Bill > H1041

This bill aims to enhance the response to sexual violence on higher education campuses by requiring institutions to adopt comprehensive policies and protocols. These policies must include clear procedures for reporting and disclosing incidents of sexual assault, stalking, and intimate partner violence, along with information on accessing advocacy, counseling, and health services. Institutions will be mandated to provide students and employees with options for changing academic or living situations and to honor protective orders. The bill also mandates the disclosure of disciplinary procedures for both students and employees, including details on the process, rights of victims and accused individuals, and potential sanctions. Furthermore, it introduces definitions for terms like "awareness programming," "bystander intervention," "intimate partner violence," "responsible employee," "primary prevention programming," "sexual assault," "stalking," and "trauma-informed response." To support these efforts, the bill proposes the appointment of a campus safety advisor, requires institutions to post information about sexual violence hotlines and medical facilities on their websites, and mandates annual reporting of case statistics. Institutions will also need to provide students and employees with timely notification of their rights and options, enter into memorandums of understanding with sexual assault crisis services and law enforcement, and offer anonymous reporting options and confidential advisors. Finally, the bill mandates sexual violence prevention programming and training for students, employees, and relevant staff, and requires the integration of a threat response program for emergency communications.