Bill Text: HI SCR74 | 2019 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Encouraging The Department Of Education And Other Agency And Community Stakeholders To Continue Meeting As A Working Group For Sexual Violence Prevention Education In Public Schools.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-04-15 - Report adopted. referred to the committee(s) on JUD as amended in HD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Eli, Gates, Holt, Nakamura excused (4). [SCR74 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2019-SCR74-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
74 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
ENCOURAGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND OTHER AGENCY AND COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS TO CONTINUE MEETING AS A WORKING GROUP FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE PREVENTION EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
WHEREAS, sexual violence remains a serious and ongoing threat to the safety and health of children and young people in the State; and
WHEREAS, more than half of sexual violence survivors who receive services at Hawaii's sexual assault centers reported that they experienced their abuse before the age of eighteen years; and
WHEREAS, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey for 2013, 2015, and 2017 indicated that children and young people in Hawaii experience sexual violence at rates equivalent to or higher than their mainland counterparts, and in some Hawaii counties these rates are substantially higher than elsewhere in the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women and Arizona State University Office on Sex Trafficking Intervention's 2019 report, "Sex Trafficking in Hawaii: The Stories of Survivors", recommended that Hawaii adopt public school sexual violence prevention education as a preventative measure to protect students from being trafficked; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education and Board of Education are committed to the tenets of Title IX and have significantly invested efforts in developing more robust systems to investigate and respond to allegations of sexual assault, bullying, harassment, and other forms of sexual violence in public schools; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Education's Hawaii Content and Performance Standards III includes a content area entitled "Promoting Safety and Preventing Violence and Unintentional Injury" that addresses violence prevention as a priority risk topic; and
WHEREAS, implementation of a program for sexual violence prevention education in public schools is important to protect children and young people in the State and position the Department of Education's Title IX and anti-bullying efforts up for success; and
WHEREAS, prevention-oriented child sexual abuse programs for public school students, school personnel, and parents and guardians, known as "Erin's Law" after an Illinois survivor of child sexual abuse, have been implemented at the state- and district-level in thirty-five other states and the Territory of Guam and are under consideration by the remaining fifteen states; and
WHEREAS, in October 2018, the Department of Education established a working group to collaborate with other stakeholders to review Hawaii public schools' current prevention-oriented child sexual abuse programs and resources and initiate recommendations to enhance integrated, comprehensive and sustained support to ensure the well-being of our youth; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education and other agency and community stakeholders, including representatives from the LGBTQ community, are encouraged to continue meeting as a working group for sexual violence prevention education in public schools; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group is requested to submit a report on updates of its progress and any policy and resource recommendations to the Legislature and Board of Education at least twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Sessions of 2020 and 2021; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chair of the Board of Education and Superintendent of Education.
Sexual Violence Prevention Education; Public Schools; Working Group; Department of Education
