04/16/2014 01:00 PM House JUDICIARY

             HB  45-ELECTRONIC BULLYING IN SCHOOLS                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
2:08:27 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER announced  that the next order of  business would be                                                               
HOUSE BILL NO. 45, "An  Act relating to harassment, intimidation,                                                               
or bullying by students attending a public school in the state."                                                                
                                                                                                                                
SARAH PAGE,  Staff to Representative  Mia Costello,  Alaska State                                                               
Legislature,  said HB  45 was  proposed by  a senior  from Dimond                                                               
High  School.   Section 1  deletes "whether  verbal or  physical"                                                               
[from AS  14.33.220(b)], indicating  that no  matter the  form of                                                               
delivery,  [harassment,  intimidation,   or  bullying]  shall  be                                                               
reported  to school  administrators by  any witness.   Section  2                                                               
inserts  "electronic"   into  the  definition  of   the  type  of                                                               
harassment,  intimidation, or  bullying,  she  said.   Currently,                                                               
schools  must have  harassment policies,  and HB  45 updates  the                                                               
definition  to say  that electronic  forms  of communication  are                                                               
also  considered.   The  bill  has no  effect  on  the weight  of                                                               
different actions  or what disciplinary actions  should be taken,                                                               
she clarified.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
2:10:07 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER noted that Ms. Page was presenting Version U.                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
2:11:00 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
RON  FUHRER,  President,  National  Education  Association  (NEA)                                                               
Alaska,  said NEA  Alaska represents  13,000 educational  support                                                               
professionals and  teachers, and it advocates  for 130,000 public                                                               
school  students.   He  noted that  cyberbullying  occurs in  the                                                               
shadows and can  be difficult to detect.  Teachers  are the first                                                               
line  of defense  in stopping  it in  schools, he  said, and  the                                                               
cyberbullying often carries  over into classrooms.  Only  1 in 10                                                               
victims will inform a parent or  a trusted adult of the abuse, he                                                               
explained,   and   the    consequences   of   cyberbullying   are                                                               
significant, causing  emotional and psychological distress.   The                                                               
victims  of  bullying  can   experience  fear,  low  self-esteem,                                                               
depression, and  anxiety, and the cyberbullying  victim will also                                                               
experience feeling  overwhelmed, vulnerable,  powerless, exposed,                                                               
humiliated, isolated, and even disinterested  in life, he stated.                                                               
Victims are  two to nine  times more likely to  consider suicide,                                                               
and according to  PEW research, about one third  of all teenagers                                                               
who   have  used   the   internet  have   been   the  target   of                                                               
cyberbullying.  He added that  some research shows that nearly 43                                                               
percent  of kids  have been  bullied  online, and  70 percent  of                                                               
students report seeing frequent bullying  online.  There needs to                                                               
be a  community effort by teachers,  parents, administrators, and                                                               
other students  to send a  clear message that  cyberbullying will                                                               
not be tolerated.   "HB 45 is a first  step towards ensuring that                                                               
Alaskan   students  can   attend  school   in  a   safe  learning                                                               
environment, free from the threat of cyberbullying," he said.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
2:13:47 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE  LYNN noted  that  any type  of  bullying is  bad,                                                               
including, "the big  kid on playground bullying  the little kid,"                                                               
but it essentially  stops quickly.  Cyberbullying  on Facebook is                                                               
there forever,  he expressed, and that  is what makes it  so bad.                                                               
He said  there are cameras on  cellphones, and they can  be taken                                                               
everywhere, including  into restrooms. "If  you try to get  a job                                                               
10 years later,  they find that on the internet,"  he said, so he                                                               
strongly  supports  HB  45.  "This  won't  fix  it  but  it  will                                                               
certainly help," he stated.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
2:14:59 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX said she will not  object to HB 45, but she                                                               
has  some  problems  with  all  of  the  non-physical  harassment                                                               
statutes.   She said she  remembers getting teased in  school and                                                               
sometimes  it  was mean  and  awful,  but  her  dad told  her  to                                                               
remember that "sticks and stones  will break your bones but names                                                               
will never  hurt you."   The  names did hurt,  she said,  "but we                                                               
can't  let  some  of  these statutes  interfere  with  the  First                                                               
Amendment right  to freedom of speech,"  and it is not  just this                                                               
bill,  it  is  many.    "People are  just  mean  to  each  other;                                                               
sometimes people even hold other  people's bills, which is a form                                                               
of bullying, but we live with it," she opined.                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
2:16:35 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MS. PAGE said the statute also addresses physical bullying.                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE LEDOUX  said she sees that  in [subparagraph] (A),                                                               
but not  elsewhere.  So  verbal teasing, for example,  might have                                                               
the effect of interfering with  some students' education, if they                                                               
are  very  sensitive,  but  that   is  not  necessarily  physical                                                               
harassment, she said.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
2:17:40 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MS. PAGE said she understands  and appreciates her comments, "but                                                               
I do think that  it doesn't need to be repeated  in (B), (C), and                                                               
(D), because  it is in  the first  definition, and (B),  (C), and                                                               
(D) are just  really clarifying the intensity of  the bullying or                                                               
the teasing  or what have  you, if  it's severe or  persistent or                                                               
substantially interfering,  so I  don't think  we need  to repeat                                                               
'physical'."                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
2:18:16 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER asked why "whether verbal or physical" was deleted.                                                                
                                                                                                                                
MS. PAGE  said it  was taken  out so  the language  would include                                                               
students  who have  been  subjected to  any  type of  harassment,                                                               
intimidation, or bullying.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER  spoke of a bill  that basically did the  same thing                                                               
in a  different section of law,  and his staff looked  where this                                                               
behavior was already covered in  law, "and the only thing unique,                                                               
that I see, really, is the  fact that we're pulling it into Title                                                               
14," and he asked for an explanation.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MS. PAGE  said that someone  from Legislative Legal  and Research                                                               
Services can speak to that.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
2:20:20 PM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN moved to report HB 45 out of committee with                                                                 
individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR KELLER, noting no objections, announced that HB 45 moved                                                                  
out of committee.