Bill > H5205

This bill mandates that starting with the 2027-2028 academic year, all public colleges, universities, and technical colleges in South Carolina must implement comprehensive safety training programs for new students, covering topics like personal safety, emergency procedures, campus security access, prevention of sexual assault and domestic violence, bystander intervention, and mental health resources. The training, developed by campus public safety directors and approved by institutional leaders, will be administered during initial orientation or within the first 30 days of a student's arrival, with exceptions for certain program types like adult education or continuing education. Institutions will also be required to annually report campus crime statistics, including whether victims and offenders were "affiliated" (meaning connected to the institution, such as students, faculty, or staff) at the time of the crime, to state education bodies and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, with summaries made publicly available. Furthermore, colleges must post their campus safety plans online and update them annually, and starting with the same academic year, they must also provide opioid and fentanyl prevention education to students and train staff in residence halls on administering overdose reversal medication, making such medication available on campus and providing legal protections for those who administer it in good faith.