’t just a one-off—it’s a replicable model for enhancing student well-being through low-cost, high-frequency interventions. The “use‑until‑depleted” rule ensures existing ID stock is phased out over time, minimizing costs and waste . Moreover, integrating both national (988) and localized (county-specific resources via QR) avenues of support ensures layered protections. 

Other states can readily adapt this framework—tailoring the crisis number, local web links, and even expanding to include targeted LGBTQ+ lifelines. It positions mental health resources as fundamental infrastructure within educational systems.

Senate Bill 1063, commencing July 1, 2025, would require a public or private school that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and that issues pupil identification cards to have printed on the identification cards the number for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The bill would require schools subject to this requirement that, as of July 1, 2025, have a supply of unissued identification cards that are noncompliant with this requirement to issue the noncompliant identification cards until that supply is depleted. The bill, commencing July 1, 2025, also would expressly authorize those schools to additionally have printed on either side of the identification card a quick response (QR) code that links to the mental health resources internet website of the county in which the school is located.