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2015 SESSION

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SB 712 Higher education; handling of sexual assault cases.

Introduced by: Richard H. Black | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS ENACTED WITH GOVERNOR'S RECOMMENDATION: (all summaries)

Institutions of higher education; reporting acts of sexual violence. Requires any responsible employee of a public or private nonprofit institution of higher education who in the course of his employment obtains information that an act of sexual violence has been committed against a student or on campus property or other property related to the institution to report such information to the Title IX coordinator for the institution as soon as practicable. The bill requires the Title IX coordinator to report such information to a review committee, which shall meet within 72 hours of the receipt of information of an alleged act of sexual violence and which shall include the Title IX coordinator, a representative of law enforcement, and a student affairs representative. If the review committee determines that disclosure of the information regarding the alleged act of sexual violence is necessary to protect the health and safety of the victim or other individuals, the representative of law enforcement on the review committee shall disclose the information, including personally identifiable information, to the law-enforcement agency responsible for investigating the alleged act. In cases involving a felony sexual assault, the representative of law enforcement on the review committee, or in certain situations, another committee member, shall consult with the local attorney for the Commonwealth or other prosecutor responsible for prosecuting the alleged act of sexual violence.

The bill requires the governing board of each public or private nonprofit institution of higher education to (i) establish a written memorandum of understanding with a local sexual assault crisis center or other victim support service and (ii) adopt policies to provide victims with information on contacting such center or service. The bill requires each public or private nonprofit institution of higher education to annually certify to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia that it has reviewed its sexual violence policy. Finally, the bill requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to monitor the impact the legislation will have on the workload of local victim witness programs and report its findings to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees for Courts of Justice by October 1, 2016. This bill is identical to HB 1930.


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