STAND. COM. REP. NO 97

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 865

       S.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 Education and Human Services and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 865 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BULLYING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require all youth-serving agencies, public schools, charter schools, and educational institutions that receive state funding to establish, maintain, monitor, and enforce policies and procedures related to all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, to protect youth in the State.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities; Honolulu Police Department; Hawaii Youth Services Network; Rainbow Family 808; Democratic Party of Hawaii Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus; Hawaii State Democratic Women's Caucus; IMUAlliance; Hawaii State Teachers Association; and four individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Education, State Public Charter School Commission, and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees find that bullying takes an emotional toll on children and interferes with their education.  Bullying causes children to fear going to school and results in increased absenteeism.  It is a distraction in the classroom and often carries over into online harassment.  As many as twenty-five percent of middle school students have reported being victims of cyberbullying.  In some cases, the harassment endured by bullied children even leads to suicide.

 

     Your Committees further find that stronger policies against bullying and stronger enforcement of those policies are necessary to reduce the prevalence of bullying and youth suicide in Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Codifying sections 3 through 9 as a new chapter in the Hawaii Revised Statutes rather than as session law;

 

     (2)  Adding an appropriation to the Department of Education for anti-bullying and suicide prevention efforts in public schools; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Human Services and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 865, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 865, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Human Services and Housing,

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 

____________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair