STAND. COM. REP. NO. 448

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.B. No. 477

        S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 477 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Allow the Department of Education to provide sex trafficking prevention training to certain staff; and

 

     (2)  Require the Department of Education to make available to certain staff explanatory information about protocols that the Department has approved for providing services to victims of sex trafficking.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, Hawaii Youth Services Network, UNITE, The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, IMUAlliance, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that schools are one of the main social institutions outside of the family in which children have constant contact with adults and their peers.  Your Committee further finds that regular, prolonged interaction with students in the classroom provides teachers with an excellent opportunity to identify the warning signs that a student might be at risk of sex trafficking or exploitation or experiencing sexual abuse.  This measure will equip teachers and educational officers with resources to help prevent sex trafficking, identify signs of sexual abuse, and respond to the risk that sex trafficking and sexual abuse poses to Hawaii's students.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by expanding the scope of the prevention training offered by the Department of Education for teachers, educational officers, and school-based behavioral health specialists to include sexual abuse prevention and response.

 

     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. 477, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 477, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair