I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5959 
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 
SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 
Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself and Ms. NORTON) 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. 
Part F of title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘Subpart 6—Bullying 
‘‘SEC. 8581. OFFICIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) REPORT OF BULLYING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 
local educational agency shall require an employee of 
the local educational agency who becomes aware of 
bullying to report to the individual designated under 
subsection (b) by not later than 7 business days 
after becoming aware of such bullying a description 
of— 
‘‘(A) the acts that constituted bullying; 
‘‘(B) if the bullying included a reference to 
or was motivated by an actual or perceived pro-
tected characteristic of the victim, such pro-
tected characteristic; and 
‘‘(C) the response to such bullying by em-
ployees of the local educational agency. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph 
(1), in the case of an employee of a local educational 
agency who is informed of bullying by a student at-
tending a school served by the local educational 
agency, but the student requests that such bullying 
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not be reported by the employee, the employee shall 
not be required to report such bullying under para-
graph (1). 
‘‘(b) RECEIPT
OF REPORTS.—A local educational 
agency shall designate an individual to receive and keep 
a record of reports of bullying and shall inform each em-
ployee of the local educational agency of the contact infor-
mation of the individual so designated. 
‘‘(c) REPORTING
TO
THE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL 
AGENCY.—Not later than 60 days after the date of the 
receipt of a report under subsection (a)(1), the individual 
designated under subsection (b) shall inform 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 involved. 
‘‘(d) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE QUARTERLY REPORTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (1), a 
local educational agency shall publish and make 
available to all students served by the local edu-
cational agency and parents of such students a re-
port on a quarterly basis that— 
‘‘(A) lists the number of bullying reports 
made since the previous quarterly report; and 
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‘‘(B) informs the public of the right to file 
a complaint under section 8582(b)(2). 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—A local educational agency 
shall not publish a report under paragraph (1) in a 
case in which such publication would reveal person-
ally identifiable information about an individual stu-
dent. 
‘‘(e) ANNUAL POLICY REVIEW.—Each local edu-
cational agency shall review, on an annual basis, the poli-
cies on bullying for schools served by the local educational 
agency. 
‘‘SEC. 8582. FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT. 
‘‘(a) CONDITION OF FEDERAL FUNDING.—As a con-
dition of receiving funds under this Act, a local edu-
cational agency shall— 
‘‘(1) annually certify to the Secretary in writing 
that such local educational agency has complied with 
this section; and 
‘‘(2) together with such certification, submit the 
4 most recent quarterly reports published preceding 
such certification pursuant to section 8581(d). 
‘‘(b) FEDERAL RECEIPT OF COMPLAINTS.—The As-
sistant Secretary who serves as the head of the Office of 
Civil Rights for the Department of Education shall— 
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‘‘(1) 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 
‘‘(2) publish such procedure on the Internet 
website of the Department of Education. 
‘‘(c) FEDERAL RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS.—After 
receiving a complaint pursuant to subsection (b), the As-
sistant Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) investigate such complaint to determine if 
a local educational agency failed to comply with this 
section; and 
‘‘(2) if such local educational agency is deter-
mined under paragraph (1) to have failed to comply 
with this section— 
‘‘(A) withhold further payment of funds 
under this Act to such local educational agency; 
‘‘(B) issue a complaint to compel compli-
ance of such local educational agency through a 
cease and desist order; or 
‘‘(C) enter into a compliance agreement 
with such local educational agency to bring it 
into compliance with this section, 
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in the same manner as the Secretary is authorized 
to take such actions under sections 455, 456, and 
457, respectively, of the General Education Provi-
sions Act. 
‘‘(d) 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 information about such complaint, which 
shall— 
‘‘(1) if the bullying included a reference to or 
was motivated by an actual or perceived protected 
characteristic of the victim, include a description of 
such protected characteristic; and 
‘‘(2) exclude any personally identifiable infor-
mation of any student involved. 
‘‘SEC. 8583. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this subpart: 
‘‘(1) BULLYING.—The term ‘bullying’ means 
any severe, pervasive, or persistent electronic, writ-
ten, verbal, or physical act by one student or a 
group of students toward another student during 
school hours and on school premises, or at a school- 
sponsored activity outside of school hours, that 
causes— 
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‘‘(A) harm to or reasonable concern for the 
person, property, or mental health of such other 
student; or 
‘‘(B) such other student to withdraw from 
or avoid benefitting from the services, activities, 
or opportunities offered by the school. 
‘‘(2) PROTECTED CHARACTERISTIC.—The term 
‘protected characteristic’ includes race, color, sex, re-
ligion, national origin, disability, gender, gender 
identity, and sexual orientation.’’. 
SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents for the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) 
is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
8574, the following: 
‘‘SUBPART 6—BULLYING 
‘‘Sec. 8581. Official reporting requirements. 
‘‘Sec. 8582. Federal enforcement. 
‘‘Sec. 8583. Definitions.’’. 
Æ 
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