IB 

Union Calendar No. 115 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 36 

[Report No. 116–153] 

To provide for research to better understand the causes and consequences 

of sexual harassment affecting individuals in the scientific, technical, 

engineering, and mathematics workforce and to examine policies to reduce the prevalence and negative impact of such harassment, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself and Mr. LUCAS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

JULY 12, 2019 

Additional sponsors: Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. BISHOP of 

Georgia, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. 

LEWIS, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, 

Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. 

SPEIER, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. BEYER, Mr. DANNY K. 

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

FITZPATRICK, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. COHEN, 

Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. LAMB, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, 

Ms. HAALAND, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. SOTO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. PORTER, 

Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. KILMER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. RUSH, 

Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. MOORE, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, 

Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. HIMES, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, 

Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. LUJA ́N, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. 

DEAN, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. PALLONE, 

Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. BERA, Mr. CASE, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. FOSTER, 

Mr. POCAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. HOULAHAN, 

Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. SIRES, Mr. 

WELCH, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. STEVENS, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. 

GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. COX of California, Mr. CARTVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jul 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H36.RH H36

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WRIGHT, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Ms. OMAR, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. 

MOULTON, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. TONKO, Ms. WEXTON, Miss 

GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N of Puerto Rico, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. 

BALDERSON, Mr. MARSHALL, Mrs. FLETCHER, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of 

Oklahoma, Mr. WALTZ, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. DELAURO, and Mr. TED

LIEU of California 

JULY 12, 2019 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 3, 2019] 

A BILL 

To provide for research to better understand the causes 

and consequences of sexual harassment affecting individuals in the scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics workforce and to examine policies to reduce the 

prevalence and negative impact of such harassment, and 

for other purposes. 


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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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act of 2019’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Research grants. 

Sec. 5. Data collection. 

Sec. 6. Responsible conduct guide. 

Sec. 7. Interagency working group. 

Sec. 8. National academies assessment. 

Sec. 9. Authorization of appropriations. 

8 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

9 Congress makes the following findings: 

10 (1) According to the report issued by the Na11 tional Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medi12 cine in 2018 entitled ‘‘Sexual Harassment of Women: 

13 Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic 

14 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’’— 

15 (A) sexual harassment is pervasive in insti16 tutions of higher education; 

17 (B) the most common type of sexual harass18 ment is gender harassment, which includes 

19 verbal and nonverbal behaviors that convey in20 sulting, hostile, and degrading attitudes about 

21 members of one gender; 


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1 (C) 58 percent of individuals in the aca2 demic workplace experience sexual harassment, 

3 the second highest rate when compared to the 

4 military, the private sector, and Federal, State, 

5 and local government; 

6 (D) women who are members of racial or 

7 ethnic minority groups are more likely to experi8 ence sexual harassment and to feel unsafe at 

9 work than White women, White men, or men 

10 who are members of such groups; 

11 (E) the training for each individual who 

12 has a doctor of philosophy in the science, tech13 nology, engineering, and mathematics fields is 

14 estimated to cost approximately $500,000; and 

15 (F) attrition of an individual so trained re16 sults in a loss of talent and money. 

17 (2) Sexual harassment undermines career ad18 vancement for women. 

19 (3) According to a 2017 University of Illinois 

20 study, among astronomers and planetary scientists, 

21 18 percent of women who are members of racial or 

22 ethnic minority groups and 12 percent of White 

23 women skipped professional events because they did 

24 not feel safe attending. 


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1 (4) Many women report leaving employment at 

2 institutions of higher education due to sexual harass3 ment. 

4 (5) Research shows the majority of individuals 

5 do not formally report experiences of sexual harass6 ment due to a justified fear of retaliation or other 

7 negative professional or personal consequences. 

8 (6) Reporting procedures with respect to such 

9 harassment are inconsistent among Federal science 

10 agencies and have varying degrees of accessibility. 

11 (7) There is not adequate communication among 

12 Federal science agencies and between such agencies 

13 and grantees regarding reports of sexual harassment, 

14 which has resulted in harassers receiving Federal 

15 funding after moving to a different institution. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) ACADEMIES.—The term ‘‘Academies’’ means 

19 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and 

20 Medicine. 

21 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means the 

22 Director of the National Science Foundation. 

23 (3) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Fed24 eral science agency’’ means any Federal agency with 


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1 an annual extramural research expenditure of over 

2 $100,000,000. 

