Sec. 6. Enforcement and training; subpoena authority
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Section 901 of the Education Amendments of 1972 ( 20 U.S.C. 1681 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: The Secretary of Education shall establish a title IX website that includes the following: The name and contact information for the title IX coordinator, including a brief description of the coordinator’s role and the roles of other officials who may be contacted to discuss or report sexual harassment, for each educational institution. Each educational institution shall provide the name and contact information for the title IX coordinator to the Secretary of Education not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of the Campus Accountability and Safety Act.
The Department’s pending investigations, enforcement actions, letters of finding, final resolutions, and voluntary resolution agreements for all complaints and compliance reviews under this title related to sexual harassment. The Secretary shall indicate whether the investigation, action, letter, resolution, or agreement is based on a complaint or compliance review. The Secretary shall make the information under this subsection available regarding a complaint once the Office for Civil Rights receives a written complaint, and conducts an initial evaluation, and has determined that the complaint should be opened for investigation of an allegation that, if substantiated, would constitute a violation of this title.
In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that personally identifiable information is not reported and shall comply with section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act ( 20 U.S.C. 1232g ), commonly known as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 . In this subsection, the term responsible employee means an employee of an institution of higher education who has the authority to redress sexual harassment or who has the duty to report incidents of sexual harassment or other misconduct by students or employees to the title IX coordinator or other appropriate school designee.
Each institution of higher education shall employ a responsible employee who shall complete minimum training requirements (as determined by the Secretary of Education in coordination with the Attorney General and to include training by local, State, or national victim services organizations) and shall be responsible for— reporting cases of sexual harassment to the title IX coordinator of the institution; and providing a student or employee who reports that the student or employee has been a victim of sexual harassment, including, but not limited to, sexual violence, whether the offense occurred on or off campus, with a written explanation of the student or employee’s rights and options, as described in clauses
(ii)through
(vii)of section 485(f)(8)(B) of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Each individual who is involved in implementing an institution of higher education’s grievance procedures, including each individual who is responsible for resolving complaints of reported crimes, shall have training or experience in handling sexual violence complaints, and the operations of the institution’s grievance procedures, not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. The training shall include, but is not limited to— information on working with and interviewing persons subjected to sexual violence; information on particular types of conduct that would constitute sexual violence, including same-sex sexual violence; information on consent and the role drugs or alcohol can play in the ability to consent; the effects of trauma, including neurobiological change; and cultural awareness training regarding how sexual violence may impact students differently depending on their cultural background. Each institution of higher education that receives Federal funding— shall establish and carry out a uniform process (for each campus of the institution) for disciplinary proceedings relating to any claims of sexual violence; and shall not carry out a different disciplinary process on the same campus for a matter of sexual violence, or alter the uniform process described in subparagraph (A), based on the status or characteristics of a student who will be involved in that disciplinary proceeding, including characteristics such as a student’s membership on an athletic team, academic major, or any other characteristic or status of a student. Upon determination, after reasonable notice and opportunity for a hearing, that an educational institution that is an institution of higher education has violated or failed to carry out any provision of this section in a factual circumstance related to sexual violence or any regulation prescribed under this section related to sexual violence, the Secretary of Education or Attorney General, may impose a civil penalty upon such institution of not more than 1 percent of the institution's 1-year operating budget, as defined by the Secretary of Education, for each violation or failure. A civil penalty shall not interfere with the Secretary’s or Attorney General’s ability to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with an institution of higher education. Any civil penalty under paragraph
(1)may be modified by the Secretary of Education or Attorney General. In determining the amount of such penalty, or the amount agreed upon in compromise, the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the operating budget of the educational institution subject to the determination, and the gravity of the violation or failure, and whether the violation or failure was done intentionally, negligently, or otherwise, shall be considered. Any civil monetary penalty or monetary settlement collected under this subsection shall be transferred to the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education or the Department of Justice to be used for purposes of enforcing the provisions of this title related to sexual harassment. Nothing in the Campus Accountability and Safety Act , or any amendment made by such Act, shall alter, amend, or interfere with the rights and remedies provided for and available under this title. An individual may file a complaint for a violation of this title, with regards to sexual violence, with the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education not later than 180 days after the date of graduation or disaffiliation with the institution. In order to obtain information and documents that are relevant to determining compliance with this title, including any regulations promulgated to carry out this title, the Assistant Secretary of the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education and the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice are authorized to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of any person that one can reasonably believe to have first-hand knowledge, including current and former students and employees of institutions of higher education, and the production of documents, including reports, answers, records, accounts, papers, and other data in any medium (including electronically stored information), and any tangible thing. A subpoena issued under this subsection, in the case of contumacy or refusal to obey, shall be enforceable by order of any appropriate United States district court. The Assistant Secretary of the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education and the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice shall have civil investigative demand authority, which authorizes the request for documents of the institutions and written answers to interrogatories in order to determine compliance with title IX. Each educational institution that receives Federal financial assistance from the Department of Education shall submit, annually, to the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the name of the title IX coordinator of the institution, including a brief description of the coordinator's role and the roles of other officials of the institution who may be contacted to discuss or report sexual violence, and documentation of training received by the title IX coordinator. The educational institution shall provide updated information to the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice not later than 30 days after the date of any change. .
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