Report Title:

Water Safety Certification

Description:

Appropriates funds to develop a water safety certification program in public elementary schools to teach swimming and prevent drowning of nonswimmers. Requires students to complete and pass a water certification test by grade five. Allows fees to be collected by the department of education.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

3040

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO WATER SAFETY CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that nationally, the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control report that drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death for persons from ages five through forty-four, with an national average of 2,480 drowning deaths annually. Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death among people in Hawaii, second only to deaths from motor vehicle crashes. Because Hawaii is an island state, it might be expected that its residents would be highly proficient in swimming and water safety skills; the facts indicate otherwise: at least fifty-seven persons drown every year, and over one thousand have to be rescued from our waters.

A study involving more than six thousand youngsters, ages seven to fourteen, conducted by the city and county of Honolulu, department of parks and recreation, found that among this group, four thousand five hundred, or seventy per cent of the test group, were unable to swim fifty yards. In another study of children attending private and public summer fun programs last year, the learn to swim coalition reported that only about one-third (655 of 2,027) children aged six to ten years were proficient swimmers. Nearly half, nine hundred nineteen, could not swim even twenty-five yards when tested in the pool. The study also reported significant differences in children's swimming abilities across different parts of the island of Oahu. In order for the children of Hawaii to safely enjoy and appreciate Hawaii's abundant water environment, it is essential that they know the fundamentals of water safety and swimming and that they be adequately schooled in those fundamentals as well as the basic skills needed in the event of near drowning.

The purpose of this Act is to accomplish these objectives by providing funding to make required basic swimming, drowning prevention, and water safety instruction available to all public elementary grade students from grade two through grade five.

SECTION 2. 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, for the development of a water safety certification program for public elementary school students; provided that:

(1) The department of education may adopt a reasonable schedule of fees for participation in the water safety certification program and for related transportation, if necessary, in accordance with chapter 91; provided that the department shall authorize schools to provide scholarships for students who establish a financial inability to pay the fees required to participate in the program;

(2) Students may participate in the water safety certification program as early as grade two, but shall be required to complete and pass a water certification test by grade five for swimming and drown prevention skills as part of the program;

(3) Existing or future after school programs in public elementary schools shall be authorized to assist in the implementation of the water safety certification program;

(4) Instructors in the program shall be certified as swim instructors or water safety officers; and

(5) The department, pursuant to chapter 91, may adopt rules to establish, implement and maintain a required water safety certification program in all public elementary schools.

SECTION 3. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act, including the hiring of certified instructors for the water safety certification program.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2004.

INTRODUCED BY:

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