3 (4) FINDING OR DETERMINATION.—The term 

4 ‘‘finding or determination’’ means the final disposi5 tion of a matter involving a violation of organiza6 tional policies and processes, to include the exhaus7 tion of permissible appeals, or a conviction of a sex8 ual offense in a criminal court of law. 

9 (5) GENDER HARASSMENT.—The term ‘‘gender 

10 harassment’’ means verbal and nonverbal behaviors 

11 that convey hostility, objectification, exclusion, or sec12 ond-class status about one’s gender, gender identity, 

13 gender presentation, sexual orientation, or pregnancy 

14 status. 

15 (6) GRANTEE.—The term ‘‘grantee’’ means the 

16 legal entity to which a grant is awarded and that is 

17 accountable to the Federal Government for the use of 

18 the funds provided. 

19 (7) GRANT PERSONNEL.—The term ‘‘grant per20 sonnel’’ means principal investigators, co-principal 

21 investigators, postdoctoral researchers and other em22 ployees supported by a grant award, cooperative 

23 agreement, or contract under Federal law. 

24 (8) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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1 ing given such term in section 101 of the Higher Edu2 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

3 (9) SEXUAL HARASSMENT.—The term ‘‘sexual 

4 harassment’’ means conduct that encompasses— 

5 (A) unwelcome sexual advances; 

6 (B) unwanted physical contact that is sex7 ual in nature, including assault; 

8 (C) unwanted sexual attention, including 

9 sexual comments and propositions for sexual ac10 tivity; 

11 (D) conditioning professional or educational 

12 benefits on sexual activity; and 

13 (E) retaliation for rejecting unwanted sex14 ual attention. 

15 (10) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ means science, 

16 technology, engineering, and mathematics, including 

17 computer science. 

18 SEC. 4. RESEARCH GRANTS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish a pro20 gram to award grants, on a competitive basis, to institu21 tions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or 

22 consortia of such institutions or organizations)— 

23 (1) to expand research efforts to better under24 stand the factors contributing to, and consequences of, 

25 sexual harassment and gender harassment affecting 


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1 individuals in the STEM workforce, including stu2 dents and trainees; and 

3 (2) to examine interventions to reduce the inci4 dence and negative consequences of such harassment. 

5 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Activities funded by a grant 

6 under this section may include— 

7 (1) research on the sexual harassment and gen8 der harassment experiences of individuals in under9 represented or vulnerable groups, including racial 

10 and ethnic minority groups, disabled individuals, for11 eign nationals, sexual- and gender-minority individ12 uals, and others; 

13 (2) development and assessment of policies, pro14 cedures, trainings, and interventions, with respect to 

15 sexual harassment and gender harassment, conflict 

16 management, and ways to foster respectful and inclu17 sive climates; 

18 (3) research on approaches for remediating the 

19 negative impacts and outcomes of such harassment on 

20 individuals experiencing such harassment; 

21 (4) support for institutions of higher education 

22 to develop, adapt, and assess the impact of innova23 tive, evidence-based strategies, policies, and ap24 proaches to policy implementation to prevent and ad25 dress sexual harassment and gender harassment; 


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1 (5) research on alternatives to the hierarchical 

2 and dependent relationships, including but not lim3 ited to the mentor-mentee relationship, in academia 

4 that have been shown to create higher levels of risk for 

5 sexual harassment and gender harassment; and 

6 (6) establishing a center for the ongoing compila7 tion, management, and analysis of campus climate 

8 survey data. 

9 SEC. 5. DATA COLLECTION. 

10 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

11 of this Act, the Director shall convene a working group com12 posed of representatives of Federal statistical agencies— 

13 (1) to develop questions on sexual harassment 

14 and gender harassment in STEM departments to 

15 gather national data on the prevalence, nature, and 

16 implications of sexual harassment and gender harass17 ment in institutions of higher education; and 

18 (2) to include such questions as appropriate, 

19 with sufficient protections of the privacy of respond20 ents, in relevant surveys conducted by the National 

21 Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and 

22 other relevant entities. 

