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2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
2023 ASSEMBLY BILL 728
December 6, 2023 - Introduced by Representatives EMERSON, HONG, C. ANDERSON,
J. ANDERSON, CONLEY, CONSIDINE, DRAKE, JACOBSON, JOERS, MADISON, OHNSTAD,
ORTIZ-VELEZ, PALMERI, RATCLIFF, SHANKLAND, SHELTON, SINICKI, STUBBS and
CLANCY, cosponsored by Senators AGARD, ROYS, HESSELBEIN, L. JOHNSON,
LARSON, PFAFF, SMITH, SPREITZER and TAYLOR. Referred to Committee on
Criminal Justice and Public Safety.
***AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
AN ACT to renumber 118.07 (5); and to create 118.07 (5) (b), 118.47 and 121.02
(1) (L) 2m. of the statutes; relating to: teen dating violence prevention
education.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill requires the Department of Public Instruction to work with the
Department of Children and Families, the Department of Health Services, the
Council on Domestic Abuse, and advocates from statewide organizations
representing victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, to adopt a policy
governing the prevention of and appropriate responses to teen dating violence and
sexual violence when pupils are at school or while pupils are under the supervision
of a school authority. DPI must adopt this policy and make it available to school
districts by no later than July 1, 2024.
The bill also requires DPI to incorporate a teen dating violence and sexual
violence prevention curriculum into its model health problems education
curriculum. Under the bill, DPI's teen dating violence and sexual violence
prevention curriculum must include various topics, including skills for identifying
teen dating violence, abusive behavior, physical intimidation, stalking, physical
abuse, sexual violence, and cyberbullying; appropriate and safe ways for teen
bystanders to intervene in teen dating violence, sexual violence, and incidents of
stalking and to seek help from supportive adults on behalf of victims; the meaning
of consent, how to communicate consent, the absence of consent, and how to identify
consent and the absence of consent; and characteristics of healthy relationships.
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By January 1, 2025, each school board must adopt DPI's policy governing the
prevention of and appropriate responses to teen dating violence and sexual violence
or create its own substantially similar policy, and by July 1, 2025, each school board
must adopt and incorporate DPI's teen dating violence and sexual violence
prevention curriculum or create and incorporate its own substantially similar
curriculum. Under the bill, a school board's policy must require a teacher to notify
a pupil's parent or guardian if the teacher knows or has reason to believe the pupil
was involved in an incident of teen dating violence or sexual violence that occurred
at school or under the supervision of a school authority.
Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, the bill requires school boards to provide
age-appropriate instruction about teen dating violence prevention to pupils at least
once in grades 6 to 8 and once in grades 9 to 12. Under the bill, before the first day
of the school term, school boards must provide parents and guardians a notice about
instruction in teen dating violence and sexual violence prevention education planned
for that school term. The notice must include 1) that the written and audiovisual
educational materials used in the instruction are available for inspection and a copy
of the materials is available upon request and 2) that a parent or guardian may
request in writing that their child not receive the instruction.
Finally, under the bill, school boards must require school district employees
who have direct contact with pupils in grades 6 to 12 to attend teen dating violence
and sexual violence prevention training within six months of beginning employment
and again at least once every five years.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 118.07 (5) of the statutes is renumbered 118.07 (5) (a).
SECTION 2. 118.07 (5) (b) of the statutes is created to read:
118.07 (5) (b) A school board shall require every employee of the school district
governed by the school board who has direct contact with pupils in grades 6 to 12 to
attend training provided by the department in the prevention of and appropriate
responses to teen dating violence and sexual violence when pupils are at school or
while pupils are under the supervision of a school authority. The school board shall
ensure that a school district employee attends the training required under this
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paragraph within the first 6 months after beginning employment with the school
district and at least once every 5 years after the initial training.
SECTION 3. 118.47 of the statutes is created to read:
118.47 Teen dating violence prevention education. (1) DEFINITIONS. In
this section:
(a) “Abusive behavior" means verbal or physical intimidation, threats, or
harassment, whether direct, by electronic means, or through other persons.
(b) “Age-appropriate" has the meaning given in s. 118.019 (1m) (a).
(c) “Child with a disability" has the meaning given in s. 115.76 (5).
(d) “Cyberbullying" means the use of information and communication
technologies, such as a cell phone, computer, Internet site, or electronic mail
message, to engage in or support deliberate, hostile behavior intended to frighten,
intimidate, mock, insult, bully, or harm others.
(e) “Dating partner" means any individual involved in an intimate relationship
with another individual primarily characterized by the demonstration of affection,
whether casual, serious, or long-term.
(f) “Emotional abuse” has the meaning given in s. 46.90 (1) (cm).
(g) “Harassment” has the meaning given in s. 813.125 (1) (am) 4.
(h) “Healthy relationship" means an equal relationship free from abusive,
violent, and controlling behavior in which each individual respects the other's right
to have his or her own opinions, friends, and activities, and each individual can
openly communicate with the other individual.
(i) “Physical abuse" means shaking, arm twisting, pushing, hitting, kicking,
slapping, strangulation, hair pulling, physical intimidation, or any behavior that
may result in injury.
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(j) “Physical intimidation" means an attempt to frighten or coerce another
individual by physical contact, including by restraining the individual, blocking the
individual's movements or exits, punching walls, or throwing objects.
(k) “Sexual contact” has the meaning given in s. 940.225 (5) (b).
(L) “Sexual violence" means any unwanted sexual contact.
