Bill Text: TX SB969 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to requiring certain public and private institutions of higher education to provide amnesty to students who report certain incidents, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-2)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-12 - Effective immediately [SB969 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB969-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to requiring certain public and private institutions of higher education to provide amnesty to students who report certain incidents, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-2)
Status: (Passed) 2017-06-12 - Effective immediately [SB969 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB969-Comm_Sub.html
By: Watson | S.B. No. 969 | |
(In the Senate - Filed February 21, 2017; March 1, 2017, | ||
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; | ||
March 29, 2017, reported adversely, with favorable Committee | ||
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; March 29, 2017, | ||
sent to printer.) | ||
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 969 | By: Nelson |
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relating to requiring certain public and private institutions of | ||
higher education to provide amnesty to students who report | ||
incidents of 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 51.9366 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 51.9366. AMNESTY FOR STUDENTS REPORTING INCIDENTS OF | ||
SEXUAL ASSAULT. (a) In this section: | ||
(1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher | ||
Education Coordinating Board. | ||
(2) "Postsecondary educational institution" means an | ||
institution of higher education or a private or independent | ||
institution of higher education, as those terms are defined by | ||
Section 61.003. | ||
(3) "Sexual assault" means sexual contact or | ||
intercourse with a person without the person's consent, including | ||
sexual contact or intercourse against the person's will or in a | ||
circumstance in which the person is incapable of consenting to the | ||
contact or intercourse. | ||
(b) A postsecondary educational institution may not take | ||
any disciplinary action against a student enrolled at the | ||
institution for a violation by the student of the institution's | ||
policies on student conduct if the student in good faith reports to | ||
the institution being the victim of, or a witness to, an incident of | ||
sexual assault and the violation of the institution's policies is | ||
in relation to the incident. This subsection applies regardless of | ||
the location at which the incident occurred or the outcome of the | ||
institution's disciplinary process regarding the incident, if any. | ||
(c) A determination that a student is entitled to amnesty | ||
under Subsection (b) is final and may not be revoked. | ||
(d) Subsection (b) does not apply to a student who reports | ||
the student's own commission of sexual assault or assistance in the | ||
commission of sexual assault. | ||
(e) This section may not be construed to limit a | ||
postsecondary educational institution's ability to provide amnesty | ||
from application of the institution's policies in circumstances not | ||
described by Subsection (b). | ||
(f) The coordinating board may adopt rules as necessary to | ||
implement and enforce this section. | ||
(g) The commissioner of higher education shall establish an | ||
advisory committee to recommend to the coordinating board rules for | ||
adoption under Subsection (f). The advisory committee consists of | ||
nine members appointed by the commissioner. Each member must be a | ||
chief executive officer of a postsecondary educational institution | ||
or a representative designated by that officer. Not later than | ||
December 1, 2017, the advisory committee shall submit the | ||
committee's recommendations to the coordinating board. This | ||
subsection expires September 1, 2018. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 51.9366, Education Code, as added by | ||
this Act, applies beginning with the 2018 spring 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, 2017. | ||
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