Bill Text: IL HB5689 | 2011-2012 | 97th General Assembly | Engrossed

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. Creates the Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force. Requires the Eradicate Domestic Violence Task Force to develop a statewide effective and feasible prevention course for high school students designed to prevent interpersonal, adolescent violence based on the Step Back Program at Oak Park and River Forest High School. Sets forth the duties of the task force, the composition of the task force, and the underlying purposes of the task force. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-08-20 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 97-1037 [HB5689 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2011-HB5689-Engrossed.html

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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 State Board of Education 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.

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(3) Propose content for integration into school
curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence.
(4) Propose the curricula content that should be
mandatory versus voluntary to best provide the desired
result of eradication of domestic violence.
(5) Propose a method of training facilitators on the
school curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence.
(6) Propose partnerships with anti-violence agencies
to assist with the facilitator roles and the nature of the
partnerships.
(7) Evaluate the approximate cost per school or school
district to implement and maintain school curricula aimed
at preventing domestic violence.
(8) 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.
(9) Propose an evaluation structure to ensure that the
school curricula aimed at preventing domestic violence is
effectively taught by trained facilitators.
(10) Propose a method of evaluation for the purpose of
modifying the content of the curriculum over time,

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including whether studies of the program should be
conducted by the University of Illinois' Interpersonal
Violence Prevention Information Center.
(11) 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.
(12) 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

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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.

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(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 for the First
Judicial District or his or her designee.
(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,

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including increased aggression, decreased responsiveness
to adults, failure to thrive, posttraumatic stress
disorder, depression, anxiety, hyper vigilance 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

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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

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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.