BILL REQ. #:  S-0926.1 

Read first time 01/28/2005.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to recording the oral histories of women who contributed to their communities, the state, or the nation during World War II; amending RCW 28A.300.370; creating a new section; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the women of the greatest generation made essential contributions, in many different ways, to our nation's success in World War II. During the war, more than four hundred fifty thousand women served their country in the armed forces of the United States. Another group of women provided nursing and support services to the troops. These women were joined by more than two million women back home who, like Rosie the Riveter, worked in industries that supported service men and women abroad. Other women held the nation together by raising families, educating children, and taking care of the ill and elderly. These women held our families, businesses, and communities together, living with rationed goods and services so that the service men and women fighting in the war would have the materials they needed to be successful. The legislature finds that women in all these roles made sacrifices necessary for the success of our nation's defense and contributions essential to the well-being of the people back home. The legislature further finds that to have a clearer reflection of women's sacrifices on behalf of freedom and democracy, it is necessary to include in the World War II oral history project the memories of women who contributed to the war effort through either military service or other important contributions to our nation, state, or communities.

Sec. 2   RCW 28A.300.370 and 2000 c 112 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The World War II oral history project is established for the purpose of providing oral history presentations, documentation, and other materials to assist the office of the superintendent of public instruction and educators in the development of a curriculum for use in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
     (2) To the extent funds are appropriated or donated, the project shall be administered by the office of the superintendent of public instruction. The office shall convene an advisory committee to assist in the design and implementation of the project. The committee shall be composed of members of the World War II memorial educational foundation, the department of veterans affairs, the secretary of state's office, and legislators involved with and interested in the development of the oral history project. The committee may select its own chair and may expand its membership to include the services of other individuals, agencies, or organizations on the basis of need. The office shall provide staffing and administrative support to the advisory committee.
     (3) The project will preserve for the education of Washington's school children the memories and history of our state's citizens who served their state and country as members of the armed forces or through national or community contributions during World War II. The project is intended to preserve these memories and history through audiotapes, videotapes, films, stories, printed transcripts, digitally, and through other appropriate methods.
     (4) Any funding provided to the program through the omnibus appropriations act for the 2005-2007 biennium shall be used to record the memories of women who meet the requirements of subsection (3) of this section.
     (5) As part of the project, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall identify the requirements regarding instructional guides to help educators use the preserved material in age and grade appropriate ways.
     (((5))) (6) In its administration of the project, the office may carry out its responsibilities through contracts with filming and taping specialists, mini-grants to schools, contracts with the World War II memorial educational foundation, and through other means recommended by the foundation.
     (((6))) (7) By December 1, 2000, and every second year thereafter in which the project has received funding, the office shall report on the results of the project to the governor and the house of representatives and senate committees on education. The December 2000 report shall include, but need not be limited to, identification of the project's implementation strategies and resource requirements, and any curriculum standards developed through the project.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   This act takes effect August 1, 2005.