REPORT TITLE:
Family Leave


DESCRIPTION:
Requires employers to grant employees leave to attend conferences
for individualized education programs.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            268         
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that healthy parent-child
 
 2 relationships are critical to the education, social adjustment,
 
 3 and well-being of children and adolescents.  Healthy
 
 4 relationships between parents, children, and educational
 
 5 institutions are necessary for the optimal amount of learning to
 
 6 occur.  These relationships have suffered as more and more
 
 7 parents must work, often at more than one job, to make ends meet
 
 8 the ever rising cost of living in Hawaii.  The entire fabric of
 
 9 society has been torn as more and more violent acts and property
 
10 crimes are being committed by minors of increasingly younger age.
 
11 These acts are often the result of failure in the child-parent-
 
12 school relationship.  The legislature believes that the penal
 
13 responses to minor offenders are extremely expensive and often
 
14 come too late to be effective.  Intervention is needed much
 
15 earlier in life to effect any real change in attitudes or
 
16 behavior.
 
17      The legislature finds that parents, with sufficient time and
 
18 support, are best fitted to nurture, socialize, and educate their
 
19 children.  Education for children is best achieved with a close
 

 
Page 2                                         268         
                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 and harmonious working relationship with the educational
 
 2 institution.  The legislature further finds that it is in the
 
 3 interest of the public health, safety, and welfare to adopt
 
 4 employment policies that encourage parental involvement in
 
 5 decisions made regarding the education of children, particularly
 
 6 those children with learning disabilities covered by the Felix v.
 
 7 Cayetano consent decree.  Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is
 
 8 to enable the State to comply with the requirements of the Felix
 
 9 v. Cayetano consent decree and to grant employees who are parents
 
10 and caregivers the time to nurture the parent-child-school
 
11 relationship.  This relationship is particularly crucial in the
 
12 early identification and intervention process of the learning
 
13 disabled child.
 
14      Under the Felix v. Cayetano consent decree, the
 
15 approximately eight hundred children covered must receive
 
16 appropriate education or the State will be found in contempt and
 
17 be liable for fines of from $10,000 to $100,000 per day until
 
18 compliance is achieved.  Present laws now allow a period of sixty
 
19 days from the initial request to completion of the individualized
 
20 education program.  Within this time period four meetings are
 
21 required.  Five parties must be in attendance and agreement.
 
22 These parties are the parent or caregiver, the child, the
 
23 teacher, the administrator, and the diagnostician.  The child,
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 the teacher, the administrator, and the diagnostician all have
 
 2 congruent schedules which facilitate the required meetings.  The
 
 3 parent or caregiver who is employed does not.  Previous
 
 4 legislation which attempted to resolve this difficulty by
 
 5 providing for substitutes or the use of flexible scheduling has
 
 6 proved impossible to implement.  Due to grave financial
 
 7 implications of the failure to comply with a court ordered
 
 8 mandate, and the improbability of further extensions being
 
 9 granted, action must be taken by this legislature.
 
10      SECTION 2.  Chapter 398, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
11 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
12 read as follows:
 
13      "�398-    Individualized educational program conferences;
 
14 leave.  Notwithstanding section 398-2, an employee who is the
 
15 parent or caregiver of a learning disabled child shall be
 
16 entitled leave from the employer to attend conferences as may be
 
17 required to establish an individualized educational program for
 
18 the child.  The conference shall consist of but not be limited to
 
19 the initial request meeting, the student report team meeting, the
 
20 eligibility conference, and the individual educational program.
 
21 Meetings shall be scheduled for non-work hours of the employee to
 
22 the maximum extent possible."
 
23      SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 2 
 
 3                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________