Delaware House expected to vote on sexual harassment rules this week

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated to add Indiana as the only other state in the nation with a legislature that does not a written sexual harassment policy in either its House or Senate.

The first rules explicitly barring sexual harassment by Delaware legislators could be in place by the end of the week.

House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, introduced an "anti-harassment" policy on Friday in response to a wave of sexual misconduct claims against prominent figures in entertainment, media and politics.

"I am committed to providing a safe and respectful work environment so that any person who walks through the doors of Legislative Hall feels comfortable and protected," he said in a release.

The policy, contained in House Resolution 21, is slated to come before the House Rules Committee on Wednesday. If approved there, the measure could come up for a vote before the full House on Thursday.

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The new rules would only affect state representatives. The state Senate is expected to introduce its own sexual harassment policy later month. 

Delaware and Indiana are the only two states in the nation with a legislature that has no written sexual harassment policy for lawmakers in either the House or Senate, according to a recent Associated Press survey. As it stands now, both chambers would follow a general set of ethical misconduct rules if a complaint is lodged against a state legislator.

Several leaders in both chambers have said they are unaware of any formal harassment complaint ever being lodged against a state legislator.

But that might be because the General Assembly's rules have never specifically defined sexual harassment, established a formal process for handling complaints or required elected lawmakers to undergo regular anti-harassment training.

"Because of what has happened over the last several months nationally, new attention has been focused on this issue," House Minority Leader Danny Short, R-Seaford, said. "Recent events have highlighted the need to take action to ensure a secure workplace and establish a process for the fair evaluation of any complaints that may be made in the future."

Members of both the House and Senate underwent separate closed-door, anti-harassment training on Jan. 18. Under the rules being weighed by the House, members would be required to undergo training once every two years. New state representatives would have to go through training as part of their new member orientation.

Staff in both chambers are already subject to a written sexual harassment policy. But only now are they being required to undergo anti-harassment training. Previously, such training was voluntary. 

The new rules proposed by Schwartzkopf would establish a two-tiered reporting system for policy violations that supporters say would allow victims to choose the level of disciplinary action they want to pursue.

An "informal complaint" would be available to someone who "may simply want particular conduct to stop, but may not wish to go through a formal complaint process." Those complaints could be submitted verbally or in writing to one of four top legislative staffers, who would be required to turn the complaint over to a caucus leader.

The caucus leaders then would be required to take four steps: inform the House Speaker, take "appropriate action to ensure that the reporting party has a safe and non-hostile work environment," inform the accused legislator and make sure the lawmaker is "counseled ... against any further harassing behavior and that retaliation is prohibited."

Voters might never be made aware of informal complaints lodged against a state representative. House staff said those complaints would fall under personnel matters, although a victim or the accused would have the right to go public.

The accused also would not learn the identity of the alleged victim who lodges an informal complaint unless such disclosure was necessary to address "corrective behavior," House staff said. 

A formal complaint, on the other hand, would begin a process that could result in a legislator being removed from office, among other disciplinary actions.

Formal complaints would have to be submitted in writing within 12 months of an act of harassment and must include a description of the potential remedy sought by the victim.

Those complaints also could be filed with one of four top legislative staffers and would be forwarded up the same chain as an informal complaint. But the House Speaker would be required to request that the House Ethics Committee launch an investigation "as soon as possible."

That process could include an inquiry by an independent investigator with experience in examining harassment allegations who would be required to submit a final report within 60 calendar days.

A full statement of alleged facts would be made public at the conclusion of the ethics committee's investigation. The victim or the accused also would be able to make the incident known at any time, according to House staff.

Although it is not spelled out in the proposed rules, the House Speaker would encourage an alleged victim to report any incident that rises to the level of a crime to the appropriate police agency, a spokesman for Schwartzkopf said.

Whistleblowers also would be able to bring complaints, although the process would only move forward with the consent of the alleged victim, according to House staff.

"We need women and men standing together to fundamentally address sexual harassment," House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, said of the proposed rules. "We want to make sure that Legislative Hall is free of harassment and has a clear reporting policy in place if instances arise."

Contact reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.