House tackles harassment
Bill’s co-sponsor calls it a ‘seismic change’ in system for reporting lawmaker misconduct.
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) “couldn’t be happier” with a comprehensive rewrite of the law governing how Capitol Hill handles sexual harassment complaints.
Under the bipartisan proposal, taxpayers would not pay to settle lawmakers’ sexual harassment complaints.
Responding to a series of high-profile accusations last fall, Congress is fast-tracking legislation to simplify the convoluted process Capitol Hill staffers are required to go through to report sexual harassment.
Speier, a co-sponsor of the measure, called the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act a “seismic change” of the current reporting process, which she’s pushed to change for years.
Gone would be the up to 30 days of counseling and 30 days of mediation that victims had to undergo before they could seek an investigation or take the issue to court.
Victims would get the same access to legal counsel that the person being accused gets. And accusers won’t have to sign a nondisclosure agreement, but will have to make their claims under oath.
Under the proposal unveiled Thursday, members of Congress who settle claims brought against them will have to repay that money to the U.S. Treasury, and their wages or Social Security could be garnished if they don’t pay the settlement within 90 days.
“So, if there ever was an incentive not to harass, it’s become pretty clear that there is a financial risk if you do,” Speier said.
The bill would also increase public reporting of harassment claims and require an ethics committee review when a lawmaker settles a claim.
Speier became a public face of the push for new harassment policies when she disclosed her own experience with sexual harassment as a Capitol Hill staffer in the 1970s.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) praised the bill Thursday, and it’s expected to move easily through the House. Speier said the House Administration Committee could consider the bill this month. After it passes the House, it would go to the Senate, where there is no known resistance to the proposal.