II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 859 

To prohibit sexual harassment by individuals administering programs and 

activities receiving Federal assistance. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 14, 2011 

Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To prohibit sexual harassment by individuals administering 

programs and activities receiving Federal assistance. 

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 ‘‘Public Agency Ac5 countability for Sexual Harassment Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ANY 1-YEAR PERIOD.—The term ‘‘any 1- 

9 year period’’— 


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1 (A) means a continuous period that com2 mences not earlier than 12 months before the 

3 commission of an offense or that ends not later 

4 than 12 months after the commission of the of5 fense; and 

6 (B) may include time both before and after 

7 the commission of the offense. 

8 (2) AGENT.—The term ‘‘agent’’ means a person 

9 authorized to act on behalf of another person or a 

10 government and, in the case of an organization or 

11 government, includes a servant or employee, and a 

12 partner, director, officer, manager, and representa13 tive. 

14 (3) GOVERNMENT AGENCY.—The term ‘‘govern15 ment agency’’ means a subdivision of the executive, 

16 legislative, or judicial branch, or another branch, of 

17 government, including a department, independent es18 tablishment, commission, administration, authority, 

19 board, and bureau, and a corporation or other legal 

20 entity established, and subject to control, by a gov21 ernment for the execution of a governmental or 

22 intergovernmental program or activity. 

23 (4) LOCAL.—The term ‘‘local’’ means of or per24 taining to a political subdivision within a State. 


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1 (5) PROGRAM OR ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘pro2 gram or activity’’ means all of the operations of— 

3 (A)(i) a department, agency, special pur4 pose district, or other instrumentality of a State 

5 or of a local government; or 

6 (ii) the entity of such State or local gov7 ernment that distributes such assistance and 

8 each such department or agency (and each 

9 other State or local government entity) to which 

10 the assistance is extended, in the case of assist11 ance to a State or local government; 

12 (B)(i) an entire corporation, partnership, 

13 or other private organization, or an entire sole 

14 proprietorship— 

15 (I) if assistance is extended to such 

16 corporation, partnership, private organiza17 tion, or sole proprietorship as a whole; or 

18 (II) which is principally engaged in 

19 the business of providing health care, hous20 ing, social services, or parks and recre21 ation; or 

22 (ii) the entire plant or other comparable, 

23 geographically separate facility to which Fed24 eral financial assistance is extended, in the case 


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1 of any other corporation, partnership, private 

2 organization, or sole proprietorship; or 

3 (C) any other entity which is established 

4 by 2 or more of the entities described in sub5 paragraph (A) or (B), 

6 any part of which is extended Federal financial as7 sistance. 

8 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes a State 

9 of the United States, the District of Columbia, and 

10 any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 

11 United States. 

12 SEC. 3. SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY INDIVIDUALS ADMIN13 ISTERING PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES RE14 CEIVING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—An individual who is an agent of 

16 an organization or government covered by subsection (b) 

17 and who administers a program or activity, shall not com18 mit sexual harassment, as defined under title VII of the 

19 Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.). 

20 (b) CIRCUMSTANCE.—An organization or government 

21 described in this subsection is an organization, or a State 

22 or local government, including any government agency 

23 thereof, that receives, in any 1-year period, benefits in ex24 cess of $5,000 from a program or activity. 


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1 (c) ORGANIZATION DUTIES.—An organization or a 

2 government covered by subsection (b) shall terminate the 

3 agency relationship with an agent described in subsection 

4 (a) who engages in sexual harassment prohibited by such 

5 subsection. 

6 (d) DISCLOSURE.—Any organization or government 

7 covered by subsection (b) that enters into any settlement 

8 resulting from sexual harassment prohibited under sub9 section (a) by an agent administering a program or activ10 ity, shall disclose the settlement, and any fines, penalties, 

11 damages, insurance premium increases, and other settle12 ments resulting from sexual harassment by such agent, 

13 to— 

14 (1) any Federal department or agency with 

15 whom the organization has an agreement for dis16 bursing Federal financial assistance; and 

17 (2) the Members of Congress representing each 

18 State in which the agent administers the program or 

19 activity. 

