Report Title:

High School Drug Testing and Assistance Program; DOE; DOH

Description:

Requires the DOE to establish a high school drug testing and assistance program as a pilot project at not more than 2 public high schools in the State. Requires drug testing to be voluntary, random, and available to all students enrolled at a project site.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2095

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to substance abuse.

 

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

SECTION 1. The department of education, by rule, shall establish a high school drug testing and assistance program; provided that the drug testing and assistance program shall be deemed a two-year pilot project and involve not more than two public high schools in the State; and provided further that the program shall meet all of the following requirements:

(1) Drug testing shall be voluntary, random, and available to all students enrolled at a project site.

Drug testing may not be conducted without the written consent of the student's custodial parent or legal guardian, or both. If either the student's custodial parent or legal guardian subsequently withdraws the foregoing consent, then the student may not participate in the drug testing and assistance program.

The department of education shall consult with the department of health and the department of the attorney general to ensure that the drug testing and assistance program is based on procedures that are constitutional, valid, and reliable. The rules shall comply with the requirements of state and federal law, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, and the privacy and search and seizure requirements of the federal and state constitutions.

The rules shall be adopted in accordance with chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, but shall be exempt from its public notice and hearing requirements.

(2) The drug testing and assistance program shall utilize hair analysis through radioimmunoassay as its testing method.

The drug testing and assistance program shall include tests for the use of cocaine, opiates, marijuana, amphetamines including 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and phencyclidine (PCP) and its analogs.

(3) Initial drug testing of all students with written consent shall be done within the first twenty school days of each school year.

(4) Each high school shall conduct follow-up random, suspicionless drug testing of not less than twenty-five per cent of the original student-tested pool prior to the end of each school year.

(5) Each high school shall administer a ninety-day follow-up drug test to any student who tests positive for drug use.

(6) Each high school shall ensure complete confidentiality and protection of its drug testing results, unless the results are released by order of a court or some other legal authority.

(7) Each high school shall immediately meet with a student who tests positive for drug use and the student's custodial parent or legal guardian, or both, to discuss the positive test results and refer the family for a professional assessment of the student's drug use. The assessment shall result in intervention or treatment recommendations and referrals to obtain services as necessary.

The department of education may provide counseling services to a student who tests positive for drug use and the student's custodial parent or legal guardian, or both, at a project site. The department of education shall consult with the department of health to ensure that a student who tests positive for drug use receives intervention or treatment services as necessary.

(8) No student shall be suspended or expelled from school solely on the basis of a positive drug test result.

(9) Drug use surveys shall be administered to students, custodial parents and legal guardians, and school staff. The department of health shall coordinate the administration of these surveys with each high school.

(10) Each project site shall maintain the data required by the department of education and provide the data as part of an overall program evaluation process.

(11) The department of education shall:

(A) Submit a formative evaluation, including recommendations for improving the drug testing and assistance program, to the legislature not less than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2005; and

(B) Submit a summative evaluation, including recommendations for continuing or terminating the drug testing and assistance program, to the legislature not less than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2006.

SECTION 2. Section 329B-2.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§329B-2.5[]] Exemptions. This chapter does not apply to:

(1) Toxicology tests used in the direct clinical management of patients;

(2) Tests for alcohol under chapter 286 or chapter 291;

(3) Tests made pursuant to subpart C of the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs (53 Federal Register 11986); [and]

(4) Substance abuse testing of individuals under the supervision or custody of the judiciary, the department of public safety, the Hawaii paroling authority, and the office of youth services. However, these state governmental entities shall establish chain of custody procedures [which] that require that all specimens be sealed and coded in the presence of the individual being tested and that the individual [shall] sign an approved form acknowledging that the specimen has been sealed and coded in the individual's presence. The procedure shall include a tracking form documenting the handling and storage of the specimen from collection to final disposition of the specimen. The individual also shall be afforded the option of a confirmatory test by a licensed, certified laboratory. The cost of the confirmatory test shall be paid for by the State; provided that in those instances where a positive test result is confirmed, the individual shall be charged with the cost of the confirmation test. Test results shall not require review by a medical review officer. Positive test results of substance abuse testing and the availability of a confirmatory test shall be provided to the individual in writing. A positive test result from a substance abuse test that fails to meet the requirements of this section shall not be reported or recorded[.]; and

(5) The high school drug testing and assistance program established under Act     , Session Laws of Hawaii 2004."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $        , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005, to carry out the purposes of this Act. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2004, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2006; provided that section 329B-2.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is reenacted in the form in which it read on June 30, 2004.

INTRODUCED BY:

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