STAND

 

STAND. COM. REP. 2289

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 3070

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 3070 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAZING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to create the misdemeanor offense of hazing in all schools and colleges.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Education and Hawaii High School Athletic Association.

Your Committee finds while hazing is not a pervasive problem, those students who are put through it suffer gravely from it. Hazing is a needless assault on an individual's dignity, health, and emotional well-being. It can have a very negative effect on a person's psychological make-up and may leave psychic scars that are difficult to heal. Due to the severity of the problem to those affected by it, the problem should be addressed by statute.

Your Committee has amended the measure by specifying that the measure applies to all high schools and colleges.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3070, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3070, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

		____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair