ALERT Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2421 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, 2019 Ms. SLOTKIN (for herself, Mr. UPTON, and Mr. MITCHELL) 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accountability of Lead- 4 ers in Education to Report Title IX Investigations Act’’ 5 or the ‘‘ALERT Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2421.IH H2421 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2421 IH SEC. 2. REVIEW OF TITLE IX INVESTIGATIONS. 1 Section 487 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 2 U.S.C. 1094) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘(30)(A) The institution will submit an annual 5 certification to the Secretary affirming that— 6 ‘‘(i) the president of the institution (or the 7 equivalent officer) and not less than 1 addi- 8 tional member of the institution’s board of 9 trustees (or a designee of the board) have com- 10 pleted a comprehensive review of any incident 11 involving a covered employee that was reported 12 to the title IX coordinator at that institution in 13 the previous 12 months involving an offense de- 14 scribed in section 485(f)(8)(A)(i); and 15 ‘‘(ii) the individuals described in clause (i) 16 who completed the comprehensive review did 17 not interfere with or influence any investigation 18 or disposition relating to the reported incident. 19 ‘‘(B) In this paragraph— 20 ‘‘(i) the term ‘comprehensive review’ means 21 a review that includes, at a minimum— 22 ‘‘(I) a review of— 23 ‘‘(aa) material findings of fact re- 24 lating to the incident that was re- 25 ported to the title IX coordinator; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:23 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2421.IH H2421 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2421 IH ‘‘(bb) the basis for any conclu- 1 sions about whether a covered em- 2 ployee violated a policy of the institu- 3 tion; and 4 ‘‘(cc) the disposition of any com- 5 plaints arising from the reported inci- 6 dent, including any sanctions imposed 7 on a covered employee; and 8 ‘‘(II) the redaction of the identity of 9 the individual reporting such incident from 10 such review, and a prohibition against 11 sharing the identity of the individual with- 12 out the consent of such individual; 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 02:23 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2421.IH H2421 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2421 IH ‘‘(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 02:23 May 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2421.IH H2421 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS