Institution of Higher Education Sexual Misconduct Reporting and Resource Accessibility Act of 2025, confidential communications with a confidential resource advisor

The Institution of Higher Education Sexual Misconduct Reporting and Resource Accessibility Act of 2025 is codified as Chapter 35 of Title 38 of the District's Code. An institution is an entity or person incorporated, chartered, or established in the District, including by Council or congressional act, that offers postsecondary or graduate degrees, and that operates, keeps, or maintains a facility in the District.

Each institution must employ or contract for at least 2 confidential resource advisors to serve as confidential resources for students and employees seeking resources pertaining to sexual misconduct.

When an individual is acting as a confidential resource advisor, an assisted party's communications with the advisor relating to an incident of sexual misconduct are confidential, may not be disclosed to the institution or law enforcement authorities, and are privileged against disclosure in any legal or administrative proceeding unless an exception applies.

The exceptions are disclosure needed for the institution to comply with section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, a party's admission to what the advisor reasonably believes is a crime of violence or a dangerous crime, disclosure the advisor deems necessary to protect a person from a substantial risk of imminent and serious injury, the assisted party's written consent, and disclosure otherwise required by a District or federal statute or by a court of law.

Where disclosure would not be permitted under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 and its implementing regulations, those exceptions do not apply. An advisor must tell each assisted party that information shared with the advisor could be disclosed in limited circumstances, including in response to a court order or subpoena.

If an advisor is required by statute or by a court of law to disclose a confidential communication, the advisor must inform the person who made it at least 7 calendar days in advance, unless a law, court order or subpoena prohibits telling them. If the assisted party notifies the advisor before the disclosure date that a motion for a protective order or a motion to quash has been filed, the advisor may not disclose until the court rules and may then disclose only as the court determines.

Notice to an advisor of an alleged act of sexual misconduct is not actual or constructive notice of the allegation to the institution. After notice and a hearing, the Higher Education Licensure Commission may impose a civil fine on an institution that has materially violated or failed to carry out any provision of the act, for each violation not to exceed $59,000 or one percent of the institution's annual operating budget, whichever is lower.

The act applies as of June 30, 2026, and applies to the University of the District of Columbia on the later of that date and the date its fiscal effect is included in an approved budget and financial plan. The act became effective on March 19, 2026.