I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4756 
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 
MAY 29, 2014 
Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself and Mr. MICHAUD) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bullying Redress and 
Verified Enforcement Act’’ or the ‘‘BRAVE Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 
Title IX of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.) is amended by in-
serting after section 9534 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 9534A. BULLYING. 
‘‘(a) OFFICIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) REPORT OF BULLYING.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), a local educational agency shall re-
quire an employee of the local educational agen-
cy who becomes aware of bullying to report to 
the individual designated under paragraph (2) 
by not later than 7 business days after becom-
ing aware of such bullying a description of— 
‘‘(i) the acts that constituted bullying; 
‘‘(ii) if the bullying included a ref-
erence to or was motivated by an actual or 
perceived protected characteristic of the 
victim, such protected characteristic; and 
‘‘(iii) the response to such bullying by 
employees of the local educational agency. 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding sub-
paragraph (A), in the case of an employee of a 
local educational agency who is informed of bul-
lying by a student attending a school served by 
the local educational agency, but the student re-
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quests that such bullying not be reported by the 
employee, the employee shall not be required to 
report such bullying under subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(2) RECEIPT
OF
REPORTS.—A local edu-
cational agency shall designate an individual to re-
ceive reports of bullying and shall inform each em-
ployee of the local educational agency of the contact 
information of the individual so designated. 
‘‘(3) REPORTING TO THE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL 
AGENCY.—Not later than 60 days after the date of 
the receipt of a report under paragraph (1), the in-
dividual designated under paragraph (2) shall in-
form all employees of the local educational agency of 
the acts described and the response by employees of 
the local educational agency and shall exclude any 
personally identifiable information of any student in-
volved. 
‘‘(4) PUBLICLY
AVAILABLE
QUARTERLY
RE-
PORTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), a local educational agency shall pub-
lish and make available to all students served 
by the local educational agency and parents of 
such students a report on a quarterly basis 
that— 
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‘‘(i) summarizes the bullying reported 
since the previous quarterly report; 
‘‘(ii) summarizes the responses by em-
ployees of the local educational agency to 
such bullying; 
‘‘(iii) excludes any personally identifi-
able information of any student involved; 
and 
‘‘(iv) informs the public of the right to 
file a complaint under subsection (b)(2). 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—A local educational 
agency shall not publish a report under sub-
paragraph (A) in a case in which such publica-
tion would reveal personally identifiable infor-
mation about an individual student. 
‘‘(5) ANNUAL
POLICY
REVIEW.—Each local 
educational agency shall review, on an annual basis, 
the policies on bullying for schools served by the 
local educational agency. 
‘‘(b) FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT.— 
‘‘(1) CONDITION OF FEDERAL FUNDING.—As a 
condition of receiving funds under this Act, a local 
educational agency shall— 
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‘‘(A) annually certify to the Secretary in 
writing that such local educational agency has 
complied with this section; and 
‘‘(B) together with such certification, sub-
mit the 4 most recent quarterly reports pub-
lished preceding such certification pursuant to 
subsection (a)(4). 
‘‘(2) FEDERAL RECEIPT OF COMPLAINTS.—The 
Assistant Secretary who serves as the head of the 
Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Edu-
cation shall— 
‘‘(A) establish a procedure for a student of 
a local educational agency, a parent of such 
student, or another appropriate individual to 
submit to the Assistant Secretary a complaint 
relating to a failure to comply with this section; 
and 
‘‘(B) publish such procedure on the Inter-
net website of the Department of Education. 
‘‘(3) FEDERAL RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS.— 
After receiving a complaint pursuant to paragraph 
(2), the Assistant Secretary shall— 
‘‘(A) investigate such complaint to deter-
mine if a local educational agency failed to com-
ply with this section; and 
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‘‘(B) if such local educational agency is de-
termined under subparagraph (A) to have failed 
to comply with this section— 
‘‘(i) withhold further payment of 
funds under this Act to such local edu-
cational agency; 
‘‘(ii) issue a complaint to compel com-
pliance of such local educational agency 
through a cease and desist order; or 
‘‘(iii) enter into a compliance agree-
ment with such local educational agency to 
bring it into compliance with this section, 
in same manner as the Secretary is authorized 
to take such actions under sections 455, 456, 
and 457, respectively, of the General Education 
Provisions Act. 
‘‘(4) PUBLIC
AVAILABILITY
OF
INFORMATION 
ABOUT COMPLAINTS.—Not later than 60 days after 
receiving a complaint pursuant to subsection (b)(2), 
the Assistant Secretary shall make available on the 
Internet website of the Department of Education in-
formation about such complaint, which shall— 
‘‘(A) if the bullying included a reference to 
or was motivated by an actual or perceived pro-
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