NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1230
SPONSOR: Walker TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to documenting campus
sexual assault and related complaints at SUNY and CUNY institutions
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To address the alarming increase of sexual assaults on public university
and college campuses.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 3 requires that the president or administrative officer of each
SONY and CUNY institution appoint or designate an employee meeting
certain education qualifications with the responsibility of coordinating
compliance with Title IX and XX and creating a database cataloguing
incidents, status and disposition of sexual assault incidents and to
make such data available on the institution's web page by an active link
between September 1st and May 1St of every year.
Sections 4 and 5 require the Chancellor of SUNY and the Chancellor of
CONY to develop an anonymous and standardized survey of on-campus sexual
assault incidents.
Section 6 provides that failure to comply with the aforementioned
provisions will result in the suspension of state provided administra-
tive and operations funds, with the exception of funds allocated to
student services and faculty salaries.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2013 there were more than twice as many incidents of sexual assault
reported as five years earlier and such offenses climbed by 40 percent
overall between 2012 and 2013. The New York State Coalition Against
Sexual Assault reports that:
*At least 1 in 4 college women will be the victim of a sexual assault
during her academic career;
*At least 80% of all sexual assaults are committed by an acquaintance;
*More than 70% of rape victims knew their attackers, compared to about
half of all violent crime victims;
*There are 35.3 incidents of sexual assault per 1,000 female students on
a campus The NYS Office of Domestic and Sexual Violence and the NYS
Office of Victim Services have reported that Intimate Partner Violence,
sexual assault, and stalking are widespread on college campuses and that
they may occur one at a time or concurrently. Moreover, these offices
report that nearly 89% of females reported experiencing at least one
incident of physical or sexual aggression by the end of college and that
42% of the stalking incidences reported by college women were perpe-
trated by a current or former partner. Sexual assaults on and around
college campuses, are a vastly underreported crime. As of 2013, under
new federal guidelines; colleges were required for the first time to
compile and disclose the number of reports of dating violence, domestic
violence, and stalking on their campuses.
This bill codifies the requirement for public universities, colleges and
institutions in New York State to. report these incidents. Moreover,
this bill but moreover makes the reporting of incidents a consumer
information tool for students in determining the institution of higher
learning they will attend.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2015-2016: A5148 - Referred to Higher Education
2017-2018: A5839 - Referred to Higher Education
2019-2020: A2834 - Referred to Higher Education
2021-2022: A4498 - Referred to Higher Education
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after the bill shall
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1230
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 13, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALKER, DICKENS, McDONOUGH, WILLIAMS -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to documenting campus
sexual assault and related complaints at SUNY and CUNY institutions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 6433 of the education law, as added by chapter 597
2 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 6433. Campus crime reporting and statistics. 1. Each college that
4 receives state aid shall indicate in their campus catalog, student hand-
5 book and viewbook how to access the campus crime statistics that are
6 filed annually with the United States Department of Education as
7 required under Title 20 of the U.S. Code Section 1092(f). Every campus
8 catalog, student handbook and viewbook shall state that "The Advisory
9 Committee on Campus Safety will provide upon request all campus crime
10 statistics as reported to the United States Department of Education."
11 The information in the campus catalog, student handbook and viewbook
12 shall include the United States Department of Education's web site
13 address for campus crime statistics and a campus phone number for a
14 designated college campus contact who is authorized to provide such
15 statistics for that college. Whenever an individual requests such campus
16 crime statistics, the college shall provide a hard copy mailed to the
17 individual within ten days of the request and that information will
18 include all of the statistics that the campus is required to ascertain
19 under Title 20 of the U.S. Code Section 1092(f).
20 2. The president or chief administrative officer of each college
21 shall, working with the advisory committee on campus safety, take steps
22 to inform students and prospective students of the existence of the
23 campus crime statistics on an annual basis and other campus safety poli-
24 cies and procedures of the school.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04624-01-3
A. 1230 2
1 3. The president or administrative officer of each SUNY and CUNY
2 institution shall appoint or designate an employee with at least a bach-
3 elor's degree in nursing, psychology or social work who shall be respon-
4 sible for coordinating compliance with title IX of the Education Amend-
5 ments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. section 1681, et. seq.) and title 20 of the
6 U.S. Code Section 1092(f), and creating and/or managing a searchable
7 database cataloguing the status of all complaints, reviews, investi-
8 gations, and resolutions brought to such institution's attention under
9 these provisions. Such database shall be made available on the student
10 life web page of every SUNY and CUNY institution, and shall be accessi-
11 ble by an active link from such institution's home page between Septem-
12 ber first and May first of each year.
13 4. The chancellor of the state university of New York shall develop a
14 standardized, anonymous survey of incidences of on-campus sexual assault
15 that shall be distributed to each SUNY institution and shall be adminis-
16 tered by such institutions each mid-semester. For the purposes of this
17 subdivision, "sexual assault" shall mean any sex offense in article one
18 hundred thirty of the penal law.
19 5. The chancellor of the city university of New York shall develop a
20 standardized, anonymous survey of incidences of on-campus sexual assault
21 that shall be distributed to each CUNY institution and shall be adminis-
22 tered by such institutions each mid-semester. For the purposes of this
23 subdivision, "sexual assault" shall mean any sex offense in article one
24 hundred thirty of the penal law.
25 6. Failure of a SUNY or CUNY institution to comply with the provisions
26 of this section shall result in the suspension of administrative and
27 operations funds contributed by the state provided, however, that in no
28 case shall such suspension result in a reduction or in any way affect
29 the portion of such institution's budget allocated for student services
30 and all faculty salary.
31 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
32 have become a law.
