REPORT TITLE:
Learn-to-Swim


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates funds to develop a learn-to-swim program in the 4th
grade, to prevent drowning of nonswimmers.  Requires a swim test
of all public school students as part of the program, and allows
fees to be collected by the department of education.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                2783
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE,
2000                                                       
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT
RELATING TO SWIMMING AND OCEAN SAFETY FOR AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that nationally, the
 
 2 National Center for Health Statistics and the centers for Disease
 
 3 Control report that drowning is the third leading cause of
 
 4 unintentional injury death for persons from ages five through
 
 5 forty-four, with an national average of 2,480 drowning deaths
 
 6 annually.  Drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional
 
 7 injury death among people in Hawaii, second only to deaths from
 
 8 motor vehicle crashes.  Because Hawaii is an island state, it
 
 9 might be expected that its residents would be highly proficient
 
10 in swimming and water safety skills; the facts indicate
 
11 otherwise: at least fifty-seven persons drown every year, and
 
12 over 1,000 have to be rescued from our waters.  A study involving
 
13 more than six thousand youngsters, ages seven to fourteen,
 
14 conducted by the city and county of Honolulu, department of parks
 
15 and recreation, found that among this group, four thousand five
 
16 hundred or seventy per cent of the test group, were unable to
 
17 swim fifty yards.  In another study of children attending private
 
18 and public summer fun programs last year, the learn to swim
 
19 coalition reported that only about one-third (655 of 2,027)
 
20 children aged 6-10 years were proficient swimmers.  Nearly half
 

 
Page 2                                                     2783
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                            
                                                        

 
 1 (919) could not swim even twenty-five yards when tested in the
 
 2 pool.  The study also reported significant differences in
 
 3 children's swimming abilities across different parts of the
 
 4 island of Oahu.  In order for the children of Hawaii to safely
 
 5 enjoy and appreciate Hawaii's abundant water environment, it is
 
 6 essential that they know the fundamentals of water safety and
 
 7 swimming and that they be adequately schooled in those
 
 8 fundamentals as well as the basic skills needed in the event of
 
 9 near drowning.
 
10      The purpose of this Act is to accomplish these objectives by
 
11 providing funding to make basic swimming, drowning prevention,
 
12 and water safety instruction available to all fourth grade
 
13 students.
 
14      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
15 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $189,270 or so much
 
16 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001 and the sum
 
17 of $189,270 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal
 
18 year 2001-2002 for the development of a water safety and learn-
 
19 to-swim program for public school students in the fourth grade;
 
20 provided that:
 
21      (1)  The department may adopt a reasonable schedule of fees
 
22           in accordance with chapter 91; and
 
23      (2)  Students shall be tested for swimming and drown
 

 
Page 3                                                     2783
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                            
                                                        

 
 1           prevention skills as part of this program.
 
 2      SECTION 3.  The sums appropriated shall be expended by the
 
 3 department of education for the purposes of this Act.
 
 4      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.
 
 5 
 
 6                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________