Ashley Peden's daughter was sexually assaulted on the school bus by an eighth grader in 2023, when she was in fifth grade. Despite her daughter's mother's claim that the Taylorville Community Unit School District's response to the assaults was inadequate, Peden alleges. The boy was not initially suspended or expelled, and the school's safety plan only required shifting of his class and bus schedules to prevent future assaults. After several meetings, the district agreed to place the boy in an alternative school and he continued to ride another bus with children younger than Peden’s daughter. The bill proposes that students who commit sexual assault or attempt to do so at school, school-sponsored events or events with a “reasonable relationship to school” receive a minimum one-year expulsion. The revised bill defines sexual assault to include nonconsensual sexual activity that occurs when a victim is unconscious, asleep, drugged or intoxicated. It also clarifies that individuals with severe disabilities cannot consent. The legislation has received wide bipartisan support from Democratic Senate President Don Harmon and sponsors a revised version that sharpens its definitions and broadens its protections.