85R13244 KJE-D
By: Alvarado H.B. No. 3187
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the campus sexual assault policy at a public
institution of higher education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.9363, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to
read as follows:
(e) Each institution of higher education shall provide to
students enrolled at the institution information regarding the
protocol for reporting incidents of campus sexual assault adopted
under Subsection (b), including the name, office location, and
contact information of the institution's Title IX coordinator, by:
(1) e-mailing the information to each student at the
beginning of each semester or other academic term; and
(2) including the information in the orientation
required under Subsection (d).
(f) As part of the protocol for responding to reports of
campus sexual assault adopted under Subsection (b), each
institution of higher education shall:
(1) ensure that each alleged victim or alleged
perpetrator of an incident of campus sexual assault and any other
person who reports such an incident is offered counseling provided
by a counselor who does not provide counseling to any other person
involved in the incident; and
(2) notwithstanding any other law, allow an alleged
victim or alleged perpetrator of an incident of campus sexual
assault to drop a course in which both parties are enrolled without
any academic penalty.
(g) An institution of higher education may not take any
disciplinary action against a student enrolled at the institution
who reports to the institution being the victim of, or a witness to,
an incident of campus sexual assault for a violation by the student
of the institution's policies on student conduct that involves
alcohol or drug use and occurs in relation to the incident. This
subsection may not be construed to limit an institution's ability
to provide amnesty from application of the institution's policies
in circumstances not described by this subsection.
(h) 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 amended by
this Act, applies beginning with the 2017-2018 academic year.
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, 2017.