Bill Text: HI SCR8 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting That The Department Of Health Convene A Task Force To Consolidate Data And Information Regarding Violence Against Women Into A Comprehensive Annual Report To Strengthen The State's Overall Response To Violence Against Women.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - The hearing on this measure has been cancelled until further notice. [SCR8 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-SCR8-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	8
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting that the department of health convene a task force to consolidate data and information regarding violence Against women into a comprehensive annual report to strengthen the state's overall response to violence against women.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that intimate partner violence, domestic violence, and sexual violence remains an ongoing concern to the safety, health, and well-being of women; and

 

     WHEREAS, violence against women is a complex societal issue that negatively impacts women's physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health causing detrimental risk factors such as engaging in binge drinking, drug use and unsafe sexual risk:  all behaviors likely to affect women's access to education, ability to work, and contribute to loss of wages that can lead to mental health problems such as depression; and

 

     WHEREAS, the devastating impact of violence can lead to the inability of women to care for themselves and their children; and

 

     WHEREAS, children who grow up in families where there is violence may also suffer behavioral and emotional trauma that can lead to the perpetration of violence or becoming a victim of violence; and

 

     WHEREAS, on a state level, the average annual number of cases in the Department of Health's Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention System Branch Pre-Hospital Medical Record system from 2013 through 2015 that involved intimate partner violence against females ages twelve to fifty years was 718 in the City and County of Honolulu, 116 in Hawaii county, 105 in Maui county, and 26 in Kauai county; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to a 2017 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the killing of women nationally where the circumstances were known, more than fifty percent of the victims of intimate partner violence-related homicide had reported experiencing prior acts of violence in the month preceding death; and

 

     WHEREAS, when the cumulative impacts on mortality and morbidity are assessed, the health burden from evidence against women is often higher than for other public health priorities; and

 

     WHEREAS, there is a need for a comprehensive report in order to ensure all information is considered when finding how best to address public health issues relating to violence against women; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii lacks any such comprehensive report and instead addresses the issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment, and sex trafficking largely in isolation; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Health is requested to convene a task force to create a format for a comprehensive annual report to identify the best policy approach to reduce violence against women; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to include the following members:

 

     (1)  The Director of Health, or the Director's designee, who is requested to serve as the chair of the task force;

 

     (2)  The Director of Human Services, or the Director's designee;

 

     (3)  The Administrator of the Judiciary, or the Administrator's designee;

 

     (4)  The Attorney General, or the Attorney General's designee;

 

     (5)  The Prosecuting Attorney from each respective county, or the Prosecuting Attorney's designee;

 

     (6)  The Chief of Police from each respective county, or the Chief of Police's designee;

 

     (7)  The Executive Director of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center, or the Executive Director's designee;

 

     (8)  A representative from the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, or a similar victim advocacy organization invited by the chair of the task force; and

 

     (9)  A representative from Ho‘ōla Nā Pua invited by the chair of the task force; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force may invite additional organizations or agencies to participate in the task force; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force shall consider the following concepts when researching and reviewing current data and information and making recommendations for the establishment of an annual report;

 

     (1)  Each agency or organization's existing databases and information regarding different forms of violence against women, including the number of entities holding such data, and the ability to share information or metadata;

 

     (2)  Existing gaps in data regarding violence against women;

 

     (3)  Updates to laws or policies needed, if any, to permit the consolidation of such data; and

 

     (4)  The framework of an annual report that can provide guidance to improve programs, outcomes, and the reduction of violence against women; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health is requested to provide administrative support for the task force; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2021, and a follow-up report, including any additional proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2022; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health; Director of Human Services; Administrator of the Judiciary; Executive Director of the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu and the Counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui; Attorney General; Chief of Police of the City and County of Honolulu and the Counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui; Executive Director of the Sex Abuse Treatment Center; Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and Ho‘ōla Nā Pua.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Violence Against Women; Task Force