State Senate passes legislation that would track sexual assault in schools

Illinois schools might soon have to publicly report the number of sexual assaults involving students on their campuses under a proposal that passed the state Senate Wednesday.

State Sen. Laura Murphy, a Democrat from Des Plaines, introduced the legislation, SB 633, which would call on the Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois State Police to report the information each year beginning in 2022.

"The first way to start to address a problem is to identify the problem exists," Murphy said. "And that's what this legislation will do."

School districts would have to report sexual assaults that happened on school grounds, between two students, within normal school operating hours.

The bill passed in the Senate 50-0. St. Charles Republican Donald DeWitte joined Murphy as a co-sponsor of the legislation.

Downstate Republicans who represent small school districts had concerns with the original draft of the bill, which they said might not provide enough confidentiality to victims. Murphy reworked the legislation to state that if fewer than 10 incidents of sexual assault occur, the district may report the number as "less than 10."

The legislation will now be passed to the House, which has until May 31 to act.