23 SEC. 6. RESPONSIBLE CONDUCT GUIDE. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall enter into 


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1 an agreement with the Academies to update the report enti2 tled ‘‘On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct 

3 in Research’’ issued by the Academies. The report, as so 

4 updated, shall include— 

5 (1) updated professional standards of conduct in 

6 research; 

7 (2) standards of treatment individuals can ex8 pect to receive under such updated standards of con9 duct; 

10 (3) evidence-based practices for fostering a cli11 mate intolerant of sexual harassment and gender har12 assment; 

13 (4) methods, including bystander intervention, 

14 for identifying and addressing incidents of sexual 

15 harassment and gender harassment; and 

16 (5) professional standards for mentorship and 

17 teaching with an emphasis on preventing sexual har18 assment and gender harassment. 

19 (b) RECOMMENDATIONS.—In updating the report 

20 under subsection (a), the Academies shall take into account 

21 recommendations made in the report issued by the Acad22 emies in 2018 entitled ‘‘Sexual Harassment of Women: Cli23 mate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, En24 gineering, and Medicine’’ and other relevant studies and 

25 evidence. 


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1 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the effec2 tive date of the contract under subsection (a), the Acad3 emies, as part of such agreement, shall submit to the Direc4 tor and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

5 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com6 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate the report 

7 referred to in such subsection, as updated pursuant to such 

8 subsection. 

9 SEC. 7. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of Science 

11 and Technology Policy, acting through the National Science 

12 and Technology Council, shall establish an interagency 

13 working group for the purpose of coordinating Federal 

14 science agency efforts to reduce the prevalence of sexual har15 assment and gender harassment involving grant personnel. 

16 The working group shall be chaired by the Director of the 

17 Office of Science and Technology Policy (or the Director’s 

18 designee) and shall include a representative from each Fed19 eral science agency with annual extramural research ex20 penditures totaling over $1,000,000,000, a representative 

21 from the Department of Education, and a representative 

22 from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commis23 sion. 

24 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF WORKING GROUP.—The 

25 interagency working group established under subsection (a) 


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1 shall coordinate Federal science agency efforts to implement 

2 the policy guidelines developed under subsection (c)(2). 

3 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF OSTP.—The Director of the 

4 Office of Science and Technology Policy shall— 

5 (1) not later than 90 days after the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act, submit to the Committee on 

7 Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep8 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

9 Science, and Transportation of the Senate an inven10 tory of policies, procedures, and resources dedicated to 

11 preventing and responding to reports of sexual har12 assment and gender harassment at Federal agencies 

13 that provide legal definitions to which institutions of 

14 higher education must comply; and 

15 (2) not later than 6 months after the date on 

16 which the inventory is submitted under paragraph 

17 (1)— 

18 (A) in consultation with outside stake19 holders and Federal science agencies, develop a 

20 uniform set of policy guidelines for Federal 

21 science agencies; and 

22 (B) submit a report to the committees re23 ferred to in paragraph (1) containing such 

24 guidelines; 


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1 (3) encourage and monitor efforts of Federal 

2 science agencies to develop or maintain and imple3 ment policies based on the guidelines developed under 

4 paragraph (2), including the extent to which Federal 

5 science agency policies depart from the uniform pol6 icy guidelines; 

7 (4) not later than 1 year after the date on which 

8 the inventory under paragraph (1) is submitted, and 

9 every 5 years thereafter, the Director of the Office of 

10 Science and Technology Policy shall report to Con11 gress on the implementation by Federal science agen12 cies of the policy guidelines developed under para13 graph (2); and 

14 (5) update such policy guidelines as needed. 

15 (d) REQUIREMENTS.—In developing policy guidelines 

16 under subsection (c)(2), the Director of the Office of Science 

17 and Technology Policy shall include guidelines that re18 quire— 

19 (1) grantees to submit to the Federal science 

20 agency or agencies from which the grantees receive 

21 funding reports relating to— 

22 (A) administrative action, related to an al23 legation against grant personnel of any sexual 

24 harassment or gender harassment, as set forth in 

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1 utes, regulations, or executive orders, that affects 

2 the ability of grant personnel or their trainees to 

3 carry out the activities of the grant; and 

4 (B) findings or determinations against 

5 grant personnel of sexual harassment or gender 

6 harassment, as set forth in organizational poli7 cies or codes of conduct, statutes, regulations, or 

