HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4648        FILED ON: 3/12/2018

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4296

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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Ordered, That Counsel to the House of Representatives, appointed pursuant to section 51 of chapter 3 of the General Laws and hereinafter referred to as Counsel, shall contract with an outside third-party vendor to conduct a series of no less than 3 comprehensive surveys of appointed officers and employees of the House to gather information on the nature and prevalence of sexual harassment or otherwise inappropriate conduct in the workplace, to estimate the degree of knowledge persons have regarding the House policy prohibiting harassment, to identify the options for, and barriers to, reporting such conduct, to identify any need for changes to human resources policies or procedures, to identify educational opportunities, and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate the efficacy of any changes to human resources policies or procedures;

Ordered, That Counsel shall ensure that the survey provides respondents with complete anonymity and that any results of the survey which may include individually identifying characteristics or other information related to any appointed officer or employee participating in the survey shall remain confidential and in the exclusive possession of the outside third-party vendor;

Ordered, That Counsel, notwithstanding House Rule 87 and utilizing sound business practices, shall have the exclusive authority and discretion to retain the third-party vendor and any other legal or consulting experts, as Counsel may deem appropriate to contract for and implement the conduct of the surveys by the third-party vendor;

Ordered, That Counsel may utilize legal assistants appointed pursuant to section 54 of chapter 3 of the General Laws;

Ordered, That Counsel shall act independently of any member, officer or employee of the House in contracting for and implementing the surveys required by this order and all appointed officers, employees and contractors of the House shall comply with any request from Counsel related to this order; and be it further

Ordered, That Counsel shall ensure the initial survey is concluded by the third-party vendor no later than January 1, 2019 and shall ensure additional surveys are concluded by the third-party vendor no later than January 1, 2021 and January 1, 2023.