[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5972 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5972

  To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide protection for 
      students that report sexual assault, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 8, 2016

 Ms. Speier (for herself, Mr. Dold, Ms. Hahn, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, 
   Mr. Gosar, Ms. Norton, Mr. Foster, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Gallego, Mrs. 
   Napolitano, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Costa, Ms. Eshoo, and Mr. Carson of 
   Indiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide protection for 
      students that report sexual assault, and for other purposes.

    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 Campus Sexual Assault Whistleblower 
Protection Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. SEXUAL ASSAULT WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION.

    (a) Federal Financial Aid.--Section 484(r) of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1091(r)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``A student'' and 
        inserting, ``Except as provided in paragraph (3), a student'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a 
        student who--
                    ``(A) makes an admission described in section 
                487(a)(30)(A)(i); and
                    ``(B) is convicted of an offense involving the 
                possession of a controlled substance based on conduct 
                described in such admission.''.
    (b) Financial Aid From Institution of Higher Education.--Section 
487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(30)(A) The institution--
                    ``(i) with respect to a student enrolled in the 
                institution who makes a report of a sexual assault and 
                admits to the unlawful consumption of alcohol or a 
                controlled substance in such report, will not take any 
                retaliatory action against such student for such 
                consumption;
                    ``(ii) with respect to a student enrolled in the 
                institution who is the victim of a sexual assault, will 
                not take any retaliatory action against such student 
                for the sexual activity admitted to in a report of such 
                assault; and
                    ``(iii) will annually inform students enrolled in 
                the institution of the prohibition against retaliatory 
                actions described in clauses (i) and (ii).
                    ``(B) In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) The term `sexual assault' has the 
                        meaning given such term in section 
                        485(f)(6)(A).
                            ``(ii) The term `controlled substance' has 
                        the meaning given the term in section 102(6) of 
                        the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 
                        802(6)).
                            ``(iii) The term `report' means a report 
                        made by a student to State or local law 
                        enforcement agencies or the institution in 
                        which the student is enrolled.
                            ``(iv) The term `retaliatory action', when 
                        used with respect to a student described in 
                        clauses (i) and (ii), includes--
                                    ``(I) the expulsion, suspension, or 
                                altering of the financial aid of such 
                                student; and
                                    ``(II) any notification (other than 
                                a notification required by law) to a 
                                parent or legal guardian of such 
                                student with respect to the contents of 
                                a report of sexual assault made by such 
                                student.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that Federal and State prosecutors 
should exercise their prosecutorial discretion when considering 
bringing any criminal charges against any person who comes forward to 
report a sexual assault, and who, in making such report, admits to 
engaging in unlawful consumption of alcohol or a controlled substance.
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