STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2335

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3093

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 3093 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OFFICIAL SCHOOL BUSINESS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide increased protection for educational workers by establishing a misdemeanor offense for harassment of an educational worker.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawai‘i Association of School Psychologists.

Your Committee finds that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and increased political polarization have created a more difficult and fraught environment for educational workers to perform their jobs. Your Committee additionally finds that existing law does not adequately protect educational workers from harassment that jeopardizes their safety and interferes with school functions, such as aggressive or harassing behavior from parents and members of the public.

Accordingly, your Committee finds that this measure provides additional protection for educational workers by establishing a misdemeanor offense for certain actions that disrupt or interfere with the administration or functions of any school, school administration office, or school board. Your Committee further finds that this measure will deter the harassment of educational workers and facilitate the orderly administration of school operations.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Providing a definition for "person" to clarify that the misdemeanor offense established by this measure shall not apply to certain students within the age of minority; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3093, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3093, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair