ALERT Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 808 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 14, 2019 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, and Ms. STABENOW) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 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 22:08 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S808.IS S808 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 808 IS 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 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 6 U.S.C. 1094) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 7 lowing: 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S808.IS S808 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 808 IS ‘‘(i) the term ‘comprehensive review’ means 1 a review that includes, at a minimum, a review 2 of— 3 ‘‘(I) material findings of fact relating 4 to the incident that was reported to the 5 title IX coordinator; 6 ‘‘(II) the basis for any conclusions 7 about whether a covered employee violated 8 a policy of the institution; and 9 ‘‘(III) the disposition of any com- 10 plaints arising from the reported incident, 11 including any sanctions imposed on a cov- 12 ered employee; 13 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘covered employee’— 14 ‘‘(I) means— 15 ‘‘(aa) a full-time employee of the 16 institution; or 17 ‘‘(bb) an individual who was act- 18 ing as an employee of the institution, 19 or who was paid by an entity con- 20 tracting with the institution and act- 21 ing on behalf of the institution, at the 22 time of the incident that was reported 23 to the title IX coordinator; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S808.IS S808 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 808 IS ‘‘(II) does not include an under- 1 graduate student; and 2 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘title IX coordinator’ means 3 a responsible employee, as described in section 4 106.8(a) of title 34, Code of Federal Regula- 5 tions, designated to coordinate efforts under 6 title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 7 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.).’’. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Mar 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S808.IS S808 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS