I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5722 

To require reporting of bullying to appropriate authorities and assist with 

equal protection claims against entities who fail to respond appropriately 

to bullying, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 30, 2020 

Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Ms. LEE of California, and Mr. 

TAKANO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To require reporting of bullying to appropriate authorities 

and assist with equal protection claims against entities 

who fail to respond appropriately to bullying, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bullying Redress And 

5 Verified Enforcement Act’’ or the ‘‘BRAVE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

2 Part F of title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary 

3 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) is amend4 ed by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘Subpart 6—Bullying 

6 ‘‘SEC. 8581. OFFICIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) REPORT OF BULLYING.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

9 local educational agency shall require an employee of 

10 the local educational agency who becomes aware of 

11 bullying to report to the individual designated under 

12 subsection (b) by not later than 7 business days 

13 after becoming aware of such bullying a description 

14 of— 

15 ‘‘(A) the acts that constituted bullying; 

16 ‘‘(B) if the bullying included a reference to 

17 or was motivated by an actual or perceived pro18 tected characteristic of the victim, such pro19 tected characteristic; and 

20 ‘‘(C) the response to such bullying by em21 ployees of the local educational agency. 

22 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 

23 (1), in the case of an employee of a local educational 

24 agency who is informed of bullying by a student at25 tending a school served by the local educational 

26 agency, but the student requests that such bullying 


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1 not be reported by the employee, the employee shall 

2 not be required to report such bullying under para3 graph (1). 

4 ‘‘(b) RECEIPT OF REPORTS.—A local educational 

5 agency shall designate an individual to receive and keep 

6 a record of reports of bullying and shall inform each em7 ployee of the local educational agency of the contact infor8 mation of the individual so designated. 

9 ‘‘(c) REPORTING TO THE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

10 AGENCY.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the 

11 receipt of a report under subsection (a)(1), the individual 

12 designated under subsection (b) shall inform all employees 

13 of the local educational agency of the acts described and 

14 the response by employees of the local educational agency 

15 and shall exclude any personally identifiable information 

16 of any student involved. 

17 ‘‘(d) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE QUARTERLY REPORTS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (1), a 

19 local educational agency shall publish and make 

20 available to all students served by the local edu21 cational agency and parents of such students a re22 port on a quarterly basis that— 

23 ‘‘(A) lists the number of bullying reports 

24 made since the previous quarterly report; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) informs the public of the right to file 

2 a complaint under section 8582(b)(2). 

3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—A local educational agency 

4 shall not publish a report under paragraph (1) in a 

5 case in which such publication would reveal person6 ally identifiable information about an individual stu7 dent. 

8 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL POLICY REVIEW.—Each local edu9 cational agency shall review, on an annual basis, the poli10 cies on bullying for schools served by the local educational 

11 agency. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 8582. FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT. 

13 ‘‘(a) CONDITION OF FEDERAL FUNDING.—As a con14 dition of receiving funds under this Act, a local edu15 cational agency shall— 

16 ‘‘(1) annually certify to the Secretary in writing 

17 that such local educational agency has complied with 

18 this section; and 

19 ‘‘(2) together with such certification, submit the 

20 4 most recent quarterly reports published preceding 

21 such certification pursuant to section 8581(d). 

22 ‘‘(b) FEDERAL RECEIPT OF COMPLAINTS.—The As23 sistant Secretary who serves as the head of the Office of 

24 Civil Rights for the Department of Education shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) establish a procedure for a student of a 

2 local educational agency, a parent of such student, 

3 or another appropriate individual to submit to the 

4 Assistant Secretary a complaint relating to a failure 

5 to comply with this section; and 

6 ‘‘(2) publish such procedure on the internet 

7 website of the Department of Education. 

8 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS.—After 

9 receiving a complaint pursuant to subsection (b), the As10 sistant Secretary shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) investigate such complaint to determine if 

12 a local educational agency failed to comply with this 

13 section; and 

14 ‘‘(2) if such local educational agency is deter15 mined under paragraph (1) to have failed to comply 

16 with this section— 

17 ‘‘(A) withhold further payment of funds 

18 under this Act to such local educational agency; 

19 ‘‘(B) issue a complaint to compel compli20 ance of such local educational agency through a 

21 cease and desist order; or 

22 ‘‘(C) enter into a compliance agreement 

23 with such local educational agency to bring it 

24 into compliance with this section, 


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1 in the same manner as the Secretary is authorized 

2 to take such actions under sections 455, 456, and 

3 457, respectively, of the General Education Provi4 sions Act. 

5 ‘‘(d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION ABOUT

6 COMPLAINTS.—Not later than 60 days after receiving a 

7 complaint pursuant to subsection (b)(2), the Assistant 

8 Secretary shall make available on the internet website of 

9 the Department information about such complaint, which 

10 shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) if the bullying included a reference to or 

12 was motivated by an actual or perceived protected 

13 characteristic of the victim, include a description of 

14 such protected characteristic; and 

15 ‘‘(2) exclude any personally identifiable infor16 mation of any student involved. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 8583. DEFINITIONS. 

18 ‘‘In this subpart: 

19 ‘‘(1) BULLYING.—The term ‘bullying’ means 

20 any severe, pervasive, or persistent electronic, writ21 ten, verbal, or physical act by one student or a 

22 group of students toward another student during 

23 school hours and on school premises, or at a school24 sponsored activity outside of school hours, that 

25 causes— 


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1 ‘‘(A) harm to or reasonable concern for the 

2 person, property, or mental health of such other 

3 student; or 

4 ‘‘(B) such other student to withdraw from 

5 or avoid benefitting from the services, activities, 

6 or opportunities offered by the school. 

7 ‘‘(2) PROTECTED CHARACTERISTIC.—The term 

8 ‘protected characteristic’ includes race, color, sex, re9 ligion, national origin, disability, gender, gender 

10 identity, and sexual orientation.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

12 The table of contents for the Elementary and Sec13 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) 

14 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

15 8574, the following: 

‘‘SUBPART 6—BULLYING

‘‘Sec. 8581. Official reporting requirements. 

‘‘Sec. 8582. Federal enforcement. 

‘‘Sec. 8583. Definitions.’’. 

Æ 


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