STAND. COM. REP. NO. 846

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 836

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 836 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to protect students attending the State's public schools from sex trafficking.

     More specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Allows the Department of Education to offer voluntary training for teachers and educational officers on sex trafficking prevention and response; and

     (2)  Requires the Department of Education to provide to teachers and educational officers, at the beginning of each school year, explanatory information about protocols the Department has approved for handling victims of sex trafficking.

     Your Committees received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, IMUAlliance and UNITE.

     Your Committees find that outside of the family, schools may be the main social institution in which children have constant contact with adults and their peers.  Therefore, it is an optimal place to identify children in danger of sexual maltreatment.  It is important that teachers and educational officers be informed about how to prevent sexual trauma and handle related incidents on campus.  Your Committees believe this measure will provide teachers and educational officers with access to the resources and training they need to help ensure that the State's students are protected from sex trafficking.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 836 and recommend that it pass Third Reading.

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

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair