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Committee advances bill shifting Title IX implementation oversight to college presidents' offices
Summary
House Bill 141, sponsored by Representative Sandeep Pickett, would place Title IX policy and implementation oversight under the president of each public higher‑education institution, with duties carried out by the president or staff reporting to the president.
Representative Sandeep Pickett, R‑District 27, introduced House Bill 141 to place policy responsibility and implementation oversight of Title IX at the presidential level for Idaho colleges and universities. The bill, as discussed in the Feb. 7 public hearing, does not prescribe specific investigatory procedures; the sponsor said it requires the president's office to be involved in establishing Title IX policies and in accountability and reporting.
Committee members raised practical concerns about staffing and whether presidents would need to hire additional personnel to meet the statute's reporting and oversight language. Representative Nelson relayed that a community‑college president asked for a friendly amendment so that the president could delegate duties to existing staff who would report to the president rather than require all responsibilities to sit physically "within the office of the president." Representative Pickett agreed to a revision: strike the word "within" on line 41 and add language indicating responsibilities may be carried out by staff "reporting to" the president or be "within the purview" of the president.
Representative Ehart said the change served as a reminder to presidents to pay attention to Title IX beyond athletics, including educational opportunities and harassment cases. A virtual public testifier, Mary Ellen Nurse of District 17, testified in support, saying that having presidents responsible would aggregate accountability and ensure implementation is not delegated without oversight.
After discussion the committee voted to send HB 141 to general orders with committee‑recommended amendments (the committee vote was a voice vote in committee and the chair said the amendments should be prepared as committee‑recommended language for general orders). The sponsor asked that the committee's recommended language use the phrase "reporting to the office of the president," and the committee approved moving the bill forward with those recommendations.
The committee did not adopt final statutory text during the hearing; the bill will be carried forward to general orders so the committee's recommended amendments can be formally offered and prioritized for floor amendment consideration.
