MALES BEWARE: Texas Gov. Signs Unconstitutional Sexual Assault Bills Into Law
FIRE has written twice recently about two bills in the Texas legislature that seriously threaten free speech and due process rights at college campuses in the state. We also sent a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office asking him to veto the bills. On Friday however, Abbott signed those bills into law…As a brief recap, both pieces of legislation — SB 212 and HB 1735 — use an unconstitutionally overbroad definition of sexual harassment that lacks the fundamental requirement that the conduct in question be objectively offensive to a reasonable person.
House Bill 1735 creates new requirements for institutional policies on sexual misconduct and authorizes a civil penalty for non-compliance, and builds on existing requirements for institutions to adopt a “policy on sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking” which applies “to each student enrolled at and each employee of the institution.” Importantly, “sexual harassment” is defined as: “unwelcome, sex-based verbal or physical conduct.” It bears noting that this proposed definition of student sexual harassment potentially conflicts with the language outlined in the Department of Education’s proposed Title IX regulations. HB 1735 requires all “peace officers” employed by an institution to complete training on “trauma-informed investigation” into allegations of sex harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
Senate Bill 212 requires employees of public and private higher education institutions to report sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking against a student or employee to the institution’s Title IX coordinator. Significantly, the bill creates a criminal offense for failure to report an incident or making a false report.
These laws represent perhaps the most significant and comprehensive state legislation in the country relating to institutional obligations regarding sexual misconduct. The authority for Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to eventually fine institutions for non-compliance is certainly unprecedented, as are potential criminal sanctions for employees who fail to make mandatory reports. Of course, complicating matters is the fact that institutional compliance efforts will need to be informed by the final Title IX regulations which we expect to be issued in September 2019.
jdsupra.com– H.Blackwell LLP thefire.org-T.Coward
