By: Nevárez, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Uresti) H.B. No. 699
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2015;
May 7, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Higher
Education; May 22, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 4, Nays 2; May 22, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring public institutions of higher education to
establish a policy on campus sexual assault.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 51.9363 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.9363. CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT POLICY. (a) In this
section, "institution of higher education" has the meaning assigned
by Section 61.003.
(b) Each institution of higher education shall adopt a
policy on campus sexual assault. The policy must:
(1) include:
(A) definitions of prohibited behavior;
(B) sanctions for violations; and
(C) the protocol for reporting and responding to
reports of campus sexual assault; and
(2) be approved by the institution's governing board
before final adoption by the institution.
(c) Each institution of higher education shall make the
institution's campus sexual assault policy available to students,
faculty, and staff members by:
(1) including the policy in the institution's student
handbook and personnel handbook; and
(2) creating and maintaining a web page on the
institution's Internet website dedicated solely to the policy.
(d) Each institution of higher education shall require each
entering freshman or undergraduate transfer student to attend an
orientation on the institution's campus sexual assault policy
before or during the first semester or term in which the student is
enrolled at the institution. The institution shall establish the
format and content of the orientation.
(e) Each biennium, each institution of higher education
shall review the institution's campus sexual assault policy and,
with approval of the institution's governing board, revise the
policy as necessary.
SECTION 2. Section 51.9363, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2015 fall semester.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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