8 executive orders, including any findings or deter9 minations related to reports submitted under 

10 subparagraph (A) and any disciplinary action 

11 that was taken; 

12 (2) the sharing, updating, and archiving of re13 ports of sexual harassment and gender harassment 

14 from grantees submitted under paragraph (1)(B) with 

15 relevant Federal science agencies on a quarterly basis; 

16 and 

17 (3) to the extent practicable, ensure consistency 

18 among Federal agencies with regards to the policies 

19 and procedures for receiving reports submitted pursu20 ant to paragraph (1), which may include the designa21 tion of a single agency to field reports so submitted. 

22 (e) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing policy guidelines 

23 under subsection (c)(2), the Director of the Office of Science 

24 and Technology Policy shall consider guidelines that require 

25 or incentivize— 


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1 (1) grantees to periodically assess their organiza2 tional climate, which may include the use of climate 

3 surveys, focus groups, or exit interviews; 

4 (2) grantees to publish on a publicly available 

5 internet website the results of assessments conducted 

6 pursuant to paragraph (1), disaggregated by gender 

7 and, if possible, race, ethnicity, disability status, and 

8 sexual orientation; 

9 (3) grantees to make public on an annual basis 

10 the number of reports of sexual harassment and gen11 der harassment at each such institution; 

12 (4) grantees to regularly assess and improve 

13 policies, procedures, and interventions to reduce the 

14 prevalence of sexual harassment and gender harass15 ment; 

16 (5) each grantee to demonstrate in its proposal 

17 for a grant award, cooperative agreement, or contract 

18 that a code of conduct is in place for maintaining a 

19 healthy and welcoming workplace for grant personnel 

20 and their trainees; 

21 (6) the diffusion of the hierarchical and depend22 ent relationships between grant personnel and their 

23 trainees; 

24 (7) each grantee and Federal science agency to 

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1 dividuals who have experienced sexual harassment 

2 and gender harassment; and 

3 (8) grantees to work to create a climate intoler4 ant of sexual harassment and gender harassment. 

5 (f) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY IMPLEMENTATION.— 

6 Each Federal science agency shall— 

7 (1) develop or maintain and implement policies 

8 with respect to sexual harassment and gender harass9 ment that are consistent with policy guidelines under 

10 subsection (c)(2) and that protect the privacy of all 

11 parties involved in any report and investigation of 

12 sexual harassment and gender harassment, except to 

13 the extent necessary to carry out an investigation; 

14 and 

15 (2) broadly disseminate such policies to current 

16 and potential recipients of research grants, coopera17 tive agreements, or contracts awarded by such agency. 

18 (g) FERPA.—The Director of the Office of Science and 

19 Technology Policy shall ensure that such guidelines and re20 quirements are consistent with the requirements of section 

21 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 

22 1232g) (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Family Educational 

23 Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’’). 


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1 (h) SUNSET.—The interagency working group estab2 lished under subsection (a) shall terminate on the date that 

3 is 7 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 8. NATIONAL ACADEMIES ASSESSMENT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 

6 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall enter into 

7 an agreement with the Academies to undertake a study of 

8 the influence of sexual harassment and gender harassment 

9 in institutions of higher education on the career advance10 ment of individuals in the STEM workforce. The study shall 

11 assess— 

12 (1) the state of research on sexual harassment 

13 and gender harassment in such workforce; 

14 (2) whether research demonstrates a change in 

15 the prevalence of sexual harassment and gender har16 assment in such workforce; 

17 (3) the progress made with respect to imple18 menting recommendations promulgated in the Acad19 emies consensus study report entitled ‘‘Sexual Harass20 ment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences 

21 in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’’; 

22 and 

23 (4) where to focus future efforts with respect to 

24 decreasing sexual harassment and gender harassment 

25 in such institutions. 


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1 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Director 

3 to carry out this Act, $17,500,000. 


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Union Calendar No. 115 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 36 

[Report No. 116–153] 

A BILL 

To provide for research to better understand the 

other purposes. negative impact of such harassment, and for examine policies to reduce the prevalence and engineering, and mathematics workforce and to affecting individuals in the scientific, technical, causes and consequences of sexual harassment 

JULY 12, 2019 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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