HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3381 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase transparency and reporting on campus sexual violence, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 20, 2019 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. MOORE, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. TONKO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. DINGELL, Miss RICE of New York, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsyl- vania, Ms. NORTON, Ms. FRANKEL, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. MENG, Mr. HAS- TINGS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. COHEN, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. RYAN, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. LUJA´N, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. TITUS, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. SMITH of Washington, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to increase transparency and reporting on campus sexual violence, 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 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3381 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hold Accountable and 2 Lend Transparency on Campus Sexual Violence Act’’ or 3 the ‘‘HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS. 5 (a) DISCLOSURE OF PROGRAM REVIEWS AND OPEN 6 INVESTIGATIONS.—The Department of Education Organi- 7 zation Act (20 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.) is amended— 8 (1) in section 203(b) (20 U.S.C. 3413(b)), by 9 adding at the end the following new paragraphs: 10 ‘‘(3) The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights shall 11 make publicly available on the Department’s website a list 12 of institutions under investigation, the sanctions (if any) 13 or findings issued pursuant to such investigations, and a 14 copy of program reviews and resolution agreements, in- 15 cluding voluntary resolution agreements, entered into with 16 the Secretary or Attorney General under title IX of the 17 Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) 18 or title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 19 2000c et seq.). 20 ‘‘(4) Not later than 30 days after the termination of 21 the resolution agreements described in paragraph (3), the 22 Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights shall transmit to the 23 Secretary, the President, and the Congress, and make 24 publicly available on the Department’s website, the letter 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3381 IH terminating the Department of Education’s monitoring of 1 such agreements.’’; and 2 (2) in section 205 (20 U.S.C. 3415), by adding 3 at the end the following new subsection: 4 ‘‘(c) The Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Edu- 5 cation shall make publicly available on the Department’s 6 website a list of institutions under investigation, the sanc- 7 tions (if any) or findings issued pursuant to such inves- 8 tigations, and a copy of program reviews and resolution 9 agreements entered into with the Secretary or Attorney 10 General under subsection 485(f) of the Higher Education 11 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)).’’. 12 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—Not later than one year 13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Inspector Gen- 14 eral of the Department of Education shall submit to Con- 15 gress and make publicly available a report reviewing com- 16 pliance with paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 203(b) of 17 the Department of Education Organization Act (20 18 U.S.C. 3413(b)) and section 205(c) of such Act (20 19 U.S.C. 3415), as added by subsection (a). 20 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURES OF REQUESTS FOR EXEMPTIONS 21 UNDER TITLE IX. 22 Section 203(b) of the Department of Education Or- 23 ganization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(b)) is further amended 24 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3381 IH ‘‘(5) The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1 shall make publicly available on the Department’s 2 website a list of institutions that have requested to 3 be exempt from title IX of the Education Amend- 4 ments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.).’’. 5 SEC. 4. AUTHORITY TO LEVY FINES. 6 Section 203(c) of the Department of Education Orga- 7 nization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413) is amended— 8 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 9 (3); 10 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 11 graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12 (3) by adding at the end the following new 13 paragraph: 14 ‘‘(5) to impose a civil penalty to be paid by an 15 institution of higher education that has violated a 16 law under the jurisdiction of the Office for Civil 17 Rights, the amount of which shall be determined by 18 the gravity of the violation, and the imposition of 19 which shall not preclude other remedies available 20 under Federal law.’’. 21 SEC. 5. CLIMATE SURVEYS. 22 Paragraph (1) of section 485(f) of the Higher Edu- 23 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)) is amended by 24 adding at the end the following new subparagraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3381 IH ‘‘(K) Beginning 18 months after the date of en- 1 actment of the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act, 2 statistics based upon a sexual violence climate sur- 3 vey conducted not later than one year after such 4 date of enactment, and conducted, reviewed, and up- 5 dated every 2 years thereafter— 6 ‘‘(i) which is developed and approved by 7 the Secretary, in consultation with the Director 8 of the Centers for Disease Control of the De- 9 partment of Health and Human Services and 10 the Attorney General, except that the National 11 Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 12 developed by the National Center for Injury 13 Prevention and Control of the Centers for Dis- 14 ease Control and Prevention may be used for 15 purposes of this subparagraph until the sexual 16 violence climate survey has been developed; 17 ‘‘(ii) which assesses the occurrence on cam- 18 pus or in a noncampus building or property 19 during the preceding calendar year for which 20 data is available of— 21 ‘‘(I) instances of domestic violence, 22 dating violence, sexual assault, sexual vio- 23 lence, sexual harassment, and stalking; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3381 IH ‘‘(II) whether the instances described 1 in subclause (I) were experienced in-person 2 or through electronic means; 3 ‘‘(III) indicators of discrimination, 4 and positive and negative trends for inti- 5 mate relationships that incorporates infor- 6 mation about gender identity and sexual 7 orientation; 8 ‘‘(IV) the effectiveness of campus sex- 9 ual violence awareness and prevention pro- 10 grams and policies for the overall student 11 body and different student populations, 12 such as students of color, students in the 13 LGBTQ communities, immigrant students, 14 pregnant and parenting students, and stu- 15 dents with disabilities; 16 ‘‘(V) the effectiveness of current proc- 17 esses for complaints on and investigations 18 into sex-based, race-based, national origin- 19 based, sexual orientation-based, gender 20 identity-based, and disability-based harass- 21 ment, assault, discrimination, domestic vio- 22 lence, dating violence, and stalking; 23 ‘‘(VI) student’s awareness of campus 24 policies and procedures, including the loca- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3381 IH tion and process for accessing campus re- 1 sources such as the title IX coordinator 2 designated by the institution pursuant to 3 title IX of the Education Amendments of 4 1972; 5 ‘‘(VII) whether individuals impacted 6 by sexual harassment, sexual violence, dis- 7 crimination, domestic violence, dating vio- 8 lence, and stalking have experienced nega- 9 tive effects on their education, including 10 diminished grades, dropped classes, leaves 11 of absence; 12 ‘‘(VIII) whether individuals impacted 13 by sexual harassment, sexual violence, dis- 14 crimination, domestic violence, dating vio- 15 lence, and stalking have experienced nega- 16 tive financial consequences, including costs 17 associated with loss in paid tuition due to 18 leaves of absence, loss in scholarship 19 awards due to diminished grades, coun- 20 seling, medical services, or housing 21 changes; 22 ‘‘(IX) what training is being provided 23 to faculty and staff on policies and proce- 24 dures pertaining to sexual harassment, sex- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3381 IH ual violence, discrimination, domestic vio- 1 lence, dating violence, and stalking, includ- 2 ing best practices in prevention; 3 ‘‘(X) whether the perpetrator of sex- 4 ual harassment, sexual violence, discrimi- 5 nation, domestic violence, dating violence, 6 and stalking was a student and other con- 7 textual factors, such as whether force, in- 8 capacitation, or coercion was involved; 9 ‘‘(XI) whether individuals impacted by 10 sexual harassment, sexual violence, dis- 11 crimination, domestic violence, dating vio- 12 lence, and stalking reported such sexual 13 harassment, sexual violence, discrimina- 14 tion, domestic violence, dating violence, 15 and stalking; 16 ‘‘(XII) if such an individual did so re- 17 port, to whom they reported, and what re- 18 sponse the survivor received; 19 ‘‘(XIII) if such an individual reported 20 to the institution of higher education, did 21 the institution conduct an investigation 22 and how long did the investigation take; 23 ‘‘(XIV) campus community members’, 24 such as students, full-time and part-time 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3381 IH staff and faculty, and administration offi- 1 cials, attitudes toward sexual violence and 2 harassment, including individuals’ willing- 3 ness to intervene as a bystander of sex- 4 based, race-based, national origin-based, 5 sexual orientation-based, gender identity- 6 based, and disability-based discrimination, 7 harassment, assault, domestic violence, 8 dating violence, and stalking; 9 ‘‘(XV) campus community members’, 10 such as students, full-time and part-time 11 staff and faculty, and administration offi- 12 cials, perception of campus safety and con- 13 fidence in the institution’s ability to appro- 14 priately address sex-based, race-based, na- 15 tional origin-based, sexual orientation- 16 based, gender identity-based, and dis- 17 ability-based discrimination, harassment, 18 assault, domestic violence, dating violence, 19 and stalking; and 20 ‘‘(XVI) any other issues relating to 21 sex-based, race-based, national origin- 22 based, sexual orientation-based, gender 23 identity-based, and disability-based dis- 24 crimination, harassment, assault, domestic 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 3381 IH violence, dating violence, and stalking, as 1 appropriate; and 2 ‘‘(iii) which shall be made publicly avail- 3 able and readily accessible to and usable by in- 4 dividuals, including individuals with disabilities, 5 on the institution’s website, including on 6 webpages directed at prospective and current 7 students.’’. 8 SEC. 6. CREATION OF A PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 9 Section 485(f)(14) of the Higher Education Act of 10 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(14)) is amended to read as fol- 11 lows: 12 ‘‘(14)(A) Subject to subparagraph (C), an aggrieved 13 individual may allege a violation of this subsection in a 14 judicial proceeding. A court may award an aggrieved indi- 15 vidual all appropriate relief, including equitable relief, 16 compensatory damages, cost of the action, and remedial 17 action. 18 ‘‘(B) This paragraph shall not be construed to pre- 19 clude an aggrieved individual from obtaining other rem- 20 edies under any other provision of law or to require such 21 individual to exhaust any administrative complaint process 22 or notice-of-claim requirement before seeking redress 23 under this paragraph. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 3381 IH ‘‘(C) For actions brought pursuant to this paragraph, 1 the statute of limitations period shall be determined in ac- 2 cordance with section 1658(a) of title 28, United States 3 Code. The tolling of any such limitations period shall be 4 determined in accordance with section 1979 of the Revised 5 Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1983) in the 6 forum State.’’. 7 SEC. 7. INCREASE OF CLERY ACT PENALTIES. 8 Section 485(f)(13) of the Higher Education Act of 9 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(13)) is amended— 10 (1) by striking ‘‘in the same amount and’’; and 11 (2) by inserting before the period at the end the 12 following: ‘‘, expect that such section shall be applied 13 by substituting ‘$100,000’ for ‘$25,000’ ’’. 14 SEC. 8. NOTIFICATION OF POLICIES AIMED AT PREVEN- 15 TION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (8) of section 485(f) 17 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)) 18 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 19 paragraphs: 20 ‘‘(D) The statement of policy described in subpara- 21 graph (A) shall be— 22 ‘‘(i) written using simple and understandable 23 language and clear formatting; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3381.IH H3381 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 3381 IH ‘‘(ii) made widely available and posted on the 1 institution’s public website in a manner that is read- 2 ily accessible to and usable by individuals, including 3 individuals with disabilities, and in conspicuous 4 places, includi [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]