Legislative Alert: Senate action on campus sexual assault legislation

December 16, 2020

Legislative Alert

To:        AICUM Government Relations VPs/Directors

From:   Rob McCarron, Senior Vice President and General Counsel

              Brad Freeman, Vice President of Government Relations

Re:        Legislative Alert: Senate action on campus sexual assault legislation

Dear AICUM General Counsels and Government Relations VPs/Directors:

As we indicated yesterday, the Massachusetts Senate passed an amended version of the campus sexual assault legislation during an informal session today.  The amended bill will now go to the House, which is also expected to take up the matter in the coming days before the session concludes in January.

Prior to passage, the Senate adopted a corrective amendment offered by Senator Michael Rodrigues, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. The Rodrigues amendment included a number of corrective items that we had discussed with Senate leadership this week.

The amendment also included language offered by Senator Michael Moore, the lead Senate sponsor of the legislation, that encourages institutions already offering sexual assault crisis services on campus to also enter into an MOU with a community-based sexual assault crisis center. This is a unexpected shift from the recent versions of the legislation that required institutions without sexual assault crisis services on campus to enter in MOUs, but did not impose a similar requirement on those that already offered services on campus.

We are still trying to get a better understand as to the rational for this amendment and we will follow up with any additional information as the House considers action on this bill..

Please let us know if you have any questions about the Senate action or next steps.