Watson files bills to address sexual assault on college campuses,
An Austin lawmaker has proposed a suite of legislation that would protect victims of sexual assault on public and private college campuses and address loopholes in state law.
Among the bills that state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, filed Tuesday included Senate Bill 967, which would change the definition of consent in sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault charges. Under the bill, a victim couldn’t give consent if the victim is unaware that the sexual assault is hap- pening and is “incapable of appraising the nature of the act,” and if the perpetrator
knows the victim has withdrawn consent but continues anyway. The bill also would no longer allow perpetrators to mistake consent if a reasonable person should have known or understood that
the victim did not consent. “‘No’ means no,” Watson said in a news release. “But
the absence of ‘yes’ should also mean no.”
According to the release, Watson’s bills were in response to high-profile sex assault scandals at public and private universities, includ- ing Stanford and Baylor. The cases at Baylor led to the departure last year of the university’s then-president Ken Starr and head football coach Art Briles over reports that they botched investigations into sexual assaults by Baylor football players.
Last year, Texas State University had reported the most sexual assaults police had investigated since 2008. As of October 2016, there were six sexual assault reports.
In 2015, the University of Texas had 31 reports of sexual assault on and nearby campus property. Most of them were reports of rape, according to latest data available online. Watson also proposed:
Senate Bill 970, requir- ing all institutions of higher education to have a consent standard.
Senate Bill 966, protecting minors who report sexual assault to health care providers, law enforcement personnel or Title IX coordinators from being prose- cuted for underage drinking.
Senate Bill 969, pro- tecting a student from disciplinary action if the student reports being a victim or a witness to a sexual assault.
Senate Bill 968, requiring a higher education institution to provide a way to electronically report an incident of sexual assault, family violence, or stalking. The electronic option must include the option to report anonymously.