By Richard Lee
AUSTIN – In committee action Monday, the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee approved a measure aimed at ensuring the proper reporting and investigation of all sexual assault allegations on college campuses.
Bill author and committee chair Senator Joan Huffman of Houston said studies show one in five female college students have experienced some form of sexual assault. SB 212 would require any university employee that either witnesses or receives information about sexual harassment, assault, dating violence or stalking reports the incident to the institution’s Title XI coordinator for investigation.
It also requires the coordinator to make a monthly report on the number and status of sexual assault investigations to the institution’s president and requires the president to make the same report to the institution’s governing board once a semester. The report would be made publicly available, though the identities of individuals within would be concealed.
The bill also has strong penalties for non-compliance. Employees failing to report incidents of sexual assault would be terminated, and if the person intentionally tried to cover the incident up, they would face a Class A misdemeanor charge. The university itself could also face disciplinary action as a failure to comply with the bill’s requirements could incur as much as a $2 million penalty.
“I am confident that this bill strengthens the reporting requirements to ensure that the days when an outcry went unheard or covered up at an institution of a higher education are over,” said Huffman. A similar version of this measure cleared the Senate 30-1 last session but failed to reach the governor’s desk.
