ALERT Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2947 To ensure that certain incidents involving a covered employee that are re- ported to the title IX coordinator at an eligible institution of higher education have been reviewed by the president of the institution and not less than 1 additional member of the institution’s board of trustees, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 30, 2021 Ms. SLOTKIN (for herself, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. UPTON, and Mrs. MCCLAIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To ensure that certain incidents involving a covered employee that are reported to the title IX coordinator at an eligible institution of higher education have been reviewed by the president of the institution and not less than 1 additional member of the institution’s board of trustees, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2947.IH H2947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2947 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accountability of Lead- 2 ers in Education to Report Title IX Investigations Act’’ 3 or the ‘‘ALERT Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. REVIEW OF TITLE IX INVESTIGATIONS. 5 Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 6 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 7 following: 8 ‘‘(30)(A) The institution will submit an annual 9 certification to the Secretary affirming that— 10 ‘‘(i) the president of the institution (or the 11 equivalent officer) and not less than 1 addi- 12 tional member of the institution’s board of 13 trustees (or a designee of the board) have com- 14 pleted a comprehensive review of any incident 15 involving a covered employee that was reported 16 to the title IX coordinator at that institution in 17 the previous 12 months involving an offense de- 18 scribed in section 485(f)(8)(A)(i); and 19 ‘‘(ii) the individuals described in clause (i) 20 who completed the comprehensive review did 21 not interfere with or influence any investigation 22 or disposition relating to the reported incident. 23 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph— 24 ‘‘(i) the term ‘comprehensive review’ means 25 a review that includes, at a minimum— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2947.IH H2947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2947 IH ‘‘(I) a review of— 1 ‘‘(aa) material findings of fact re- 2 lating to the incident that was re- 3 ported to the title IX coordinator; 4 ‘‘(bb) the basis for any conclu- 5 sions about whether a covered em- 6 ployee violated a policy of the institu- 7 tion; and 8 ‘‘(cc) the disposition of any com- 9 plaints arising from the reported inci- 10 dent, including any sanctions imposed 11 on a covered employee; and 12 ‘‘(II) the redaction of the identity of 13 the individual reporting such incident from 14 such review, and a prohibition against 15 sharing the identity of the individual with- 16 out the consent of such individual; 17 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘covered employee’— 18 ‘‘(I) means— 19 ‘‘(aa) a full-time employee of the 20 institution; or 21 ‘‘(bb) an individual who was act- 22 ing as an employee of the institution, 23 or who was paid by an entity con- 24 tracting with the institution and act- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2947.IH H2947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2947 IH ing on behalf of the institution, at the 1 time of the incident that was reported 2 to the title IX coordinator; and 3 ‘‘(II) does not include an under- 4 graduate student; and 5 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘title IX coordinator’ means 6 a responsible employee, as described in section 7 106.8(a) of title 34, Code of Federal Regula- 8 tions, designated to coordinate efforts under 9 title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 10 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.).’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2947.IH H2947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS