Hawaii-2020-HB1986-Amended

SECTION 1. (a) There is established within the department of education for administrative purposes a trauma-informed approach task force. The task force shall consist of the following members or their designees:

(1) The superintendent of education, who shall serve as the chairperson of the task force;

(2) The director of human services;

(3) The chairperson of the board of trustees of the office of Hawaiian affairs;

(4) The director of the executive office on early learning;

(5) The chairperson of the Hawaiian homes commission;

(6) The director of business, economic development, and tourism;

(7) The governor;

(8) The president of the senate;

(9) The speaker of the house of representatives;

(10) The chief justice; and

(11) The president of the Hawaii state teachers association, who shall be invited to be a member of the task force by the director of human services.

(b) The task force shall develop a trauma-informed approach plan for the department of education. The plan shall include:

(1) The requirement for the designation of at least one individual at each school to:

(A) Oversee the implementation of the trauma-informed approach plan at that school, integrating the coordination of services and professional development into the school's policies; and

(B) Serve as a member of a school's student assistance program team;

(2) A process for the coordination of services among:

(A) Students and students' families;

(B) The school; and

(C) County-based services, community care organizations, public health entities, nonprofit youth service providers, community-based organizations, organizations that provide before- or after-school care, and similar groups located in the community;

(3) An indication of how coordinated services are provided based on a trauma-informed approach with an understanding, recognition, and responsiveness to the effects of trauma on education, absenteeism, and school completion, including the secondary impact of trauma on school employees;

(4) Utilization of research-based, research-informed, and culturally specific approaches and national models that are tailored to the community to ensure that data are collected, and the effectiveness of the trauma-informed approaches are determined; and

(5) Professional development and support for principals, vice-principals, and teachers that foster a culture in the school and community that is informed about how to understand, recognize, and respond to trauma and address the impact of trauma on students as a secondary impact on school employees.

(c) No member shall be made subject to chapter 84, Hawaii Revised Statutes, solely because of that member's participation as a member of the task force.

(d) The department of education shall provide administrative support to the task force.

(e) The task force may participate in and collaborate with any other task force for purposes of this Act.

(f) The task force shall submit its plan and any findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2021.

(g) The task force shall cease to exist on July 1, 2021.

(h) For purposes of this Act:

"Trauma" means results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that are experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual's cognitive functioning and physical, social, emotional, mental, or spiritual well-being.

"Trauma-informed approach" means a schoolwide approach to education and a classroom-based approach to student learning that recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in students, families, and staff and responds by fully integrating knowledge of trauma into policies, professional learning, procedures, and practices for the purposes of recognizing the presence and onset of trauma, resisting the reoccurrence of trauma and promoting resiliency tailored to a school entity's culture, climate, demographics, and the community as a whole.

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 2020-2021 for expenses of the trauma-informed approach task force established pursuant to section 1 of this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on December 31, 2059.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1986
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII