BRAVE Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5722 To require reporting of bullying to appropriate authorities and assist with equal protection claims against entities who fail to respond appropriately to bullying, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 30, 2020 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Ms. LEE of California, and Mr. TAKANO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Education and Labor A BILL To require reporting of bullying to appropriate authorities and assist with equal protection claims against entities who fail to respond appropriately to bullying, 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 ‘‘Bullying Redress And 4 Verified Enforcement Act’’ or the ‘‘BRAVE Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:30 Feb 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5722 IH SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 1 Part F of title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary 2 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) is amend- 3 ed by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘Subpart 6—Bullying 5 ‘‘SEC. 8581. OFFICIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 6 ‘‘(a) REPORT OF BULLYING.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 8 local educational agency shall require an employee of 9 the local educational agency who becomes aware of 10 bullying to report to the individual designated under 11 subsection (b) by not later than 7 business days 12 after becoming aware of such bullying a description 13 of— 14 ‘‘(A) the acts that constituted bullying; 15 ‘‘(B) if the bullying included a reference to 16 or was motivated by an actual or perceived pro- 17 tected characteristic of the victim, such pro- 18 tected characteristic; and 19 ‘‘(C) the response to such bullying by em- 20 ployees of the local educational agency. 21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 22 (1), in the case of an employee of a local educational 23 agency who is informed of bullying by a student at- 24 tending a school served by the local educational 25 agency, but the student requests that such bullying 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5722 IH not be reported by the employee, the employee shall 1 not be required to report such bullying under para- 2 graph (1). 3 ‘‘(b) RECEIPT OF REPORTS.—A local educational 4 agency shall designate an individual to receive and keep 5 a record of reports of bullying and shall inform each em- 6 ployee of the local educational agency of the contact infor- 7 mation of the individual so designated. 8 ‘‘(c) REPORTING TO THE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL 9 AGENCY.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the 10 receipt of a report under subsection (a)(1), the individual 11 designated under subsection (b) shall inform all employees 12 of the local educational agency of the acts described and 13 the response by employees of the local educational agency 14 and shall exclude any personally identifiable information 15 of any student involved. 16 ‘‘(d) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE QUARTERLY REPORTS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (1), a 18 local educational agency shall publish and make 19 available to all students served by the local edu- 20 cational agency and parents of such students a re- 21 port on a quarterly basis that— 22 ‘‘(A) lists the number of bullying reports 23 made since the previous quarterly report; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5722 IH ‘‘(B) informs the public of the right to file 1 a complaint under section 8582(b)(2). 2 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—A local educational agency 3 shall not publish a report under paragraph (1) in a 4 case in which such publication would reveal person- 5 ally identifiable information about an individual stu- 6 dent. 7 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL POLICY REVIEW.—Each local edu- 8 cational agency shall review, on an annual basis, the poli- 9 cies on bullying for schools served by the local educational 10 agency. 11 ‘‘SEC. 8582. FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT. 12 ‘‘(a) CONDITION OF FEDERAL FUNDING.—As a con- 13 dition of receiving funds under this Act, a local edu- 14 cational agency shall— 15 ‘‘(1) annually certify to the Secretary in writing 16 that such local educational agency has complied with 17 this section; and 18 ‘‘(2) together with such certification, submit the 19 4 most recent quarterly reports published preceding 20 such certification pursuant to section 8581(d). 21 ‘‘(b) FEDERAL RECEIPT OF COMPLAINTS.—The As- 22 sistant Secretary who serves as the head of the Office of 23 Civil Rights for the Department of Education shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5722 IH ‘‘(1) establish a procedure for a student of a 1 local educational agency, a parent of such student, 2 or another appropriate individual to submit to the 3 Assistant Secretary a complaint relating to a failure 4 to comply with this section; and 5 ‘‘(2) publish such procedure on the internet 6 website of the Department of Education. 7 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS.—After 8 receiving a complaint pursuant to subsection (b), the As- 9 sistant Secretary shall— 10 ‘‘(1) investigate such complaint to determine if 11 a local educational agency failed to comply with this 12 section; and 13 ‘‘(2) if such local educational agency is deter- 14 mined under paragraph (1) to have failed to comply 15 with this section— 16 ‘‘(A) withhold further payment of funds 17 under this Act to such local educational agency; 18 ‘‘(B) issue a complaint to compel compli- 19 ance of such local educational agency through a 20 cease and desist order; or 21 ‘‘(C) enter into a compliance agreement 22 with such local educational agency to bring it 23 into compliance with this section, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5722 IH in the same manner as the Secretary is authorized 1 to take such actions under sections 455, 456, and 2 457, respectively, of the General Education Provi- 3 sions Act. 4 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT 5 COMPLAINTS.—Not later than 60 days after receiving a 6 complaint pursuant to subsection (b)(2), the Assistant 7 Secretary shall make available on the internet website of 8 the Department information about such complaint, which 9 shall— 10 ‘‘(1) if the bullying included a reference to or 11 was motivated by an actual or perceived protected 12 characteristic of the victim, include a description of 13 such protected characteristic; and 14 ‘‘(2) exclude any personally identifiable infor- 15 mation of any student involved. 16 ‘‘SEC. 8583. DEFINITIONS. 17 ‘‘In this subpart: 18 ‘‘(1) BULLYING.—The term ‘bullying’ means 19 any severe, pervasive, or persistent electronic, writ- 20 ten, verbal, or physical act by one student or a 21 group of students toward another student during 22 school hours and on school premises, or at a school- 23 sponsored activity outside of school hours, that 24 causes— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5722 IH ‘‘(A) harm to or reasonable concern for the 1 person, property, or mental health of such other 2 student; or 3 ‘‘(B) such other student to withdraw from 4 or avoid benefitting from the services, activities, 5 or opportunities offered by the school. 6 ‘‘(2) PROTECTED CHARACTERISTIC.—The term 7 ‘protected characteristic’ includes race, color, sex, re- 8 ligion, national origin, disability, gender, gender 9 identity, and sexual orientation.’’. 10 SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 11 The table of contents for the Elementary and Sec- 12 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) 13 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 14 8574, the following: 15 ‘‘SUBPART 6—BULLYING ‘‘Sec. 8581. Official reporting requirements. ‘‘Sec. 8582. Federal enforcement. ‘‘Sec. 8583. Definitions.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jan 31, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5722.IH H5722 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS