STAND. COM. REP. NO. 974

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 457

       H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Higher Education and the Arts and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 457, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate monies for positions and materials to comply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.  

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii System; University of Hawaii President's Commission on the Status of Women; Filipino American Citizens League; Filipino Coalition for Solidarity; Nursing Advocates & Mentors, Inc.; and five individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that sexual violence is prevalent on campuses and is often directed toward young women under the age of twenty-four.  The federal government has recognized the need for institutions of higher education to have systems in place to investigate and report instances of sexual violence. 

 

     Accordingly, the federal government introduced two measures intended to address this systemic issue on campuses nation-wide.  Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was instituted to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in the administration of any education program receiving federal funds and ban sexual harassment, discrimination against pregnant and parenting students, and the use of stereotypes and other barriers to limit a person's access to a particular educational field.  In 2013, President Obama signed a bill that strengthened and reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act.  That bill included new reporting, policy, and procedural requirements, related to sexual violence, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking, for every post-secondary institution that receives federal funds. 

 

     Your Committees find that this measure will appropriate funds for positions and materials to enable the University of Hawaii to comply with recently expanded mandates relating to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 and will help the University of Hawaii more effectively address sexual violence on campus.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher Education and the Arts and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 457, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and the Arts and Judiciary and Labor,

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair

 

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair