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7 LONG TITLE
8 General Description:
9 This resolution encourages creating guidelines and policies for volunteer school
10 chaplains.
11 Highlighted Provisions:
12 This resolution:
13 ▸ highlights the role chaplains have had throughout the history of the United States;
14 and
15 ▸ encourages LEAs, schools, and the State Board of Education to work
16 collaboratively to create guidelines and policies regarding volunteer school
17 chaplains.
18 Special Clauses:
19 None
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21 Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
22 WHEREAS, chaplains have played an integral and storied role in the history of the
23 United States from the country's founding until current day;
24 WHEREAS, the Founding Fathers understood the importance of the support and
25 guidance chaplains provide in a multitude of different ways;
26 WHEREAS, one of the first requests George Washington made during the
27 Revolutionary War was to ask the Continental Congress to establish a Chaplain Corps within
28 the Continental Army;
29 WHEREAS, George Washington ordered, "Let vice and immorality of every kind be
30 discouraged as much as possible in your brigade; and, as a chaplain is allowed to each
31 regiment, see that the men regularly attend during worship";
32 WHEREAS, the United States Army Chaplain Corps was established on July 29, 1775,
33 and recently celebrated the Corps' 248th anniversary in 2023;
34 WHEREAS, the United States Senate appointed a committee to recommend a candidate
35 to be the Senate Chaplain in April of 1789;
36 WHEREAS, the United States Senate elected the Right Reverend Samuel Provoost to
37 be the first Chaplain of the Senate on April 25, 1789;
38 WHEREAS, Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution establishes that "The
39 House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers";
40 WHEREAS, the United States House of Representatives elected the first Chaplain of
41 the House, Reverend William Linn, on May 1, 1789, and has continued to elect a Chaplain of
42 the House ever since;
43 WHEREAS, chaplain's services are utilized in a variety of settings including military
44 bases, police departments, prisons, boarding schools, universities, hospitals, and hospice care
45 centers, among others;
46 WHEREAS, George Washington stated during his farewell address, "Reason and
47 experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
48 principle";
49 WHEREAS, the duties of chaplains, which include providing guidance, spiritual
50 guidance, comfort, counseling, and support, benefit individuals of all different religious and
51 non-religious beliefs and backgrounds; and
52 WHEREAS, the use of volunteer school chaplains can provide benefits to LEAs and
53 schools by bettering teacher retention, promoting mental health, and increasing school safety:
54 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah upon
55 passage of 2024 General Session H.B. 514, School Chaplain Amendments, encourages LEAs,
56 schools, and the State Board of Education to work collaboratively to develop policies and
57 guidelines for the integration of volunteer chaplains within the public education system.
58 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature acknowledges the importance of
59 chaplains and the role they have had throughout the history of the United States and encourages
60 LEAs, schools, and the State Board of Education to look to the Founding Fathers and their use
61 of chaplains as inspiration while developing policies and guidelines for volunteer school
62 chaplains.