STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1284-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   S.B. No. 2080

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Education and Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2080, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHER LICENSURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to ensure the safety of our students in the public schools by requiring the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) to revoke a teacher's license when the teacher has been convicted of certain sexual offenses against a minor.

     The Department of Education (DOE), HTSB, and Hawaii State Teachers Association testified in support of this bill.  A concerned individual offered comments.

     Your Committees have amended this bill by:

     (1)  Requiring DOE to notify HTSB of teachers who have been convicted of a sexual offense against a minor, and requiring that any independent school agency or charter school agency in the state do the same; and

     (2)  Specifying that HTSB must notify the clerk of the court of each individual identified as a teacher who is being tried by the court for a sexual offense.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Labor & Public Employment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2080, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2080, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Labor & Public Employment,

____________________________ ALEX M. SONSON, Chair

____________________________ ROY TAKUMI, Chair