The bill establishes the requirements for annual reporting on campus sexual misconduct incidents by institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth, as mandated by the 2021 Campus Sexual Assault Law. It requires these institutions to conduct sexual misconduct climate surveys every four years and submit annual reports to the Department of Higher Education (DHE) detailing the frequency and nature of incidents. The reports must include specific data such as the total number of reports made, investigations conducted by law enforcement, and outcomes of disciplinary actions against those found responsible for violations. Notably, the bill introduces new legal language that emphasizes the separation of anonymous reports in the data collection process, enhancing the accuracy of the reported incident data.

The DHE has been actively working to improve the data collection process related to sexual misconduct incidents, collaborating with agency partners and stakeholders to optimize reporting. The bill outlines the requirement for institutions to submit their incident data according to new adjustments for the Year 4 annual reporting process, which will begin on October 1, 2024, and is due by December 1, 2024. Additionally, it reinstates the unknown party reporting line item in response to requests from several institutions, further refining the data collection process and promoting transparency and collaboration among higher education institutions to improve campus safety and violence prevention.