HB945

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that, according to a June 2002 Gallup poll, the percentage of Americans who expressed high confidence in organized religion plummeted from sixty per cent to forty-five per cent. This finding came as America's confidence in other institutions, most notably big business and the criminal justice system, was also found to be shaky. In these times of uncertainty and insecurity, businesses, the military, colleges, and even public schools are increasingly turning to chaplains to play a role in building up the faith of employees, students, soldiers and employees, faith both in the religious sense and faith in the institutions themselves.

The legislature also finds that usually, particularly in a public school setting, chaplains appear only when there is a serious need, such as after a campus shooting or major tragedy like the attacks of September 11, 2001. The increasing use of chaplains in a variety of public institutions and businesses underlines a trend toward seeking spiritual comfort outside religious institutions.

The purpose of this Act is to permit students in public high schools to meet during school hours and on school grounds for non-academic counseling with a chaplain in the religious faith of the student's choice.

SECTION 2. Section 302A-1139, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-1139[]] Religious education[.]; chaplaincy program. (a) The department shall provide for the release of, and shall release, any pupil in any public school from attendance at the public school for a period not to exceed sixty minutes each week during the school year, on such days and during such school hours as the department shall designate, for the purpose of receiving religious instruction from the religious organization of the pupil's choice when the release is requested in writing by a parent, guardian, or other person having custody or control of the pupil. Actual attendance at the sessions of the religious instruction shall count as attendance at the public schools for all purposes where attendance forms the basis of computation.

(b) The privilege of this release shall be withdrawn by the department in case the pupil does not actually attend the sessions of religious instruction. No teacher of the public schools shall participate in religious instruction during the school hours for which the teacher is employed to teach in the public schools, and no public funds shall be used directly or indirectly for religious instruction, at any time when its use would otherwise be required in connection with the regular program of the school.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), the department shall permit students in public schools, with written consent of the student's parent or legal guardian, to meet during school hours and on school grounds for non-academic counseling with a chaplain in the religious faith of the student's choice; provided that counseling shall not be provided during the student's scheduled hours of instruction. The department shall keep a list of chaplains available and willing to meet with students and make that list available to students and their families so that they may select an appropriate chaplain for counseling. For purposes of this subsection, "chaplain" means a minister, priest, rabbi, or other similar functionary of a religious organization with an undergraduate degree, obtained with not less than one hundred twenty semester hours from an accredited college or university, a master of divinity degree, or equivalent, from an accredited seminary, or equivalent, obtained with not less than seventy-two graduate semester hours in theology, and a principal vocation in full-time ministry, or equivalent."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	945
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII