[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8648 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8648

 To increase the transparency of colleges and universities in carrying 
    out their civil rights responsibilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 7, 2024

 Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer introduced the following bill; which was referred 
            to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To increase the transparency of colleges and universities in carrying 
    out their civil rights responsibilities, 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 ``Civil Rights Protection Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE AND TRANSPARENCY RELATED TO TITLE VI OF THE CIVIL 
              RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.

    (a) Program Participation Agreement Requirement.--Section 487 of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following 
        new paragraph:
            ``(30) The institution will comply with the provisions of 
        subsection (i) and provide to the Secretary an annual 
        attestation of such compliance.''.
            (2) by redesignating subsections (i) and (j) as subsections 
        (j) and (k), respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (h) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(i) Compliance and Transparency Related to Complaints Under Title 
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.--
            ``(1) Compliance and transparency.--With respect to 
        complaints received by an institution related to alleged 
        violations of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
        U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), the institution will--
                    ``(A) have in effect, make publicly available 
                (including on the website of the institution), and 
                widely distribute to students and their families 
                (including in student orientation materials) a 
                description of the investigative processes of the 
                institution related to such complaints; and
                    ``(B) include in the description of investigative 
                processes described in subparagraph (A) at least the 
                following:
                            ``(i) The processes and factors used to 
                        determine whether such a complaint will be 
                        investigated and how the outcome of an 
                        investigation will be determined.
                            ``(ii) A designation of at least one 
                        employee to coordinate its efforts to comply 
                        with title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
                        (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), including any 
                        investigation of any complaint alleging the 
                        noncompliance of the institution with 
                        requirements under the Act.
                            ``(iii) The contact information and 
                        necessary steps for reporting such a complaint 
                        to the institution.
                            ``(iv) A procedure to ensure that, for each 
                        such complaint received by the institution, the 
                        complainant will receive from the institution 
                        timely notification of each of the following:
                                    ``(I) Confirmation of receipt of 
                                the complaint.
                                    ``(II) Notification of whether or 
                                not an investigation has been opened in 
                                response to the complaint.
                                    ``(III) In the case that an 
                                investigation was not opened in 
                                response to the complaint, an 
                                explanation of why an investigation was 
                                not opened including a summary of the 
                                information that was used to determine 
                                that an investigation should not be 
                                opened.
                                    ``(IV) In the case that an 
                                investigation was opened--
                                            ``(aa) notification that an 
                                        investigation of the complaint 
                                        will be carried out, and that 
                                        the complainant will be 
                                        notified of the outcome of the 
                                        investigation; and
                                            ``(bb) notification of the 
                                        outcome of the investigation, 
                                        including an explanation of how 
                                        the outcome was reached, and 
                                        any remedial actions taken in 
                                        response to the complaint.
                            ``(v) A system for keeping and maintaining 
                        records of such complaints, including the 
                        determination and reasoning for whether or not 
                        an investigation into a complaint was opened, a 
                        record of the investigation (including the 
                        outcome thereof), and a record of any remedial 
                        actions taken in response to the complaint.
                            ``(vi) The contact information and 
                        necessary steps for reporting a complaint 
                        related to an alleged violation of title VI of 
                        the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d 
                        et seq.) to the Office for Civil Rights of the 
                        Department of Education, including the 
                        hyperlink to the electronic complaint form of 
                        the Office for Civil Rights for an alleged 
                        violation of such title VI.
            ``(2) Enforcement.--An institution of higher education that 
        fails to comply with any provision of subsection (a)(30) for 
        two consecutive award years shall be ineligible to participate 
        in the programs authorized by this title for a period of not 
        less than two years. To regain eligibility to participate in 
        the programs authorized by this title, an institution of higher 
        education shall demonstrate compliance with paragraph (1) prior 
        to the completion of the period during which the institution is 
        ineligible due to failure to comply with such paragraph.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect on the first day of the first award year beginning after 
the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Congressional Briefings.--
            (1) In general.--Beginning not later than 30 days after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act and ending 2 years after such 
        date of enactment, the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of 
        the Department of Education shall give a monthly briefing to 
        the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
        and Pensions of the Senate regarding discrimination on the 
        basis of race, color, or national origin in violation of title 
        VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), 
        disaggregated by the basis of discrimination, including shared 
        ancestry, that--
                    (A) explains the number of complaints alleging such 
                discrimination that the Office for Civil Rights of the 
                Department of Education (referred to in this section as 
                the ``Office'')--
                            (i) is investigating; and
                            (ii) has received in the preceding month;
                    (B) describes--
                            (i) how the Office plans to address those 
                        complaints; and
                            (ii) the investigations being carried out 
                        in response to those complaints, as applicable; 
                        and
                    (C) provides data about the length of time that 
                those complaints are pending after being received by 
                the Office.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 48 hours prior to each briefing 
        required under paragraph (1), the Assistant Secretary for Civil 
        Rights of the Department of Education shall provide a written 
        report to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the 
        House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, 
        Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate that contains the 
        information that will be presented at such briefing, in a 
        manner that protects personally identifiable information in 
        accordance with applicable privacy laws.
    (b) OCR Process Reforms.--
            (1) Dismissals.--The Office shall not close or dismiss any 
        complaint regarding discrimination on the basis of race, color, 
        or national origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights 
        Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) due to the filing of a 
        complaint involving the same allegations against the same 
        recipient--
                    (A) by an individual other than the complainant 
                with another Federal, State, or local agency, a court, 
                or the recipient, unless the Office determines that 
                such other individual's complaint is part of a class 
                action in which the complainant is part of such class; 
                or
                    (B) by the complainant with another Federal, State, 
                or local agency, a court, or the recipient.
            (2) Investigations.--The Office shall not delay an 
        investigation of a complaint due to the filing of a complaint 
        involving the same allegations against the same recipient with 
        another Federal, State, or local agency or a recipient.
            (3) Recipient defined.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        the term ``recipient'' means an institution of higher education 
        (as such term is defined in section 102 of the Higher Education 
        Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) that receives funds under an 
        applicable program (as such term is defined in section 400 of 
        the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1221)).
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