The Hold Accountable and Lend Transparency on Campus Sexual Violence Act, introduced Thursday by Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), already has more than 20 co-sponsors from both parties.
It's similar in many ways to the Campus Accountability and Safety Act that's been introduced in the Senate. Both bills would require campus climate surveys, require the disclosure of investigations and findings, and increase penalties for violations of federal laws pertaining to sexual violence at colleges. Clery fines, for example, would increase from $35,000 to $100,000 per violation.
"When we finally have a real cost, we'll actually see schools take the issue seriously," said Laura Dunn, attorney advocate and founder of SurvJustice.
Several higher education organizations declined to comment on the bill Thursday.
Notably, the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act will for the first time create a private right of action under the Clery Act. Clery requires colleges to accurately track and disclose the number of crimes reported on campus, and thanks to amendments made as part of the Campus SaVE Act in 2013, it also lays out several new rights for the accused and accusers in sexual assault cases.
The Education Department has repeatedly said it's understaffed, and allowing litigation under Clery could reduce that strain since grievances could be moved from federal complaints under the department to the courts, Dunn noted. The new House bill would also dole out $5 million in extra funding for investigators in the department.
Currently, the Education Department's Office of Federal Student Aid has jurisdiction to investigate a college for Clery violations. But the department declines to name or even acknowledge when a school is under investigation. Instead, the public is left in the dark until a fine is announced, if one is imposed at all. Experts endorsed this provision in a version of the House bill that was introduced last year.
"[The Clery Act] is only enforceable through the Department of Education [and] can't be used for any sense in a lawsuit, so it's kind of a meaningless tool," Dunn said.
Under Campus SaVE Act provisions, Clery now requires colleges to allow both the accuser and the accused to have an attorney present during the disciplinary process, gives them the right to appeal disciplinary proceeding decisions or changes to the final result, and allows them to both receive the final results of a disciplinary proceeding in writing.
"There's this false portrayal of victims getting all these gains -- no, we're actually putting schools in positions of accountability for both parties," Dunn insisted.
Proponents of the House bill contend accused students would have more power because they could file an injunction if a school is failing to uphold its due process obligations.
However, Justin Dillon, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney who frequently represents students accused of sexual assault, isn't so sure the bill as written would allow accused students much room for litigation for not getting equitable treatment in a campus judicial process. Dillon also complained that neither "due process" nor the word "fair" appear in the legislation or fact sheets distributed Thursday.
"It's entirely one-sided and only going to make things more unfair for the accused and give universities more reason to steamroll the accused," Dillon said.
Unlike the Senate version of the bill, the HALT Campus Sexual Violence Act would not require colleges to disclose disciplinary outcomes or to have agreements with local law enforcement on how they will respond to situations.
Another difference between the two bills is that the campus climate surveys mandated under the House version would require schools to ask self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students about discrimination, assault and harassment related to their gender identity and sexual orientation.
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