Public Act 097-1037
 
HB5689 EnrolledLRB097 19926 NHT 65872 b

    AN ACT concerning education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The School Code is amended by adding Section
22-75 as follows:
 
    (105 ILCS 5/22-75 new)
    Sec. 22-75. The Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force.
    (a) There is hereby created the Eradicate Domestic Violence
Task Force. The Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force shall
develop a statewide effective and feasible prevention course
for high school students designed to prevent interpersonal,
adolescent violence based on the Step Back Program for boys and
girls. The Clerk of the Circuit Court in the First Judicial
District shall provide administrative staff and support to the
task force.
    (b) The Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force shall do the
following:
        (1) Conduct meetings to evaluate the effectiveness and
    feasibility of statewide implementation of the curricula
    of the Step Back Program at Oak Park and River Forest High
    School, located in Cook County, Illinois, for the
    prevention of domestic violence.
        (2) Invite the testimony of and confer with experts on
    relevant topics as needed.
        (3) Propose content for integration into school
    curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence.
        (4) Propose a method of training facilitators on the
    school curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence.
        (5) Propose partnerships with anti-violence agencies
    to assist with the facilitator roles and the nature of the
    partnerships.
        (6) Evaluate the approximate cost per school or school
    district to implement and maintain school curricula aimed
    at preventing domestic violence.
        (7) Propose a funding source or sources to support
    school curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence and
    agencies that provide training to the facilitators, such as
    a fee to be charged in domestic violence, sexual assault,
    and related cases to be collected by the clerk of the court
    for deposit into a special fund in the State treasury and
    to be used to fund a proposed eradicate domestic violence
    program in the schools of this State.
        (8) Propose an evaluation structure to ensure that the
    school curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence is
    effectively taught by trained facilitators.
        (9) Propose a method of evaluation for the purpose of
    modifying the content of the curriculum over time,
    including whether studies of the program should be
    conducted by the University of Illinois' Interpersonal
    Violence Prevention Information Center.
        (10) Recommend legislation developed by the task
    force, such as amending Sections 27-5 through 27-13.3 and
    27-23.4 of this Code, and legislation to create a fee to be
    charged in domestic violence, sexual assault, and related
    cases to be collected by the clerk of court for deposit
    into a special fund in the State treasury and to be used to
    fund a proposed eradicate domestic violence program in the
    schools of this State.
        (11) Produce a report of the task force's findings on
    best practices and policies, which shall include a plan
    with a phased and prioritized implementation timetable for
    implementation of school curricula aimed at preventing
    domestic violence in schools. The task force shall submit a
    report to the General Assembly on or before April 1, 2013
    on its findings, recommendations, and implementation plan.
    Any task force reports must be published on the State Board
    of Education's Internet website on the date the report is
    delivered to the General Assembly.
    (c) The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the
House of Representatives shall each appoint one co-chairperson
of the Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force. The Minority
Leader of the Senate and the Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives shall each appoint one member to the task
force. In addition, the task force shall be comprised of the
following members appointed by the State Board of Education and
shall be representative of the geographic, racial, and ethnic
diversity of this State:
        (1) Four representatives involved with a program for
    high school students at a high school that is located in a
    municipality with a population of 2,000,000 or more and the
    program is a daily, 6-week to 9-week, 45-session,
    gender-specific, primary prevention course designed to
    raise awareness of topics such as dating and domestic
    violence, any systematic conduct that causes measurable
    physical harm or emotional distress, sexual assault,
    digital abuse, self-defense, and suicide.
        (2) A representative of an interpersonal violence
    prevention program within a State university.
        (3) A representative of a statewide nonprofit,
    nongovernmental, domestic violence organization.
        (4) A representative of a different nonprofit,
    nongovernmental domestic violence organization that is
    located in a municipality with a population of 2,000,000 or
    more.
        (5) A representative of a statewide nonprofit,
    nongovernmental, sexual assault organization.
        (6) A representative of a different nonprofit,