20 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal department and 

22 agency that is empowered to extend Federal financial as23 sistance to any program or activity, by way of grant, con24 tract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form 

25 of Federal assistance, is authorized and directed to effecVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:35 Apr 19, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S859.IS S859

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1 tuate the provisions of subsections (a) and (c) of section 

2 3 with respect to such program or activity by issuing rules, 

3 regulations, or orders of general applicability which shall 

4 be consistent with achievement of the objectives of the 

5 statute authorizing the financial assistance in connection 

6 with which the action is taken. No such rule, regulation, 

7 or order shall become effective unless and until approved 

8 by the President. 

9 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 

10 (1) VIOLATION BY AGENT.—In order to effect 

11 compliance with any requirement adopted pursuant 

12 to this section, an agent who violates section 3(a) 

13 shall be liable to the Federal Government for a civil 

14 fine, notwithstanding any other provision of law. 

15 (2) VIOLATION BY ORGANIZATION OR GOVERN16 MENT.— 

17 (A) CIVIL FINE.—In order to effect com18 pliance with any requirement adopted pursuant 

19 to this section, an organization or government 

20 that violates section 3(c) shall be liable to the 

21 Federal Government for a civil fine. 

22 (B) TERMINATION OF PARTICIPATION.—In 

23 the case of a violation of section 3(c) by an or24 ganization or government, the department or 

25 agency extending Federal financial assistance to 


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1 the organization or government shall effect 

2 compliance by terminating, or refusing to grant 

3 or continue, assistance for such program or ac4 tivity to any recipient as to whom there has 

5 been an express finding on the record, after op6 portunity for hearing, of a failure to comply 

7 with such requirement, but such termination or 

8 refusal shall be limited to the particular polit9 ical entity, or part thereof, or other recipient as 

10 to whom such a finding has been made and, 

11 shall be limited in its effect to the particular 

12 program or activity, or part thereof, in which 

13 such noncompliance has been so found. 

14 (3) OTHER MEANS.—In addition to the actions 

15 described in paragraphs (1) and (2), compliance 

16 with any requirement adopted pursuant to this sec17 tion shall be effected by any other means authorized 

18 by law. 

19 (c) PROCESS.—No action under subsection (b) shall 

20 be taken until the department or agency concerned has 

21 advised the appropriate person or persons of the failure 

22 to comply with the requirement and has determined that 

23 compliance cannot be secured by voluntary means. In the 

24 case of any action terminating, or refusing to grant or con25 tinue, assistance because of failure to comply with a reVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:35 Apr 19, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S859.IS S859

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1 quirement imposed pursuant to this section, the head of 

2 the Federal department or agency shall file with the com3 mittees of the House of Representatives and the Senate 

4 having legislative jurisdiction over the program or activity 

5 involved a full written report of the circumstances and the 

6 grounds for such action. No such action shall become ef7 fective until thirty days have elapsed after the filing of 

8 such report. 

9 SEC. 5. STATE IMMUNITY. 

10 (a) STATE IMMUNITY.—A State shall not be immune 

11 under the 11th Amendment to the Constitution from suit 

12 in Federal court for a violation of this Act. 

13 (b) WAIVER.—A State’s receipt or use of Federal fi14 nancial assistance for any program or activity of a State 

15 shall constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity, under the 

16 11th Amendment or otherwise, to any suit brought for a 

17 violation of subsection (a) or (c) of section 3. 

18 SEC. 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

19 (a) NO EFFECT ON RIGHTS AND REMEDIES FOR

20 SEXUAL HARASSMENT.—Nothing in this Act affects any 

21 right, obligation, or liability under title VII of the Civil 

22 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) or other 

23 law, in a case involving sexual harassment. 

24 (b) NO DUPLICATION OF TITLE IX.—Nothing in this 

25 Act (except for subsection (a)) shall be construed to apply 


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1 to an organization or government described in section 

2 3(b), including an agent of such an organization or gov3 ernment, if the organization or government is a recipient 

4 of Federal financial assistance from a program or activity 

5 covered by title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. 

Æ 


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