I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1829 

To develop a national system of oversight of States for sexual misconduct 

in the elementary and secondary school system. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2007 

Mr. PUTNAM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To develop a national system of oversight of States for 

sexual misconduct in the elementary and secondary 

school system. 

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 ‘‘Student Protection 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATE OVERSIGHT SYSTEMS. 

7 (a) SYSTEMS REQUIRED.—For fiscal year 2010 and 

8 each fiscal year thereafter, each State shall have in effect 

9 laws and policies that, as determined by the Secretary of 

10 Education, ensure the following: 


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1 (1) Whenever an individual who is an educator 

2 has reason to believe that an incident has occurred 

3 in which an educator has committed an act of sexual 

4 misconduct against a student, the individual makes 

5 a report of that incident to the State as quickly as 

6 practicable, and within 48 hours whenever possible, 

7 and the individual is disciplined if the individual 

8 fails to do so. 

9 (2) The State has a single, statewide commis10 sion for receiving all reports made under paragraph 

11 (1). 

12 (3) The commission required by paragraph 

13 (2)— 

14 (A) has policies for investigating and re15 porting such incidents; and 

16 (B) has a toll-free number that can be 

17 used anonymously to make reports under para18 graph (1). 

19 (4) Each incident with respect to which a re20 port is made under paragraph (1) is investigated by 

21 individuals who have received training in inves22 tigating such incidents. 

23 (5) Whenever an educator is punished in any 

24 manner for an incident described in paragraph (1), 


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1 the details of the educator, the punishment, and the 

2 incident are provided to the Secretary of Education. 

3 (b) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If a State does not comply 

4 with subsection (a) for a fiscal year, the Secretary of Edu5 cation may reduce by up to 5 percent the amounts the 

6 State would otherwise be allocated or awarded, or both, 

7 under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

8 1965. Amounts not allocated or awarded to a State for 

9 failure to comply with subsection (a) shall be allocated or 

10 awarded (as the case may be) to States that do comply 

11 with subsection (a). 

12 SEC. 3. NATIONAL DATABASE. 

13 The Secretary of Education shall maintain a national 

14 database of incidents that have occurred in which an edu15 cator has committed an act of sexual misconduct against 

16 a student. The database shall include, at a minimum, 

17 every detail provided by a State under section 2, and shall 

18 be available to the public. 

19 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

20 The Secretary of Education shall, on an annual basis, 

21 submit to Congress a report on the activities carried out 

22 under this Act. The report shall identify each State that 

23 is in compliance, and each State that is not in compliance, 

24 with section 2(a). 


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1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) The term ‘‘educator’’ means any individual 

4 who works for a State educational agency, local edu5 cational agency, or public school. 

6 (2) The term ‘‘act of sexual misconduct’’ means 

7 any sexual offense, sexual assault, sexual overture, 

8 or sexual communication. 

Æ 


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