(m) “Stalking" means willfully and repeatedly following or harassing another
individual or making a threat with the intent to place that individual in fear for the
individual's safety or the safety of the individual's family.
(n) “Teen dating violence" means behavior to which all of the following apply:
1. An individual uses abusive behavior, threats of or actual physical abuse,
sexual violence, cyberbullying, or emotional abuse.
2. The effect of the behavior is to dominate, control, or punish the individual's
dating partner or former dating partner.
3. At least one of the dating partners is a teenager.
(2) DEPARTMENT; DUTIES. (a) By July 1, 2024, the department shall, working in
consultation with the department of children and families, the department of health
services, the council on domestic abuse, and advocates from statewide organizations
representing victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, prepare, adopt, and
make available to school districts a policy governing the prevention of and
appropriate responses to teen dating violence and sexual violence when pupils are
at school or while pupils are under the supervision of a school authority. The
department shall incorporate all of the following in its policy:
1. Methods for accommodating pupils who are victims of teen dating violence
or sexual violence.
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2. A requirement that school districts comply with and support compliance
with court orders related to teen dating violence and sexual violence.
3. Methods for protecting the rights, safety, and privacy of victims.
(b) In preparing the policy required under par. (a), the department shall take
into consideration other policies that have been adopted by a school board and that
directly address the prevention of and appropriate responses to teen dating violence
and sexual violence, as well as other obligations imposed upon the school board
related to education and training; the protection and accommodation of a pupil who
is the victim of bullying, harassment, or assault; and the reporting of suspected child
abuse and neglect. The department shall explicitly reference those policies and
obligations in the policy adopted under par. (a). To the greatest extent possible, the
department shall not duplicate in the policy adopted under par. (a) any requirement
or obligation imposed upon a school board under a policy adopted by a school board
or under current law.
(c) The department shall incorporate a teen dating violence and sexual violence
prevention curriculum into its model health problems education curriculum. The
teen dating violence and sexual violence prevention curriculum shall include all of
the following topics:
1. Definitions of teen dating violence and sexual violence.
2. Skills for identifying teen dating violence, abusive behavior, physical
intimidation, stalking, physical abuse, sexual violence, and cyberbullying.
3. Appropriate and safe ways for teen bystanders to intervene in teen dating
violence, sexual violence, and incidents of stalking and to seek help from supportive
adults on behalf of victims.
4. Characteristics of healthy relationships.
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5. The meaning of consent, how to communicate consent, the absence of
consent, and how to identify consent and the absence of consent. The department
shall include under this subdivision all of the following:
a. That consent does not exist when a person is coerced or when permission is
implied, assumed, or given under threat.
b. That a person that consents to one act does not thereby consent to any other
act.
c. That consent does not exist when one or all parties involved in an activity are
intoxicated or otherwise incapacitated.
6. Communication techniques to help pupils discuss and resolve conflicts
within dating relationships with respect and nonviolence.
7. Methods for exercising critical thinking skills and developing skills for pupils
to recognize and understand their own individual boundaries and recognize and
respect the boundaries of others.
8. Relevant information about and sources for legal, medical, and mental
health and other supportive services regarding teen dating violence and sexual
violence.
9. Relevant information about trafficking, as defined in s. 940.302 (1) (d), for
purposes of a commercial sex act, as defined in s. 940.302 (1) (a).
(d) The department shall provide training in the prevention of and appropriate
responses to teen dating violence and sexual violence when pupils are at school or
while pupils are under the supervision of a school authority to school district
employees who have direct contact with pupils in grades 6 to 12.
(3) SCHOOL BOARD; DUTIES. (a) By January 1, 2025, a school board shall adopt
a policy governing the prevention of and appropriate responses to teen dating
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violence and sexual violence. A school board may adopt the department's model
policy described under sub. (2) (a) or adopt its own policy. If the school board adopts
its own policy, the school board shall ensure that the policy includes all of the
provisions under sub. (2) (a). A school board shall include in a policy adopted under
this paragraph a requirement that a teacher notify a pupil's parent or guardian if the
teacher knows or has reason to believe that the pupil was involved in an incident of
teen dating violence or sexual violence that occurred at school or under the
supervision of a school authority.
(b) By July 1, 2025, a school board shall adopt and incorporate the teen dating
violence and sexual violence prevention curriculum described under sub. (2) (c) into
its health education program or adopt and incorporate its own teen dating violence
and sexual violence prevention curriculum that includes all of the topics described
under sub. (2) (c).
(c) At the beginning of each school term, or, for a pupil who enrolls in a school
after the beginning of the school term, at the time of that pupil's enrollment, a school
board shall notify the parent or guardian of each pupil about the instruction in teen
dating violence and sexual violence prevention education planned for the school term
and include in the notice at least all of the following:
1. That the written and audiovisual educational materials used in
comprehensive teen dating violence and sexual violence prevention education are
available for inspection and that a copy of the instructional materials is available
upon request.
2. That a parent or guardian may request in writing that his or her child not
receive teen dating violence and sexual violence prevention education.
SECTION 4. 121.02 (1) (L) 2m. of the statutes is created to read:
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SECTION 4 ASSEMBLY BILL 728
121.02 (1) (L) 2m. Beginning in the 2025-26 school year , provide
age-appropriate instruction in the prevention of teen dating violence and sexual
violence to pupils once in any of the grades 6 to 8 and once in any of the grades 9 to
12. The school board shall ensure that the instruction provided under this
subdivision is consistent with the curriculum described in s. 118.47 (3) (b) and that
the instructors use instructional methods and materials that are consistent with s.
118.13 (1).
(END)
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