[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5735 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5735

 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of 
 higher education to disclose their emergency response and evacuation 
                              procedures.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 9, 2008

Mrs. McCarthy of New York (for herself, Mr. Ramstad, Mr. Etheridge, and 
   Mr. Poe) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of 
 higher education to disclose their emergency response and evacuation 
                              procedures.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Virginia Tech Victims Campus 
Emergency Response Policy and Notification Act''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND EVACUATION PROCEDURES.

    (a) Amendment.--Section 485(f)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subparagraph:
                    ``(J) A statement of current campus policies 
                regarding immediate emergency response and evacuation 
                procedures, including the use of electronic and 
                cellular communication (if appropriate), which shall 
                include procedures--
                            ``(i) to activate notification procedures 
                        for students and employees in not more than 30 
                        minutes after campus security authorities 
                        confirm, or State or local law enforcement 
                        agencies report and confirm to campus security 
                        authorities, that an emergency exists on campus 
                        or public property;
                            ``(ii) to publicize emergency response and 
                        evacuation procedures on an annual basis in a 
                        manner designed to reach students and staff; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) to test emergency response and 
                        evacuation procedures on an annual basis.''.
    (b) Regulations.--The Secretary shall promulgate regulations 
regarding the requirements applicable to an institution of higher 
education under section 485(f)(1)(J) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (as added by subsection (a)) not later than April 1, 2009.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect with respect to any annual security report under section 
485(f)(1) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1092(f)(1)) 
prepared by an institution of higher education in calendar year 2009 
and any subsequent calendar year.
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