[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 715 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 715

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to revise the campus security 
   reporting provisions to provide for a more complete, timely, and 
accurate disclosure of crime reports and statistics, and to provide for 
 specific methods of enforcement of the campus security provisions of 
                               such Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 1997

Mr. Duncan (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Shays, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Quinn, 
   Mr. Greenwood, Mr. Hilleary, Mr. Foley, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Klug, Mr. 
Markey, Mr. Fox of Pennsylvania, Mr. McHale, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Hastings 
  of Florida, Mr. Matsui, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Andrews) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to revise the campus security 
   reporting provisions to provide for a more complete, timely, and 
accurate disclosure of crime reports and statistics, and to provide for 
 specific methods of enforcement of the campus security provisions of 
                               such Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Accuracy in Campus 
Crime Reporting Act of 1997''.
    (b) References.--Except as otherwise provided therein, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of a section or 
other provision, such amendment or repeal shall be considered to be 
made to a section or other provision of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF CRIMES REPORTED AND DAILY CRIME LOG.

    (a) Annual Statistics.--Section 485(f)(1)(F) (20 U.S.C. 
1092(f)(1)(F)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``campus security authorities or local 
        police agencies'' and inserting ``campus security or law 
        enforcement; other campus officials (including administrators, 
        deans, disciplinary officers, athletic department officials, 
        housing officials, and counselors) to whom crimes are reported; 
        or local law enforcement'';
            (2) by striking clauses (i) through (vi) and inserting the 
        following:
                    ``(i) homicide, including--
                            ``(I) murder or nonnegligent manslaughter; 
                        or
                            ``(II) negligent manslaughter;
                    ``(ii) sex offenses, forcible or nonforcible;
                    ``(iii) robbery;
                    ``(iv) aggravated assault;
                    ``(v) burglary;
                    ``(vi) larceny;
                    ``(vii) motor vehicle theft;
                    ``(viii) arson;
                    ``(ix) simple assault; and
                    ``(x) vandalism.''.
    (b) Annual Statistics.--Section 485(f)(1)(H) (20 U.S.C. 
1092(f)(1)(H)) is amended by striking ``arrests for'' and inserting 
``incidents of''.
    (c) Annual Submission.--Paragraph (4) of section 485(f) (20 U.S.C. 
1092(f)(4)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(4)(A) Each institution participating in any program under this 
title shall annually submit to the Secretary a copy of the statistics 
required to be made available pursuant to paragraphs (1)(F) and (1)(H).
    ``(B) The Secretary shall collect such statistics and report each 
set in its entirety, with each institution and campus clearly 
identified, to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of 
the Senate, each participating institution, and the public via printed 
and electronic means as the Secretary shall determine. This report 
shall be issued on or before February 1 of each year.''.
    (d) Compilation Method.--Paragraph (6) of section 485(f) (20 U.S.C. 
1092(f)(6)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(6)(A) The statistics described in paragraphs (1)(F) and (1)(H) 
shall be compiled in accordance with the standards and definitions used 
in the uniform crime reporting system of the Department of Justice, 
Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the modifications in such 
standards and definitions as implemented pursuant to the Hate Crime 
Statistics Act (28 U.S.C. 534, note).
    ``(B) The accuracy of the statistics described in paragraphs (1)(F) 
and (1)(H) shall be certified by each official charged with compiling 
statistics for inclusion.''.
    (e) Crime Logs.--Section 485(f) is further amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through (7) as 
        paragraphs (5) through (8), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following new 
        paragraph:
    ``(4)(A) Each institution participating in any program under this 
title which maintains either a police or security department of any 
kind shall make, keep, and maintain a daily log, written in a form that 
can be easily understood, recording in chronological order all crimes 
reported to such police or security department, including--
            ``(i) the nature, date, time, and general location of each 
        crime;
            ``(ii) the disposition of the complaint, if known;
            ``(iii) if citations have been issued or charges made, the 
        names and addresses of all persons cited or charged, and the 
        charges against them; and
            ``(iv) if an arrest has been made, the names and addresses 
        of all persons arrested and the charges against such persons 
        arrested.
    ``(B) Unless otherwise required by law, each institution may, but 
is not required to, identify in its log the alleged victim or victims, 
witnesses, or suspects who have not been arrested or cited, relating to 
any investigation of a crime.
    ``(C)(i) All entries which are required pursuant to this paragraph 
shall, except where disclosure of such information is prohibited by 
law, be open to public inspection within 24 hours of the initial report 
being made to the department, a campus security authority, or other 
campus official.
    ``(ii) Where there is clear and convincing evidence that the 
release of such information would jeopardize an ongoing criminal 
investigation or the safety of an individual, cause a suspect to flee 
or evade detection, or result in the destruction of evidence, such 
information may be withheld until that damage is no longer likely to 
occur from the release of such information. Under no circumstances, 
however, shall this exception permit the nonreporting of the nature, 
date, time, and general location of a reported crime.
    ``(iii) All exceptions to the reporting provisions of this 
paragraph are to be construed as narrowly as possible. Only that 
information which is protected from release by law shall remain 
confidential. All other information relating to each report shall be 
public.
    ``(D) Reports may be disseminated by electronic media, including 
computer networks, where it is reasonably assured the information will 
reach most of the campus population in a timely fashion.''.
    (f) Victims' Rights.--Paragraph (8) of section 485(f) (as 
redesignated by subsection (e) of this section) is amended by striking 
subparagraph (C).
    (g) Disciplinary Proceedings.--Section 485(f) is further amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(9)(A) Each institution of higher education participating in any 
program under this title shall develop and distribute as part of the 
report described in paragraph (1) a statement of policy regarding--
            ``(i) such institution's on-campus disciplinary practices 
        in cases of alleged infractions of the institution's code of 
        conduct, or other policies, resulting from an act or series of 
        acts that would constitute a crime or crimes within the meaning 
        of local, State, or Federal law, whether or not those acts have 
        actually resulted in criminal charges, prosecution, or 
        conviction; and
            ``(ii) the procedures followed once a crime has occurred.
    ``(B) The policy described in subparagraph (A) shall include a 
clear statement that--
            ``(i) all students reporting an offense shall be informed 
        of their options to notify proper law enforcement, including 
        on-campus and local police;
            ``(ii) the accuser and the accused are entitled to the same 
        opportunities to have others present during a campus 
        disciplinary proceeding;
            ``(iii) both the accuser and the accused shall be informed 
        of the outcome of any campus disciplinary proceeding brought 
        alleging criminal misconduct;
            ``(iv) any campus disciplinary proceeding brought alleging 
        criminal misconduct shall be open; and
            ``(v) all records of any such campus disciplinary 
        proceeding brought alleging criminal misconduct shall be open 
        to public inspection during the regular business hours of the 
        custodian of such records, except for previously created 
        education records not related to criminal allegations which are 
        used during the course of the proceeding.''.
    (h) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on January 1, 1998.

