HB3613 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 11149 LNS 21231 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB3613

Introduced 2/18/2025, by Rep. Anna Moeller

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

105 ILCS 5/10-23	from Ch. 122, par. 10-23
105 ILCS 5/10-23.13
105 ILCS 110/3

Amends the School Code. Requires a school board to adopt and implement, by no later than July 1, 2025, a policy addressing sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect of children. Amends the Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health Education Act. Requires that the comprehensive health education program shall include physical abuse or neglect awareness and prevention education in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

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 changing Sections 10-23 and 10-23.13 as follows:

(105 ILCS 5/10-23) (from Ch. 122, par. 10-23)

Sec. 10-23. Additional powers of board. Boards of education have the additional powers enumerated in Sections 10-23.1 through 10-23.13 10-23.12.

(Source: P.A. 84-1308.)

(105 ILCS 5/10-23.13)

Sec. 10-23.13. Policies addressing sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect.

(a) In this Section:

"Evidence-informed" refers to modalities that were created utilizing components of evidence-based treatments or curriculums.

"Grooming" means conduct prohibited under Section 11-25 of the Criminal Code of 2012.

(b) To adopt and implement, by no later than July 1, 2025 2022, a policy addressing sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect of children that shall include an age-appropriate and evidence-informed curriculum for students in pre-K through 12th grade; evidence-informed training for school personnel on child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect; evidence-informed educational information to parents or guardians provided in the school handbook on the warning signs of a child being abused or neglected, along with any needed assistance, referral, or resource information; available counseling and resources for students affected by sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect; and emotional and educational support for a child to continue to be successful in school. A school district shall include in its policy and all training materials and instruction a definition of prohibited grooming behaviors and boundary violations for school personnel and how to report these behaviors.

Any policy adopted under this Section shall address without limitation:

(1) methods for increasing school personnel, student, and parent awareness of issues regarding sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect of children, including awareness and knowledge of likely warning signs indicating that a child may be a victim of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect, awareness and knowledge of grooming behaviors and how to report those behaviors, awareness of appropriate relationships between school personnel and students based on State law, and how to prevent child abuse and neglect from happening, including, but not limited to, methods outlined in State law regarding personal health and safety education for students;

(1.5) evidence-informed training for school personnel on preventing, recognizing, reporting, and responding to child sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect and grooming behavior, including when the grooming or abuse is committed by a member of the school community, with a discussion of the criminal statutes addressing sexual conduct between school personnel and students, professional conduct, and reporting requirements, including, but not limited to, training as outlined in Section 10-22.39 and Section 3-11;

(2) options that a student who is a victim of sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect has to obtain assistance and intervention;

(3) available counseling options for students affected by sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect;

(4) methods for educating school personnel, students, and staff on how to report child abuse and neglect to law enforcement authorities and to the Department of Children and Family Services and how to report grooming behaviors, including when the grooming or abuse is committed by a member of the school community; and

(5) education and information about children's advocacy centers and sexual assault crisis centers and information about how to access a children's advocacy center or sexual assault crisis center serving the district.

(c) A school district must provide training for school personnel on child sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect as described in paragraph (1.5) of subsection (b) no later than January 31 of each year.

(d) This Section may be referred to as Erin's Law.

(Source: P.A. 102-610, eff. 8-27-21.)

Section 10. The Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health Education Act is amended by changing Section 3 as follows:

(105 ILCS 110/3)

Sec. 3. Comprehensive Health Education Program.

(a) The program established under this Act shall include, but not be limited to, the following major educational areas as a basis for curricula in all elementary and secondary schools in this State: human ecology and health; human growth and development; the emotional, psychological, physiological, hygienic, and social responsibilities of family life, including sexual abstinence until marriage; the prevention and control of disease, including instruction in grades 6 through 12 on the prevention, transmission, and spread of AIDS; age-appropriate sexual abuse and assault, physical abuse, or neglect awareness and prevention education in grades pre-kindergarten through 12; public and environmental health; consumer health; safety education and disaster preparedness; mental health and illness; personal health habits; alcohol and drug use and abuse, including the use and abuse of fentanyl, and the medical and legal ramifications of alcohol, drug, and tobacco use; abuse during pregnancy; evidence-based and medically accurate information regarding sexual abstinence; tobacco and e-cigarettes and other vapor devices; nutrition; and dental health. The instruction on mental health and illness must evaluate the multiple dimensions of health by reviewing the relationship between physical and mental health to enhance student understanding, attitudes, and behaviors that promote health, well-being, and human dignity and must include how and where to find mental health resources and specialized treatment in the State. The program shall also provide course material and instruction to advise pupils of the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act. The program shall include information about cancer, including, without limitation, types of cancer, signs and symptoms, risk factors, the importance of early prevention and detection, and information on where to go for help. Notwithstanding the above educational areas, the following areas may also be included as a basis for curricula in all elementary and secondary schools in this State: basic first aid (including, but not limited to, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the Heimlich maneuver), heart disease, diabetes, stroke, the prevention of child abuse, neglect, and suicide, and teen dating violence in grades 7 through 12. Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, training on how to properly administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (which training must be in accordance with standards of the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or another nationally recognized certifying organization) and how to use an automated external defibrillator shall be included as a basis for curricula in all secondary schools in this State.

