Bill Text: IL SB3825 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act. Provides that the amendatory Act may be referred to as the Every Voice Act. Requires each higher education institution to conduct a sexual misconduct climate survey every 2 years of all students at its institution. Creates the Task Force on Campus Sexual Climate Surveys to develop and recommend to the Attorney General a base survey to be distributed to higher education institutions to be used with the institutions' sexual misconduct climate surveys. Provides that there shall be established within the Office of the Attorney General a data repository for all summaries of sexual misconduct climate surveys submitted by higher education institutions to the Attorney General. Requires each higher education institution to publish the campus level results of its survey. Requires the Attorney General to establish rules and procedures. Allows the Attorney General to impose a fine not to exceed $150,000 on a higher education institution that violates or fails to carry out the provisions. Defines terms.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Failed) 2021-01-13 - Session Sine Die [SB3825 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-SB3825-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 SB3825 Introduced 2/14/2020, by Sen. Heather A. Steans SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
110 ILCS 155/35 new
Amends the Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act. Provides that the amendatory Act may be referred to as the Every Voice Act. Requires each higher education institution to conduct a sexual misconduct climate survey every 2 years of all students at its institution. Creates the Task Force on Campus Sexual Climate Surveys to develop and recommend to the Attorney General a base survey to be distributed to higher education institutions to be used with the institutions' sexual misconduct climate surveys. Provides that there shall be established within the Office of the Attorney General a data repository for all summaries of sexual misconduct climate surveys submitted by higher education institutions to the Attorney General. Requires each higher education institution to publish the campus level results of its survey. Requires the Attorney General to establish rules and procedures. Allows the Attorney General to impose a fine not to exceed $150,000 on a higher education institution that violates or fails to carry out the provisions. Defines terms.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. This Act may be referred to as the Every Voice
Act.
Section 5. The Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher
Education Act is amended by adding Section 35 as follows:
(110 ILCS 155/35 new)
Sec. 35. Sexual misconduct climate survey.
(a) As used in this Section:
"Base survey" means a base set of common questions
recommended by the Task Force on Campus Sexual Misconduct
Climate Surveys that is approved by the Attorney General.
"Student" means a person who is enrolled in a public or
private degree-granting post-secondary higher education
institution, whether part-time, full-time, or as an extension
student, including any person who has taken a leave of absence
or who has withdrawn from the higher education institution due
to being a victim of sexual misconduct.
(b) Every 2 years, each higher education institution shall
conduct a sexual misconduct climate survey of all students at
its institution. Each higher education institution's sexual

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misconduct climate survey shall include the base survey, which
the Attorney General shall provide to the institution. Each
institution may append its own campus-specific questions to the
base survey if questions do not require the disclosure of any
personally-identifying information by the students and are not
unnecessarily traumatizing for victims of sexual violence. The
Attorney General shall review any complaints submitted by
students who believe that questions included in the campus
sexual misconduct climate survey are unnecessarily
traumatizing. Within 120 days after completion of a sexual
misconduct climate survey, but no later than one year after the
Attorney General issued the last base survey, each institution
shall compile a summary of the results of the sexual misconduct
climate survey, including, but not limited to, the complete
aggregated results for each base survey question, and shall
submit the summary to the Attorney General as well as publish
the summary on the institution's website in an easily
accessible manner.
(c) The Task Force on Campus Sexual Misconduct Surveys is
created. The Task Force shall consist of the following 17
members:
(1) the Illinois Attorney General, or a designee, who
shall serve as a co-chair;
(2) the executive director of the Illinois Board of
Higher Education, or a designee, who shall serve as a
co-chair;

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(3) the Director of Public Health, or a designee; and
(4) fourteen other members who shall be appointed by
the Governor as follows:
(A) one of whom shall be a student attending a
public higher education institution in Illinois;
(B) one of whom shall be a student attending a
private higher education institution in Illinois;
(C) one of whom shall be a representative of the
University of Illinois recommended by the president of
the university;
(D) one of whom shall be a representative of the
Illinois Community College Board;
(E) one of whom shall be a representative of
private colleges and universities recommended by the
Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and
Universities;
(F) three of whom shall be representatives of
survivors of sexual assault recommended by the
Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, with one
specifically representing survivors in rural
communities and one specifically representing
survivors in urban communities;
(G) one of whom shall be a representative of a
non-profit legal services organization that provides
legal representation to victims of campus sexual
assault in Illinois;

