HOUSE BILL 539
RS31278 / H0539
Current state law regarding the handling of harassment, intimidation and bullying of students does little to address those who are bullied; state law’s current focus is predominantly on bullies. State law currently requires local school districts to report the number of bullying incidents to the state. While it is important to know how much bullying is taking place, there is not much state policymakers can do with this simple quantification. Given the relationship between those who are bullied and harm to self and others, this bill aims to better address the needs of those who are bullied in addition to responding to those who do the bullying. This bill replaces a simple end of year quantification and makes it one in which we know each incident is followed by an actual response, not just observation. This bill would not come into effect until July 1, 2025 so that a group of stakeholders led by the IDE can provide a proposed overdue update to Idaho Code 18-917A which defines harassment, intimidation and bullying.
This legislation causes no additional expenditure of funds at the state or local level of government nor does it cause an increase or decrease in revenue for state or local government, therefore the legislation has no fiscal impact. The Idaho Department of Education can generate the materials and references lists with current staff.
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 02/09 | Introduced, read first time, referred to JRA for Printing |
| 02/12 | Reported Printed and Referred to Education |
| 02/14 | Reported out of Committee with Do Pass Recommendation, Filed for Second Reading |
| 02/15 | Read second time; Filed for Third Reading |
| 02/16 | U.C. to hold place on third reading calendar until Monday, February 19, 2024 |
| 02/19 | Read Third Time in Full – FAILED - 32-38-0 AYES – Achilles, Berch, Bundy, Burns, Cheatum, Chew(Wilson), Clow, Cornilles, Dixon(24), Durrant, Galaviz, Gannon, Garner, Green, Kingsley, Lanting, Mathias, McCann, Mickelsen, Miller, Necochea, Nelsen, Petzke, Raybould, Raymond, Roberts, Rubel, Sauter, Weber, Wheeler, Wroten, Yamamoto NAYS – Alfieri, Allgood, Andrus, Barbieri, Blanksma, Boyle, Cannon, Crane(12), Crane(13), Dixon(1), Ehardt, Ehlers, Erickson, Furniss, Gallagher, Handy, Hawkins, Healey, Hill, Holtzclaw, Horman, Lambert, Manwaring, Mendive, Mitchell, Monks, Palmer, Pickett, Price, Redman, Scott, Shepherd, Skaug, Tanner, Vander Woude, Wisniewski, Young, Mr. Speaker Absent – None Floor Sponsor - Mathias Filed in Office of the Chief Clerk |