SB 872 − This bill will provide much-needed resources and support to school districts and colleges while working to ensure that Pennsylvania’s schools are free from violence of all kinds, including bullying, harassment, and dating violence. Particularly, this legislation deals with violence in a school setting, and provides clear definitions of each aspect of school violence. This bill will establish procedures for school entities to keep records of reports and investigations of violence. Additionally, reports made by students will be confidential and investigated promptly. School entities will provide professional development and education on issues related to violence and promote compliance with all applicable federal and state requirements around the prevention of sexual violence. To increase transparency, schools will be required to report the number of alleged acts of violence to the Department of Education.

Sponsor:  Haywood

SB 870 − This is legislation expanding Pennsylvania’s Office of Safe Schools beyond their current K-12 responsibilities to cover postsecondary institutions, and monitor and enforce existing federal and state requirements related to sexual violence prevention and response. The Office of Safe Schools within the Department of Education currently coordinates school safety and security programs, collection of the annual school violence statistics, coordination of antiviolence efforts, and development of policies and strategies to combat school violence, while supporting and providing technical assistance and professional development programs to local school entities. This bill will expand their purview to allow them to provide their valuable services to Pennsylvania’s postsecondary institutions, provide policy development assistance, and promote compliance with all applicable federal and state requirements around the prevention of sexual violence.

Sponsor:  Hughes

SB 871 − This legislation will strengthen the ability to discover sexual or domestic violence at postsecondary schools in Pennsylvania and to enforce protections against them. This proposal would require all public, state-related and independent institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania to specifically provide amnesty under their disciplinary policies for violations of drug or alcohol restrictions by a victim or other witness that are disclosed in the course of good faith reporting by the victim or witness of an assault or stalking incident. Most such incidents go unreported, even to victim support agencies. Concern that reporting an incident could lead to sanctions on the reporting victim or witness if as a result they admit to policy violations needlessly aggravates under-reporting.

Sponsor:  Schwank

SB 919 − This legislation amends the Housing Authorities Law to allow a victim of domestic or sexual violence to be relocated. This bill was developed with input from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, and the Pennsylvania Housing Alliance. The bill allows a tenant of a county housing authority who is a victim of domestic or sexual violence to be relocated to another apartment under the control of the county housing authority or in another county housing authority, or otherwise receive help finding housing or receive a referral to local victim advocacy organizations for housing assistance. Tenants would be required to certify to a housing authority that they are the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. A tenant may be eligible to receive assistance whether the domestic or sexual violence occurred in the housing unit or whether the tenant otherwise reasonably believes he or she is threatened with imminent harm from violence if the tenant remains in the unit. The county housing authority would have five days to approve a request for relocation. Then it would have 30 days to relocate the individual and other members of their household, give the tenant a Housing Choice Voucher, or refer the tenant to victim assistance organizations. The county housing authority would be prohibited, absent a court order, from releasing the new address of the tenant or other information about their relocation. Domestic and sexual violence is an ongoing plague in our communities. Last year, the 60 community centers providing services throughout the Commonwealth assisted almost 90,000 victims of domestic and sexual violence.

Sponsor:  Haywood

SB 999 − This is legislation prohibiting non-disclosure agreements (NDA’s) within contracts or secret out-of-court settlements related to sexual harassment or sexual misconduct. Sexual harassment and misconduct swept under the rug by way of the use of NDA’s and out-of-court settlements. These agreements allow serial predators to continue abusing employees, clients, and contractors, sometimes over decades. Victims of sexual harassment often find themselves pressured by the expense and length of court battles into signing agreements that do not protect the public interest and can enable predators.

Sponsor:  Schwank

SB 1023 − This legislation provides an additional provision for the consideration of parole applications by an inmate deemed to be a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP). The intent is to mitigate the revictimization survivors face within the Commonwealth’s current parole system. This bill will provide that the Pennsylvania Parole Board shall not be required to consider, nor to dispose of an application by an inmate or an inmate’s attorney in the case of an inmate if a parole decision has been issued by the board within three years of the date of the current application for parole. Under current law Sexually Violent Predators are given the ability to apply for parole one year after their most recent application, following their minimum sentence date. Survivors must relive the crimes committed against them, every year their attacker applies for parole, in order to provide opposition testimony.

Sponsor:  Sabatina

SR 57 − This is a resolution directing the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study into incidents of sexual assault on post-secondary campuses and to make recommendations for policy and statutory changes needed to decrease the risks of assault and injury and increase safety for students, staff and visitors to campuses. The resolution will provide for a committee of up to 20 representatives from schools, law enforcement, victim resource programs and agencies, and students to assist the commission in studying and analyzing the nature and extent of sexual assault on post-secondary campuses in Pennsylvania, the nature and effectiveness of sexual assault education and prevention programs here, the accuracy and use of reporting data and the response by officials and others to reports of assaults, and the effectiveness of statutory or regulatory mandates and programs.

Sponsor:  Schwank

SR 77 − This is a resolution declaring April 2017 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Pennsylvania. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in 5 women and one in 33 men will be raped during their lives. Further, children between the ages of 12 and 17 are 2.5 times more likely to be victims of rape or sexual assault. It is imperative that we recognize the strength, courage, and challenges faced by victims and survivors of sexual violence. It is important for all Pennsylvanians to learn about and understand this serious issue, so that they may speak out against sexual violence and stand up for the safety and well-being of others throughout Pennsylvania.

Sponsor:  Tartaglione

SR 299 − A resolution designating April 2018 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Pennsylvania.

Sexual assault is a social and public health epidemic in the United States. Every day in America, women, children, and men are affected by sexual violence regardless of their cultural heritage or economic background. These experiences induce life-changing misery for survivors and are devastating for their loved ones. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 71 men will be the victim of an attempted, or completed, rape or sexual assault sometime during their lives. Furthermore, one in four girls and one in six boys are likely to be victims of sexual violence. Survivors of sexual assault exhibit undaunted courage in the midst of the challenges they face, and eliminating the scourge of sexual violence is of paramount importance.

Sponsor:  Tartaglione