CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Changes to New Hampshire state laws on sexual assault take effect in the new year.

Starting Jan. 1, the definition of sexual assault will be expanded to include any sexual contact between school employees and students between ages 13 and 18. The legislation was aimed at closing a loophole in state law that advocates argued enabled a Concord High School teacher accused of abuse.

Primo “Howie” Leung was charged in 2019 with sexually assaulting a student off school property in Massachusetts in 2015 and 2016. But school officials did not report him to police after he was seen kissing a different student in 2018 because state law allowed teenagers 16 and older to consent to such contact if they were not being coerced.

Other legislation that takes effect Jan. 16 increases protections for sexual assault victims and requires colleges and universities to adopt sexual misconduct policies.

Under those changes to state law, institutions of higher education must adopt and make available to students policies on dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking; develop a task force and survey on sexual misconduct and report its findings; collaborate with law enforcement on the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault incidents; establish confidential resource advisers; develop awareness programming; and undertake institutional training in the awareness and prevention of sexual violence on campus.

Advocates said the bill, authored by students and survivors of sexual violence and promoted by The Every Voice Coalition, was one of the most comprehensive bills addressing campus sexual violence anywhere in the country. Similar legislation was introduced in four other states but failed to pass. A spokesman for the coalition said bills will be introduced in seven states in 2021.

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