    nongovernmental, sexual assault organization based in a
    county with a population of 3,000,000 or more.
        (7) The State Superintendent of Education or his or her
    designee.
        (8) The Chief Executive Officer of City of Chicago
    School District 299 or his or her designee or the President
    of the Chicago Board of Education or his or her designee.
        (9) A representative of the Department of Human
    Services.
        (10) A representative of a statewide, nonprofit
    professional organization representing law enforcement
    executives.
        (11) A representative of the Chicago Police
    Department, Youth Services Division.
        (12) The Clerk of the Circuit Court in the First
    Judicial District or his or her designee.
        (13) A representative of a statewide professional
    teachers organization.
        (14) A representative of a different statewide
    professional teachers organization.
        (15) A representative of a professional teachers
    organization in a city having a population exceeding
    500,000.
        (16) A representative of an organization representing
    principals.
        (17) A representative of an organization representing
    school administrators.
        (18) A representative of an organization representing
    school boards.
        (19) A representative of an organization representing
    school business officials.
        (20) A representative of an organization representing
    large unit school districts.
    (d) The following underlying purposes should be liberally
construed by the task force convened under this Section:
        (1) Recognize that, according to the Centers for
    Disease Control and Prevention, National Intimate Partner
    and Sexual Violence Survey, December 2010 Summary Report,
    on average 24 people per minute are victims of rape,
    physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in
    the United States, equaling more than 12 million women and
    men.
        (2) Recognize that abused children and children
    exposed to domestic violence in their homes may have short
    and long-term physical, emotional, and learning problems,
    including increased aggression, decreased responsiveness
    to adults, failure to thrive, posttraumatic stress
    disorder, depression, anxiety, hypervigilance and
    hyperactivity, eating and sleeping problems, and
    developmental delays, according to the Journal of
    Interpersonal Violence and the Futures Without Violence
    organization.
        (3) Recognize that the Illinois Violence Prevention
    Authority has found that children exposed to violence in
    the media may become numb to the horror of violence, may
    gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems, may
    imitate the violence they see, and may identify with
    certain characters, victims, or victimizers.
        (4) Recognize that crimes and the incarceration of
    youth are often associated with a history of child abuse
    and exposure to domestic violence, according to Futures
    Without Violence.
        (5) Recognize that the cost of prosecuting crime in
    this State is unnecessarily high due to a lack of
    prevention programs designed to eradicate domestic
    violence.
        (6) Recognize that sexual violence, stalking, and
    intimate partner violence are serious and widespread
    public health problems for children and adults in this
    State.
        (7) Recognize that intervention programs aimed at
    preventing domestic violence may yield better results than
    programs aimed at treating the victims of domestic
    violence, because treatment programs may reduce the
    likelihood that a particular woman will be re-victimized,
    but might not otherwise reduce the overall amount of
    domestic violence.
        (8) Recognize that uniform, effective, feasible, and
    widespread prevention of sexual violence and intimate
    partner violence is a high priority in this State.
        (9) Recognize that the Step Back Program at Oak Park
    and River Forest High School in Cook County, Illinois, is a
    daily, 6 to 9 week, 45-session, gender-specific, primary
    prevention course for high school students designed to
    raise awareness of topics, including dating and domestic
    violence, bullying and harassment, sexual assault, digital
    abuse, self-defense, and suicide. The Step Back Program is
    co-facilitated by the high school and a nonprofit,
    nongovernmental domestic violence prevention specialist
    and service provider.
        (10) Develop a statewide effective prevention course
    for high school students based on the Step Back Program for
    boys and girls designed to prevent interpersonal,
    adolescent violence.
    (e) Members of the Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force
shall receive no compensation for their participation, but may
be reimbursed by the State Board of Education for expenses in
connection with their participation, including travel, if
funds are available.
    (f) Nothing in this Section or in the prevention course is
intended to infringe upon any right to exercise free expression
or the free exercise of religion or religiously based views
protected under the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution or under Section 3 or 4 of Article 1 of the
Illinois Constitution.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.