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(H) one of whom shall be a representative
recommended by the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic
Violence;
(I) one of whom shall be a representative
recommended by Equality Illinois;
(J) one of whom shall be a representative
recommended by Every Voice Coalition or any successor
organization of Every Voice Coalition;
(K) one of whom shall be a researcher with
experience in the development and design of sexual
misconduct climate surveys; and
(L) one of whom shall be a researcher of
statistics, data analytics, or econometrics with
experience in higher education survey analysis.
The Task Force shall hold its first meeting as soon as
practicable after the effective date of this amendatory Act of
the 101st General Assembly. Members of the Task Force shall
receive no compensation from serving as members.
Administrative and other support for the Task Force shall be
provided by the Office of the Attorney General.
(d) The Task Force shall develop and recommend to the
Attorney General the base survey for distribution to higher
education institutions and provide the Attorney General with
any related recommendations regarding the content, timing, and
application of the base survey. The Task Force shall deliver
the base survey and related recommendations, including, but not

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limited to, recommendations on achieving statistically valid
response rates, to the Attorney General no less often than
every 2 years and for the first time on or before June 31,
2021.
(e) In developing the base survey, the Task Force shall:
(1) utilize best practices from peer-reviewed research
and consult with individuals with expertise in the
development and use of sexual misconduct climate surveys by
higher education institutions;
(2) review sexual misconduct climate surveys which
have been developed and previously utilized by higher
education institutions in Illinois and by other states that
mandate campus climate surveys;
(3) provide opportunities for written comment from
survivors and organizations that work directly with
survivors of sexual misconduct to ensure the adequacy and
appropriateness of the proposed content;
(4) consult with institutions on strategies for
optimizing the effectiveness of the survey; and
(5) account for the diverse needs and differences of
Illinois' higher education institutions.
(f) The base survey shall gather information on topics,
including, but not limited to:
(1) the number and type of incidents, both reported to
the higher education institution and unreported to the
higher education institution, of sexual misconduct at the

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higher education institution;
(2) when and where incidents of sexual misconduct
occurred;
(3) student awareness of institutional policies and
procedures related to campus sexual misconduct;
(4) whether a student reported the sexual misconduct to
the higher education institution and, if so, to which
campus resource such report was made and, if not, the
reason for the student's decision not to report;
(5) whether a student reported the sexual misconduct to
law enforcement and, if so, to which law enforcement agency
such report was made;
(6) whether a student was informed of or referred to
local, State, campus, or other resources, or victim support
services, including appropriate medical care, advocacy,
counseling, and legal services;
(7) whether a student was provided information
regarding his or her right to protection from retaliation,
access to school-based accommodations, and criminal
justice remedies;
(8) contextual factors, such as the involvement of
force, incapacitation, coercion, or drug or alcohol
facilitation;
(9) demographic information that could be used to
identify at-risk groups, including, but not limited to,
gender;

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(10) perceptions of campus safety among members of the
campus community and confidence in the institution's
ability to protect against and respond to incidents of
sexual misconduct;
(11) whether the student has chosen to withdraw or has
taken a leave of absence from the institution or
transferred to another institution;
(12) whether the student has withdrawn from any classes
or has been placed on academic probation as a result of the
incident; and
(13) other questions as determined by the Task Force.
(g) The sexual misconduct climate survey shall collect
anonymous responses and shall not provide for the public
disclosure of any personally identifying information. No
institution shall use or attempt to use information collected
through the sexual misconduct climate survey to identify or
contact any individual student on campus, nor shall the results
of the survey be used as the basis for any type of
investigation or disciplinary or legal proceeding.
(h) There shall be established within the Office of the
Attorney General a data repository for all summaries of sexual
misconduct climate surveys submitted by higher education
institutions to the Attorney General in accordance with
subsection (b). The Attorney General shall ensure that the
sexual misconduct climate survey data submitted by all
institutions will be available to the public in an easily

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accessible manner on the Attorney General's website.
(i) Each higher education institution shall publish on the
institution's website in an easily accessible manner: (i) the
campus level results of the survey; (ii) the annual security
report required under 20 U.S.C. 1092, the federal Clery Act;
and (iii) a link to the Attorney General's statewide data on
sexual misconduct climate survey data as set forth in
subsection (h).
(j) The Attorney General shall establish rules and
procedures, including deadlines for dissemination and
collection of survey information, consistent with the purposes
of this Section and shall promote the effective solicitation to
achieve the highest practical response rate, collection, and
publication of statistical information gathered from Illinois'
higher education institutions.
(k) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, upon determination and after reasonable notice and
opportunity for a hearing that a higher education institution
has violated or failed to carry out any provision of this
Section or any rule adopted under this Section, the Attorney
General may impose a civil penalty upon such institution not to
exceed $150,000, which shall be adjusted for inflation
annually, for each violation. The Attorney General shall use
any such civil penalty funds to provide oversight of this
Section and to provide services to sexual assault victims.