STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2176

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2386

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Education and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2386 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that public schools post signs that include the child abuse or neglect hotline in high traffic locations to encourage students who are victims of abuse or neglect to seek help and let those students know that resources exist to help them.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Education and Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committees find that students who are victims of abuse or neglect often do not seek help or report their situations.  Teachers are not always able to recognize when students are being abused or neglected.  Children are a particularly vulnerable group, and victims of abuse or neglect are sometimes unaware that support networks and resources exist to help them.  Greater visibility of these resources could encourage students who are victims of abuse or neglect to report their situations and receive help.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2386 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

________________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair