These bipartisan bills before us today would make a difference in preventing future sexual assault from happening. They are policy solutions that we must take to prevent future misconduct, protect survivors, and improve accountability. I want to thank my colleagues and staff on both sides of the aisle who have worked on this bill package—many of them for several years. Thank you for your commitment addressing sexual assault and for your partnership.
Sexual assault is unfortunately something that happens far too frequently, not just major scandals in youth and college sports but also on college campuses, in our communities, and inside the home. Sexual assault victims and survivors are all ages and genders. One in nine girls under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault at the hands of an adult. And one in six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. The impact of sexual assault is compounded. It is not only the physical incident, but also the psychological, emotional, and physical effects that can linger afterward.
Four years ago, I started a fellowship for high school girls of color. In 2016 and 2017 the young women chose to work on sexual assault and interpersonal violence for their community action project because many of them have either experienced sexual assault themselves or have a close family member or friend who is a survivor. While I knew that sexual assault was prevalent, the fact that these young people all recognized that this was something that needed change was an important wake-up call to me as their friend and as a lawmaker that I need to be doing as much as I can to address this issue. The fellows decided that they wanted to conduct a survey of their peers about this issue. A large majority of their fellow students said that they knew someone who was a victim of sexual assault, and the vast majority of them had said they had never received any education in school about sexual assault. They put together an incredible presentation that they gave at several high schools to educate their peers, and I worked closely with them on this bill.
My bill will take important steps to ensure students receive the educational materials about sexual assault and harassment, and inform young people about available resources in their community. This is critical for many reasons. One, so that young people who experience sexual assault are able to recognize what happened to them and become aware of who they can go to for help. In addition, we know that when someone discloses what happened to them to someone, how that person responds can make all the difference in whether that victim or survivor will go on to seek help or choose to report it to law enforcement.
We need to make sure that young people learn about sexual misconduct so that if their friend discloses to them, they will have some understanding and some information they can provide about resources. This bill would require the Department of Education to work with the Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, as well as the Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, to develop age-appropriate informational material regarding sexual assault and sexual harassment. These materials would be made available to all schools to disseminate to students in grades 6 through 12, and be included in the school handbook or similar publication, or the school’s webpage.
This bill also encourages schools to provide educators and school employees with training every five years about how to respond to students who have experienced sexual assault or harassment. This is important because we recognize that we need to ensure that school employees are responding in an appropriate educated manner and know how they can help a victim or survivor after their experience.
By taking action on this and other bills today, we are taking another step forward in preventing sexual assault, protecting survivors, and improving accountability. I ask for your support.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 67, entitled
A bill to amend 1931 PA 328, entitled “The Michigan penal code,” by amending section 90 (MCL 750.90).
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: