[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 859 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 859

To prohibit sexual harassment by individuals administering programs and 
                activities receiving Federal assistance.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 14, 2011

   Mr. Casey introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit sexual harassment by individuals administering programs and 
                activities receiving Federal assistance.

    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 ``Public Agency Accountability for 
Sexual Harassment Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Any 1-year period.--The term ``any 1-year period''--
                    (A) means a continuous period that commences not 
                earlier than 12 months before the commission of an 
                offense or that ends not later than 12 months after the 
                commission of the offense; and
                    (B) may include time both before and after the 
                commission of the offense.
            (2) Agent.--The term ``agent'' means a person authorized to 
        act on behalf of another person or a government and, in the 
        case of an organization or government, includes a servant or 
        employee, and a partner, director, officer, manager, and 
        representative.
            (3) Government agency.--The term ``government agency'' 
        means a subdivision of the executive, legislative, or judicial 
        branch, or another branch, of government, including a 
        department, independent establishment, commission, 
        administration, authority, board, and bureau, and a corporation 
        or other legal entity established, and subject to control, by a 
        government for the execution of a governmental or 
        intergovernmental program or activity.
            (4) Local.--The term ``local'' means of or pertaining to a 
        political subdivision within a State.
            (5) Program or activity.--The term ``program or activity'' 
        means all of the operations of--
                    (A)(i) a department, agency, special purpose 
                district, or other instrumentality of a State or of a 
                local government; or
                    (ii) the entity of such State or local government 
                that distributes such assistance and each such 
                department or agency (and each other State or local 
                government entity) to which the assistance is extended, 
                in the case of assistance to a State or local 
                government;
                    (B)(i) an entire corporation, partnership, or other 
                private organization, or an entire sole 
                proprietorship--
                            (I) if assistance is extended to such 
                        corporation, partnership, private organization, 
                        or sole proprietorship as a whole; or
                            (II) which is principally engaged in the 
                        business of providing health care, housing, 
                        social services, or parks and recreation; or
                    (ii) the entire plant or other comparable, 
                geographically separate facility to which Federal 
                financial assistance is extended, in the case of any 
                other corporation, partnership, private organization, 
                or sole proprietorship; or
                    (C) any other entity which is established by 2 or 
                more of the entities described in subparagraph (A) or 
                (B),
        any part of which is extended Federal financial assistance.
            (6) State.--The term ``State'' includes a State of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, 
        territory, or possession of the United States.

SEC. 3. SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY INDIVIDUALS ADMINISTERING PROGRAMS AND 
              ACTIVITIES RECEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--An individual who is an agent of an organization 
or government covered by subsection (b) and who administers a program 
or activity, shall not commit sexual harassment, as defined under title 
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.).
    (b) Circumstance.--An organization or government described in this 
subsection is an organization, or a State or local government, 
including any government agency thereof, that receives, in any 1-year 
period, benefits in excess of $5,000 from a program or activity.
    (c) Organization Duties.--An organization or a government covered 
by subsection (b) shall terminate the agency relationship with an agent 
described in subsection (a) who engages in sexual harassment prohibited 
by such subsection.
    (d) Disclosure.--Any organization or government covered by 
subsection (b) that enters into any settlement resulting from sexual 
harassment prohibited under subsection (a) by an agent administering a 
program or activity, shall disclose the settlement, and any fines, 
penalties, damages, insurance premium increases, and other settlements 
resulting from sexual harassment by such agent, to--
            (1) any Federal department or agency with whom the 
        organization has an agreement for disbursing Federal financial 
        assistance; and
            (2) the Members of Congress representing each State in 
        which the agent administers the program or activity.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Each Federal department and agency that is 
empowered to extend Federal financial assistance to any program or 
activity, by way of grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, 
insurance, or other form of Federal assistance, is authorized and 
directed to effectuate the provisions of subsections (a) and (c) of 
section 3 with respect to such program or activity by issuing rules, 
regulations, or orders of general applicability which shall be 
consistent with achievement of the objectives of the statute 
authorizing the financial assistance in connection with which the 
action is taken. No such rule, regulation, or order shall become 
effective unless and until approved by the President.
    (b) Compliance.--
            (1) Violation by agent.--In order to effect compliance with 
        any requirement adopted pursuant to this section, an agent who 
        violates section 3(a) shall be liable to the Federal Government 
        for a civil fine, notwithstanding any other provision of law.
            (2) Violation by organization or government.--
                    (A) Civil fine.--In order to effect compliance with 
                any requirement adopted pursuant to this section, an 
                organization or government that violates section 3(c) 
                shall be liable to the Federal Government for a civil 
                fine.
                    (B) Termination of participation.--In the case of a 
                violation of section 3(c) by an organization or 
                government, the department or agency extending Federal 
                financial assistance to the organization or government 
                shall effect compliance by terminating, or refusing to 
                grant or continue, assistance for such program or 
                activity to any recipient as to whom there has been an 
                express finding on the record, after opportunity for 
                hearing, of a failure to comply with such requirement, 
                but such termination or refusal shall be limited to the 
                particular political entity, or part thereof, or other 
                recipient as to whom such a finding has been made and, 
                shall be limited in its effect to the particular 
                program or activity, or part thereof, in which such 
                noncompliance has been so found.
            (3) Other means.--In addition to the actions described in 
        paragraphs (1) and (2), compliance with any requirement adopted 
        pursuant to this section shall be effected by any other means 
        authorized by law.
    (c) Process.--No action under subsection (b) shall be taken until 
the department or agency concerned has advised the appropriate person 
or persons of the failure to comply with the requirement and has 
determined that compliance cannot be secured by voluntary means. In the 
case of any action terminating, or refusing to grant or continue, 
assistance because of failure to comply with a requirement imposed 
pursuant to this section, the head of the Federal department or agency 
shall file with the committees of the House of Representatives and the 
Senate having legislative jurisdiction over the program or activity 
involved a full written report of the circumstances and the grounds for 
such action. No such action shall become effective until thirty days 
have elapsed after the filing of such report.

SEC. 5. STATE IMMUNITY.

    (a) State Immunity.--A State shall not be immune under the 11th 
Amendment to the Constitution from suit in Federal court for a 
violation of this Act.
    (b) Waiver.--A State's receipt or use of Federal financial 
assistance for any program or activity of a State shall constitute a 
waiver of sovereign immunity, under the 11th Amendment or otherwise, to 
any suit brought for a violation of subsection (a) or (c) of section 3.

SEC. 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

    (a) No Effect on Rights and Remedies for Sexual Harassment.--
Nothing in this Act affects any right, obligation, or liability under 
title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) or 
other law, in a case involving sexual harassment.
    (b) No Duplication of Title IX.--Nothing in this Act (except for 
subsection (a)) shall be construed to apply to an organization or 
government described in section 3(b), including an agent of such an 
organization or government, if the organization or government is a 
recipient of Federal financial assistance from a program or activity 
covered by title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
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