1.This Act may be cited as
the Public Agency Accountability for
Sexual Harassment Act
.
2.In this Act:
(1)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)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)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)The
term local means of or pertaining to a political subdivision
within a State.
(5)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)The
term State includes a State of the United States, the District of
Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United
States.
3.Sexual
harassment by individuals administering programs and activities receiving
Federal financial assistance
(a)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)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)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)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.
4.
(a)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)
(1)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)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
participationIn 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)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)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.
5.
(a)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)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.
6.
(a)No effect on
rights and remedies for sexual harassmentNothing 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 IXNothing 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.