STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2596

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2232

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2232, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Create and appropriate funds for the Erin's Law task force to guide the establishment of a program to educate public school students on sexual abuse prevention through the use of age appropriate curricula; and

     (2)  Provide relevant training to school teachers and staff, and inform parents about important child sexual abuse topics.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Executive Office on Early Learning, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaii Women's Coalition, American Association of University Women of Hawaii, Hawaii Youth Services Network, Parents and Children Together, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii, The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, and Hawaii Children's Action Network.

     Your Committees find sexual abuse is a serious and ongoing threat to the safety, health, and wellbeing of children and young people in the State of Hawaii.  Sexual abuse is often a difficult subject to discuss, and many school teachers and staff do not receive sufficient training on talking to students about child sexual abuse prevention or how to handle disclosures of sexual abuse.  As a result, there is no age appropriate curriculum to educate students on how to prevent sexual abuse or the importance of reporting it.  This measure provides an additional tool in preventing child sexual abuse.

     Your Committees note that the Department of Education estimates that $50,000 is necessary to operate the Erin's law task force.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Adding the Director of the Executive Office on Early Learning, or the director's designee, as a member of the Erin's law task force;

     (2)  Clarifying references to legislative committees as committees with primary jurisdiction over a specified subject matter, to which the Erin's law task force is required to submit its report and to whom the Department of Education must provide notice in the event that it is unable to implement the recommendations of the task force;

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2232, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2232, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair