Dent's Ag Bills Pt 1
I’m Bob Larson. Here in Washington state, 13th District Representative Tom Dent is working on a couple of bills directly related to agriculture. The first is House Bill 1434 which focuses on mental health issues and suicides in the agricultural community.
Dent says it began in 2018 when Representative JT Wilcox worked on legislation to form a task force to review suicidal and mental health issues within the ag community …
DENT … “Something I didn’t know back then was that agriculture has the highest rate of suicide of any sector in the United States, which is very concerning to me.”
And now, Dent says it’s time for action …
DENT … “They did this task force up in Skagit County. They’ve completed their work and written their report and they’ve shown the many areas where we can improve our mental health within the agricultural community and also support the folks that may be suffering.”
Dent says ag isn’t just a job, it’s a lifestyle …
DENT … “Agriculture is unique profession in our world and I think this is very necessary and needed legislation. And, basically, it creates a mental health hot line for agricultural folks within our agricultural areas within the state.”
This new bill, Dent says makes it workable …
DENT … “There’s some unique pieces to this. Number one will be agricultural people that man the hot lines because they understand what this industry is all about.
Number two, it will be totally anonymous. There will be no numbers traced, nothing, totally anonymous. They want to reach out and help people if they’re having issues and struggling in their day to day lives.”
Listen tomorrow for more on Dent’s agriculture bills.
