AN ACT to eliminate commercial cheating services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ______:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the prevalence of commercial cheating services is a significant problem confronting institutions of higher education, professional licensing bodies, certification and credentialing bodies, and standardized testing organizations. Commercial cheating services include the unauthorized commercial collection and sale of assignments and tests, and their corresponding answers, the sale of proxy services to attend courses, complete assignments, and take tests on behalf of learners, the outsourcing of assignments or assessments to a third party, and the unauthorized use of file-sharing sites. Commercial cheating services circumvent the integrity of academic, credentialing, certification, licensure, and standardized testing programs. They serve no legitimate purpose and undermine the integrity of such programs to the detriment of learners, the professional and academic community, and the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the State. Therefore, it is the intent of the legislature that such practices should not be permitted to continue and are declared to be against the public policy of this State.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. As used in this Act, and except as otherwise provided, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “assigned task” means any task assigned, directed, or otherwise given to a learner by a sponsor or its representatives, the performance on which will be evaluated for credit. The term “assigned task” includes, but is not limited to:
(a) writing a term paper, thesis, dissertation, essay, or report;
(b) providing responses to, participating in, or otherwise engaging in an exam;
(c) preparing any other work product in response to an assignment; and
(d) attending classes or other instructional interactions
when such task is assigned, directed, or otherwise given to a learner by a sponsor or its representatives and the performance on which will be evaluated for credit.
(2) “assignment” means anything in written, electronic, recorded, pictorial, artistic, or any other form issued by a sponsor or its representatives setting forth, conveying, or soliciting learner performance of or on, one or more assigned tasks. The term assignment includes but is not limited to materials, whether presented on paper or a computer, setting forth problems for the learner to solve, questions for the learner’s response, exam content, scenarios to which the learner is to react, and similar tasks.
(3) “confidential exam or assignment” means any assignment, including without limitation, any exam that a sponsor provides to a learner under confidential conditions.
(4) “for credit” means for evaluation by a sponsor or its representatives in connection with issuance of any grade, evaluation, degree, diploma, certification, certificate, credential, exam score, or professional license.
(5) “organization” means a company, partnership, corporation, institution, association, body, State agency, or other entity.
(6) “person” means an individual.
(7) “prepare” means to put into condition for use or assist another in doing so.
(8) “sale” or “sell” means any transfer, exchange, or barter, in any manner, for any consideration, or by any agreement.
(9) “sponsor” means any of the following:
(a) any public or nonpublic institution of higher education operating in this State that provides an educational program:
(i) for which it grants, awards, or otherwise issues an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, graduate degree, professional degree, or any other degree, credential, certification, or certificate; or (ii) that is acceptable for credit towards an associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, graduate degree, professional degree, or any other degree, credential, certification, or certificate; or
(b) any organization that owns, sponsors, grants, awards, or otherwise issues professional licenses to persons or organizations in this State bearing such organization’s name or trademark and signifying completion of a set of requirements associated with such license; or
(c) any organization that owns, sponsors, grants, awards or otherwise issues credentials or certifications bearing such organization’s name or trademark to persons or organizations in this State and signifying completion of a set of requirements associated with such credential or certification; or
(d) any organization that owns, sponsors, administers or otherwise delivers exams bearing such organization’s name or trademark to persons or organizations in this State.
(10) “learner” means a person whose performance on one or more assigned tasks will be evaluated for credit and includes but is not limited to students, candidates for professional certification and licensure, test takers, examinees, and workforce skills trainees.
(11) “work product” shall mean anything in written, electronic, recorded, pictorial, artistic, or any other form that is submitted to a sponsor showing full or partial completion of an assigned task. The term “work product” includes, but is not limited to, a term paper, thesis, dissertation, essay, report, and response(s) to an exam.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. No organization or person shall, for a fee or other compensation:
(1) prepare, advertise to prepare, offer to prepare, or cause to be prepared, any work product for or on behalf of a learner;
(2) sell, advertise to sell, offer to sell, or cause to be sold any work product to a learner; or
(3) complete or otherwise perform an assigned task for or on behalf of a learner,
whether in whole or in part, with the knowledge, or under circumstances in which such organization or person should reasonably have known, that such work product or the completion of such assigned task will be submitted by or on behalf of the learner as the learner’s own work for credit.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. No organization or person shall advertise the sale or other distribution of, or sell or otherwise distribute, a confidential exam or assignment, any portion thereof, or any detailed description of the contents thereof, with the knowledge, or under circumstances in which such organization or person should reasonably have known, that doing so is in violation of the rights of a sponsor.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. No disclaimers or contractual language between an organization or person providing services to a learner under this Act shall exempt such organization or person from violation of this Act. Examples of such disclaimers or contractual language include, but are not limited to, statements that:
(1) the learner will not use any work product in completing all or part of the assigned tasks,
(2) the learner has not been required to complete the assigned tasks personally, or
(3) the provision of the work product or completion of the assigned tasks by such person or organization has been approved by the sponsor.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent any person or organization from providing tutorial assistance, research material, information, or other assistance to learners, provided that the provision of such is expressly permitted by the sponsor and the person or organization providing such assistance has reasonable belief that the work product will not be represented as the learner’s own work.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7.
(1) Actions under the provisions of this Act may be brought:
- in the name of the people of the State, by the attorney general or by the district attorney for the judicial district in which the violation took place, and
- any organization or person found in such action to have violated any provision of this Act
- shall be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $5,000, per violation, to be paid to the general fund of the State; and
- shall be, at the discretion of the court, guilty of a misdemeanor, except that, if the organization or person has been previously convicted under this Act, a previous version of this Act, or a statute of another state of similar content and purpose, then violation of this Act may, at the discretion of the court, be considered a felony.
- any organization or person found in such action to have violated any provision of this Act
- by any sponsor aggrieved by a violation of this Act in a State court or as a supplemental claim in federal district court against an offending organization or person, and
- the prevailing party may recover for each violation against a person or organization that violates a provision of this Act:
- liquidated damages of $2,500 or actual damages, whichever is greater;
- reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, including expert witness fees and other litigation expenses; and
- other relief, including an injunction and punitive damages, as the state or federal court may deem appropriate.
- the prevailing party may recover for each violation against a person or organization that violates a provision of this Act:
(2) Any court of competent jurisdiction may grant such relief as is necessary to enforce the provisions of this Act, including the issuance of an injunction to prevent ongoing violations and disrupt the operations of violators.
(3) In an action under this Act, a court shall preserve the secrecy of an alleged confidential exam or assignment by reasonable means, which may include:
(a) granting protective orders in connection with discovery proceedings,
(b) holding in-camera hearings,
(c) sealing the records of the action, and
(d) ordering any person involved in the litigation not to disclose an alleged confidential exam or assignment without prior court approval.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. The provisions of this Act are not exclusive. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt or in any other way limit, diminish, or imply the absence of rights of any party, public or private, against any person or entity in connection with any of the acts described in this Act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. If any provision of this Act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the Act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected.
