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Subcommittee backs bill requiring safety training for new college students within 30 days
Summary
House Bill 5205 was advanced by a subcommittee after amendments. The bill requires institutions to implement a safety program for new students within 30 days, report summaries of training methods and certain crime-data breakdowns to state bodies, and make safety plans available online where lawful; harsh funding penalties were removed.
A legislative subcommittee on Tuesday advanced House Bill 5205, a measure that would require colleges and technical schools to develop and implement a campus safety program for new students and report summary information about that training to state oversight bodies.
Miss Grinstead told committee members the bill must be administered to new students within 30 days of arrival on campus and that institutions would have to report a summary of training content, delivery methods and associated materials to either the Commission on Higher Education or the State Technical Board (depending on institution type) and to SLED. The bill also would require institutions to review safety plans annually and make those plans available on their websites if they are not confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure under state or federal law.
The measure includes a data-reporting requirement that, "to the extent possible," asks institutions to report numbers of criminal reports alleging homicide, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor-vehicle larceny and arson and whether alleged victims or offenders were affiliated with the institution at the time of report. Miss Grinstead said language that would have allowed funding reductions or attorney-general referrals for noncompliance was removed after feedback that the penalties were too harsh.
No university representatives signed up to testify at the subcommittee; a committee member confirmed the absence of institutional testimony. Members adopted two amendments to clarify statutory definitions and other language and then moved and approved a favorable report on the bill as amended. The transcript does not include a numeric roll-call of votes.