(b) Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year in grades 9 through 12, the program shall include instruction, study, and discussion on the dangers of allergies. Information for the instruction, study, and discussion shall come from information provided by the Department of Public Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This instruction, study, and discussion shall include, at a minimum:

(1) recognizing the signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis;

(2) the steps to take to prevent exposure to allergens; and

(3) safe emergency epinephrine administration.

(c) No later than 30 days after the first day of each school year, the school board of each public elementary and secondary school in the State shall provide all teachers, administrators, and other school personnel, as determined by school officials, with information regarding emergency procedures and life-saving techniques, including, without limitation, the Heimlich maneuver, hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and use of the school district's automated external defibrillator. The information shall be in accordance with standards of the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or another nationally recognized certifying organization. A school board may use the services of non-governmental entities whose personnel have expertise in life-saving techniques to instruct teachers, administrators, and other school personnel in these techniques. Each school board is encouraged to have in its employ, or on its volunteer staff, at least one person who is certified, by the American Red Cross or by another qualified certifying agency, as qualified to administer first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In addition, each school board is authorized to allocate appropriate portions of its institute or inservice days to conduct training programs for teachers and other school personnel who have expressed an interest in becoming certified to administer emergency first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. School boards are urged to encourage their teachers and other school personnel who coach school athletic programs and other extracurricular school activities to acquire, develop, and maintain the knowledge and skills necessary to properly administer first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation in accordance with standards and requirements established by the American Red Cross or another qualified certifying agency. Subject to appropriation, the State Board of Education shall establish and administer a matching grant program to pay for half of the cost that a school district incurs in training those teachers and other school personnel who express an interest in becoming qualified to administer first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (which training must be in accordance with standards of the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, or another nationally recognized certifying organization). A school district that applies for a grant must demonstrate that it has funds to pay half of the cost of the training for which matching grant money is sought. The State Board of Education shall award the grants on a first-come, first-serve basis.

(d) No pupil shall be required to take or participate in any class or course on AIDS or family life instruction or to receive training on how to properly administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation or how to use an automated external defibrillator if his or her parent or guardian submits written objection thereto, and refusal to take or participate in the course or program or the training shall not be reason for suspension or expulsion of the pupil.

(e) Curricula developed under programs established in accordance with this Act in the major educational area of alcohol and drug use and abuse shall include classroom instruction in grades 5 through 12, shall be age and developmentally appropriate, and may include the information contained in the Substance Use Prevention and Recovery Instruction Resource Guide under Section 22-81 of the School Code, as applicable. The instruction, which shall include matters relating to both the physical and legal effects and ramifications of drug and substance abuse, shall be integrated into existing curricula; and the State Board of Education shall determine how to develop and make available to all elementary and secondary schools in this State instructional materials and guidelines that will assist the schools in incorporating the instruction into their existing curricula. In addition, school districts may offer, as part of existing curricula during the school day or as part of an after-school program, support services and instruction for pupils or pupils whose parent, parents, or guardians are chemically dependent.

Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, the program shall include instruction, study, and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl in grades 6 through 12. Information for the instruction, study, and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl shall be age and developmentally appropriate and may include information contained in the Substance Use Prevention and Recovery Instruction Resource Guide under Section 22-81 of the School Code, as applicable. The instruction, study, and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl in grades 9 through 12 shall include, at a minimum, all of the following:

(1) Information on fentanyl itself, including an explanation of the differences between synthetic and nonsynthetic opioids and illicit drugs, the variations of fentanyl itself, and the differences between the legal and illegal uses of fentanyl.

(2) The side effects and the risk factors of using fentanyl, along with information comparing the lethal amounts of fentanyl to other drugs. Information on the risk factors may include, but is not limited to:

(A) the lethal dose of fentanyl;

(B) how often fentanyl is placed in drugs without a person's knowledge;

(C) an explanation of what fentanyl does to a person's body and the severity of fentanyl's addictive properties; and

(D) how the consumption of fentanyl can lead to hypoxia, as well as an explanation of what hypoxia precisely does to a person's body.

(3) Details about the process of lacing fentanyl in other drugs and why drugs get laced with fentanyl.

(4) Details about how to detect fentanyl in drugs and how to save someone from an overdose of fentanyl, which shall include:

(A) how to buy and use fentanyl test strips;

(B) how to buy and use naloxone, either through a nasal spray or an injection; and

(C) how to detect if someone is overdosing on fentanyl. Students in grades 9 through 12 shall be assessed on the instruction, study, and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl. The assessment may include, but is not limited to:

(i) the differences between synthetic and nonsynthetic drugs;

(ii) hypoxia;

(iii) the effects of fentanyl on a person's body;

(iv) the lethal dose of fentanyl; and

(v) how to detect and prevent overdoses. The instruction, study, and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl may be taught by a licensed educator, school nurse, school social worker, law enforcement officer, or school counselor.

(Source: P.A. 102-464, eff. 8-20-21; 102-558, eff. 8-20-21; 102-1034, eff. 1-1-23; 103-212, eff. 1-1-24; 103-365, eff. 1-1-24; 103-605, eff. 7-1-24; 103-608, eff. 1-1-25; 103-810, eff. 8-9-24; revised 11-26-24.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.