SEC. 3. EXEMPTION OF ALLEGATIONS OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY FROM EDUCATION 
              RECORDS DEFINITION.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 444(a)(4)(B) of the General Education 
Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)(B)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating clauses (iii) and (iv) as clauses (iv) 
        and (v), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after clause (ii) the following new 
        clause:
            ``(iii) records which are made or maintained by any 
        officer, office, department, or individual employee of an 
        educational agency or institution about--
                    ``(I) individuals accused of committing or 
                participating in any criminal activity as defined in 
                local, State, or Federal law alleged to have occurred 
                while the individual was a student in attendance, 
                including audit or noncredit, at an educational agency 
                or institution, whether or not those acts have actually 
                resulted in criminal charges, prosecution, or 
                conviction which are relative to the alleged 
                misconduct;
                    ``(II) the accused in subsequent internal 
                disciplinary proceedings of any kind resulting from, or 
                related to, the alleged activity, regardless of the 
                terminology or nature of the institutional infraction 
                or policy violation alleged;
                    ``(III) the time, duration, attendance policy, and 
                location or locations of any such disciplinary 
                proceedings;
                    ``(IV) the findings relative to the accused of any 
                such disciplinary proceedings;
                    ``(V) the current disposition or status of the 
                case, the sanctions incurred (if any), and any 
                subsequent findings or amendments to such sanctions;
                    ``(VI) accusations of criminal misconduct and 
                related sanctions from any previously attended 
                educational agencies or institutions where such records 
                were created on or after September 1, 1998, and which 
                are maintained by the institution currently or most 
                recently attended by the individual; and
                    ``(VII) any criminal acts required to be reported 
                under paragraph (1)(F), (1)(H), or (4) of section 
                485(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
                1092(f)).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on September 1, 1998.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Enforcement.--Section 485(f) (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)) (as amended by 
section 2) is further amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
    ``(10)(A) If any participating institution of higher education 
fails or refuses to comply with any provision of this subsection, the 
Secretary shall forthwith terminate all assistance to the institution 
under the applicable program affected, or issue such other orders as 
specified below as the Secretary may deem appropriate to achieve such 
compliance.
    ``(B) For each separate count of noncompliance found, the Secretary 
shall suspend not less than 1 percent of the financial assistance 
provided by the Department to such institution.''.
    (b) Retaliation.--Section 485(f) (as amended by subsection (a)) is 
further amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(11) No participating institution or other person shall 
intimidate, threaten, coerce, or otherwise discriminate against any 
individual for the purpose of interfering with the implementation of 
any provision of this subsection, or any rights or privileges accorded 
under this subsection, or because the individual has complained, 
testified, assisted, or otherwise participated in any aspect of an 
investigation, proceeding, or hearing.''.
    (c) Program Participation Agreement Requirements.--Section 
487(a)(12) (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(12)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (A);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (B) 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) the policies and crime statistics disclosed 
                under section 485(f) are comprehensive and accurate.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect on September 1, 1998.
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