II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 534 

To prevent the sexual abuse of minors and amateur athletes by requiring 

the prompt reporting of sexual abuse to law enforcement authorities, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 6, 2017 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. NELSON, Mr. 

FLAKE, Mr. DONNELLY, Mr. RUBIO, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mrs. ERNST, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. WARREN, Ms. 

HARRIS, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prevent the sexual abuse of minors and amateur athletes 

by requiring the prompt reporting of sexual abuse to 

law enforcement authorities, 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 ‘‘Protecting Young Vic5 tims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRED REPORTING OF CHILD AND SEXUAL 

2 ABUSE AT FACILITIES UNDER THE JURISDIC3 TION OF AMATEUR SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS 

4 RECOGNIZED BY THE UNITED STATES OLYM5 PIC COMMITTEE. 

6 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section 226 of the 

7 Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 13031) 

8 is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘A person who’’ and insert11 ing the following: 

12 ‘‘(1) COVERED PROFESSIONALS.—A person 

13 who’’; and 

14 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(2) INDIVIDUALS AT COVERED FACILITIES.—A 

16 covered individual who, while engaged in any activity 

17 sanctioned by a covered facility, learns of facts that 

18 give reason to suspect that a child has suffered an 

19 incident of child abuse, including sexual abuse, shall 

20 as soon as possible make a report of the suspected 

21 abuse to the agency designated by the Attorney Gen22 eral under subsection (d).’’; 

23 (2) in subsection (b), in the matter preceding 

24 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and in25 serting ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’; 

26 (3) in subsection (c)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

2 the end; 

3 (B) in paragraph (8), by striking the pe4 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(9) the term ‘covered facility’ means a facility 

7 over which a national governing body has jurisdic8 tion; 

9 ‘‘(10) the term ‘covered individual’ means an 

10 adult who is authorized by a covered facility or by 

11 a national governing body to interact with a minor 

12 or amateur athlete at the covered facility or at any 

13 event sanctioned by the covered facility; and 

14 ‘‘(11) the term ‘national governing body’ has 

15 the meaning given the term in section 220501(b) of 

16 title 36, United States Code.’’; 

17 (4) in subsection (d), in the first sentence, by 

18 inserting ‘‘and for all covered facilities’’ after ‘‘re19 side’’; 

20 (5) in subsection (f), in the first sentence— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘and on all’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘on all’’; and 

23 (B) by inserting ‘‘and for all covered facili24 ties,’’ after ‘‘lands,’’; and 


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1 (6) in subsection (h), by inserting ‘‘and all cov2 ered individuals,’’ after ‘‘facilities,’’. 

3 (b) PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO REPORT.—Section 

4 2258 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— 

5 (1) by inserting ‘‘or while engaged in a profes6 sional capacity or activity at a covered facility as de7 scribed in subsection (a)(2) of such section 226’’ 

8 after ‘‘facility’’; and 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘not more than 1 year’’ and in10 serting ‘‘not more than 3 years’’. 

11 SEC. 3. CIVIL REMEDY FOR PERSONAL INJURIES. 

12 Section 2255 of title 18, United States Code, is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any person who, while a minor, 

17 was a victim of a violation of section 1589, 1590, 1591, 

18 2241(c), 2242, 2243, 2251, 2251A, 2252, 2252A, 2260, 

19 2421, 2422, or 2423 of this title and who suffers personal 

20 injury as a result of such violation, regardless of whether 

21 the injury occurred while such person was a minor, may 

22 sue in any appropriate United States District Court and 

23 shall recover the actual damages such person sustains or 

24 liquidated damages in the amount of $150,000, and the 

25 cost of the action, including reasonable attorney’s fees and 


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1 other litigation costs reasonably incurred. The court may 

2 also award punitive damages and such other preliminary 

3 and equitable relief as the court determines to be appro4 priate.’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘filed within’’ 

6 and all that follows through the end and inserting 

7 the following: ‘‘filed— 

8 ‘‘(1) not later than 10 years after the date on 

9 which the plaintiff discovers the later of— 

10 ‘‘(A) the violation that forms the basis for 

11 the claim; or 

12 ‘‘(B) the injury that forms the basis for 

13 the claim; or 

14 ‘‘(2) in the case of a person under a legal dis15 ability, not later than 10 years after the date on 

16 which the disability ends.’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(c) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) VENUE.—Any action brought under sub20 section (a) may be brought in the district court of 

21 the United States that meets applicable require22 ments relating to venue under section 1391 of title 

23 28. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an action 

2 brought under subsection (a), process may be served 

3 in any district in which the defendant— 

4 ‘‘(A) is an inhabitant; or 

5 ‘‘(B) may be found.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES OF AMA7 TEUR SPORTS ORGANIZATIONS RECOGNIZED 

8 BY THE UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COM9 MITTEE TO PREVENT THE ABUSE OF MINOR 

10 AND AMATEUR ATHLETES. 

11 (a) EXPANSION OF AUTHORITIES.—Section 

12 220523(a) of title 36, United States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

14 inserting a semicolon; 

15 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period and 

16 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(8) develop training, oversight practices, poli19 cies, and procedures to prevent the abuse, including 

20 physical abuse and sexual abuse, of any minor or 

21 amateur athlete by any adult.’’. 

22 (b) ADDITIONAL DUTIES.—Section 220524 of such 

23 title is amended— 

24 (1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

25 inserting a semicolon; 


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1 (2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period and 

2 inserting a semicolon; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(10) develop and enforce policies, mechanisms, 

5 and procedures to prevent the abuse, including phys6 ical abuse and sexual abuse, of any minor or ama7 teur athlete, including— 

8 ‘‘(A) requiring all members of the national 

9 governing body or a facility under the jurisdic10 tion of the national governing body and adults 

11 authorized by such members to interact with 

12 minor or amateur athletes, to immediately re13 port all allegations of sexual abuse to law en14 forcement authorities and other appropriate au15 thorities whenever such members or adults 

16 learn of facts leading them to reasonably sus17 pect that a minor or amateur athlete has suf18 fered an incident of sexual abuse; 

19 ‘‘(B) establishing a mechanism, approved 

20 by a trained expert on child abuse, that allows 

21 a complainant to easily report an incident of 

22 sexual abuse committed by a member or adult 

23 described in subparagraph (A) to interact with 

24 a minor or amateur athlete, to the national gov25 erning body or another authority; 


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1 ‘‘(C) procedures to ensure that each ama2 teur athlete who is a minor is prevented from 

3 being in a one-on-one situation with an adult 

4 (who is not the minor’s legal guardian) at a fa5 cility under the jurisdiction of the national gov6 erning body without being in an observable and 

7 interruptible distance from another adult; and 

8 ‘‘(D) oversight procedures, including reg9 ular and random audits conducted by subject 

10 matter experts unaffiliated with the national 

11 governing body, of all members and adults de12 scribed in subparagraph (A) to ensure that poli13 cies and procedures developed under this para14 graph are followed correctly and that consistent 

15 training is offered and given to all members re16 garding prevention of sexual abuse; and 

17 ‘‘(11) in the case of a national governing body 

18 with jurisdiction over more than one athletic facility, 

19 establish a mechanism by which— 

20 ‘‘(A) the national governing body can— 

21 ‘‘(i) receive a report from one of such 

22 facilities regarding a case in which an 

23 adult authorized by the facility to interact 

24 with a minor or amateur athlete at such 

25 facility is expelled from or leaves such faVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Mar 09, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S534.IS S534

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1 cility for sexual misconduct, including be2 cause of a mere allegation of sexual mis3 conduct; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) share a report received under 

5 subparagraph (A) with each of the other 

6 athletic facilities under the jurisdiction of 

7 the national governing body; and 

8 ‘‘(B) an athletic facility under the jurisdic9 tion of the national governing body can— 

10 ‘‘(i) review the reports received by the 

11 national governing body under subpara12 graph (A)(i) to assess any allegations of 

13 sexual misconduct made in such reports; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(ii) withhold providing to an adult 

16 who is the subject of an allegation of sex17 ual misconduct in a report reviewed under 

18 clause (i) authority to interact with a 

19 minor or amateur athlete at such facility 

20 until such time as the facility determines 

21 that there is no risk to a minor or amateur 

22 athlete at such facility.’’. 

23 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Section 220522 of 

24 such title is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in para2 graph (a) shall be construed to limit the ability of a na3 tional governing body to develop a policy or procedure to 

4 prevent an individual who is the subject of an allegation 

5 of sexual misconduct from interacting with a minor or 

6 amateur athlete until such time as the national governing 

7 body, or any person under the jurisdiction of the national 

8 governing body, determines that there is no risk to the 

9 minor or amateur athlete by allowing the individual to 

10 interact with the minor or amateur athlete.’’. 

Æ 


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