Utah’s School Asthma Inhaler Law

Senate Bill 32 was passed in the 2004 Utah Legislative Session and became effective May 3, 2004. Passage of law allowed children to carry and self-administer inhaled asthma medication at school with appropriate authorization from both parent and health care provider.

The intended outcome was to provide a consistent policy in all school districts in Utah to allow children to carry and self-administer inhaled asthma medication with appropriate authorization from both parents and health care providers.

Policy Initiation

Two key policymakers contacted both the American Lung Association of Utah and the Utah Department of Health to offer assistance with efforts to allow children to carry and self-administer inhaled asthma medication while at school. Senator Patrice Arent learned about the issue through communications from the National Conference of State Legislators. Representative Pat Jones had conducted focus groups with parents of children with asthma and became concerned about the lack of consistent asthma medication policies in school districts throughout Utah.

Public Health Agency Roles

The Utah Asthma Program at the Utah Department of Health completed background research on laws in other states and policies in all school districts in Utah. The Asthma Program also assisted with providing names and contact information of partners that needed to be involved in the policy discussions. They provided staff support to the committee that was formed, providing meeting minutes and coordinating logistics for the meetings. Once the law went into effect the Utah Asthma Program conducted an education campaign to alert health care providers, schools, school nurses, and parents about the law.

Major Partners

In addition to the above mentioned partners, Senator Arent, Representative Jones, American Lung Association of Utah, Utah School Nurses Association, Utah Medical Association, State PTA Health Commissioner, Utah Children, Utah State Office of Education, Primary Children’s Medical Center, and Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce were major partners that supported this effort.

Official Support

Public officials who supported this effort included Governor Olene Walker, Senator Arent, Representative Jones, Senator Karen Hale, Senator Paula F. Julander, Senator David L. Thomas, Senator Beverly Ann Evans, and Senator John L. Valentine.

Results from the Policy

We are tracking the number of authorization forms that are downloaded from the Utah Asthma Program website, although there are numerous other ways to obtain the proper forms. We held numerous discussions with CDC about ways to track outcomes and have been unsuccessful in development of a long term evaluation plan.

Opposition

During the time the bill was under consideration, we experienced no opposition. We were concerned about opposition from the school nurses so we involved them right from the very beginning in the development of the legislation. After the legislation was enacted, the school nurses became very concerned about implementation. We worked with them very closely, made several presentations to their board and general membership, and were available to help them decide how to work with the requirements of the legislation.

Lessons Learned

Collaboration and ongoing communications are critical to successful policy change. During the course of the development of the bill, several meetings were held with the state school board to discuss administrative changes that could be made with the same outcome. As a result of these meetings, it was determined that the most appropriate way to make the policy change was through legislation. In addition, monthly and sometimes bi-weekly meetings were held with the partnership committee to discuss progress, review and comment on draft legislation, and plan next steps.

Submitted By

Rebecca Giles

Asthma Program Manager

Utah Department of Health

PO Box 142106

Salt Lake City, UT 84114-2106

801-538-6259

801-538-6629 FAX

rgiles@utah.gov