SB 151 Alaska Senate · 34th Legislature (2025-2026)

An Act relating to head lice in public schools.

SB 151 requires Alaska public schools serving grades K-8 to adopt policies allowing students with live head lice to stay in class until the end of the school day but return only after a school nurse confirms no lice. Schools must provide parents with treatment information when lice is detected. The state would reimburse districts 20% of costs for school nurses if they screen at least 95% of students annually (while protecting privacy), submit required reports, and meet other specified conditions. This bill directly affects K-8 students, families, and school districts in Alaska.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 28, 2025 Last action May 12, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB 151 → CSSB 151(EDC) · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill was amended to expand its scope from addressing only head lice to also include bacterial conjunctivitis in public schools. The original version included funding provisions for school districts to employ nurses for head lice screening, which were removed in this version. The revised bill now requires schools to notify parents about bacterial conjunctivitis cases while maintaining privacy protections.

Scope change

The bill now covers both head lice and bacterial conjunctivitis instead of just head lice, significantly broadening its applicability to additional health conditions in schools.

SCOPE

Expanded the bill's subject matter from head lice only to include both head lice and bacterial conjunctivitis policies in public schools.

FISCAL

Deleted the provision that allowed the state to reimburse school districts 20 percent of costs for employing nurses to check for head lice.

REQUIREMENT

Added new requirements for schools to notify parents about bacterial conjunctivitis cases while protecting student privacy.

Changed the head lice policy language to separate requirements for head lice and bacterial conjunctivitis into distinct subsections.

TIMELINE

Added a provision stating that Section 2 of the bill takes effect 180 days after the effective date of Section 1.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 12, 2025

Committee

(S) REFERRED TO FINANCE

upper

May 9, 2025

Upper · Passed

(S) Moved CSSB 151(EDC) Out of Committee -- Rescheduled from 5/7/25 --

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor