Joe.My.God points out that the New Jersey legislature has “overwhelmingly approved” the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, a measure “designed to combat harassment, intimidation and bullying among students.” The bill, which comes in the wake of the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi — who threw himself off the George Washington bridge after his roommate broadcast an internet feed of him engaged in sexual activity with another man — passed the State Senate and the General Assembly with a veto-proof margin of 30 to 0 and 72 to 1, respectively.

The Bill of Rights eliminates “the vagueness and loopholes that weaken the anti-bullying laws of the 45 states that have them” and establishes a method of enforcement to ensure school compliance. Below are some of the highlights of the new measure:

- The legislation is the first in America to set firm statewide deadlines for incidents of bullying to be reported, investigated and resolved. Teachers and other school personnel will have to report incidents of bullying to principals on the same day as a bullying incident. An investigation of the bullying must begin within one school day. A school will have to complete its investigation of bullying within 10 school days,
after which there must be a resolution of the situation.

- The legislation is the first in America to create a anti-bullying team at each school led by a designated anti-bullying specialist. Also serving on a school’s anti-bullying team will be the principal, a teacher and a parent, and others appointed by the principal.

- The legislation is the first in America to grade every school on how well it is countering bullying – and requires that every school post its grade on the home page of its website. Every school will also be required to post on the home page of its website the contact information for the school’s anti-bullying specialist.

- The legislation incorporates instruction appropriate to each grade to counter bullying, and creates an annual school-wide Week of Respect during which each school will provide anti-bullying programming.

- The legislation strengthens suicide prevention training for teachers, to include information on reducing the occurrence of suicide among bullied students.

Gov. Chris Christie (R) has not said whether he would sign the bill, but “he spoke out against bullying after Clementi’s death.” If he vetoes the measure, the state legislature should be able to pass an override by a vote of at least two-thirds of the members of each house (27 votes in the Senate; 54 votes in the General Assembly.)

This afternoon, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs listed repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as a priority for the lame duck session after the Thanksgiving recess and reiterated the now oft-repeated warning that if Congress fails to lift the ban, the matter could be decided by the courts. “Do this legislatively, which provides an avenue with which to implement the policy. A court doing this is not likely to provide the Pentagon and others with a pathway for doing this,” Gibbs explained.

He also said he expects Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) to hold hearings on the Pentagon’s Working Group study of the policy — whose release has now been bumped up to November 30 — on December 1, but would not say if President Obama personally asked Gates to expedite its release:

GIBBS: I’ll say several things, this is not a totally exhaustive list…There is no doubt that we’ve got to deal with issues around taxes. We’re going to have to deal with issues around unemployment insurance and compensation as well. You’ve heard the President make mention of START…There are issues around Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that the President and I think many people believe are best dealt with through a legislative process and not through a legal system. [...]

Q: Did the President ask the Pentagon to hurry up to November 30th, its internal report…? [crosstalk]

GIBBS: I think the original date was December 1. Obviously the report is being released a day or so early to have some informal hearings on the survey and its results. I think those hearings, if I’m not mistaken start on the first [of December].

Watch it:

Asked by the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson if Obama anticipates the service chiefs — all of whom had previously opposed repeal — can be swayed by the report, Gibbs said that the chiefs are still engaged in ongoing discussions with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen about their positions. He added Obama hasn’t yet seen the report, but hinted that he would not necessarily need the support of the chiefs to go through with repeal.

“The President has known where people have stood on this policy for as long as he’s supported changing that policy, so I think it will be important to view the attitudes and to use those attitudes to craft a pathway to implementing a changed legislative policy,” Gibbs said.

In May, Adm. Gary Roughead — the chief of naval operations — sent a letter to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) registering his support for Don’t Ask, Dont’ Tell and his opposition to moving ahead with repeal. “My concern is that legislative changes at this point, regardless of the precise language used, may cause confusion on the status of the law in the Fleet and disrupt the review process itself by leading Sailors to question whether their input matters,” Roughead wrote.

McCain frequently cited Roughead’s opposition and that of the the other service chiefs to slow down the legislative repeal process. But now, after seeing a draft of the report, Roughead is publicly breaking with McCain and praising the Pentagon’s review of the policy:

“I think the survey, without question, was the most expansive survey of the American military that’s ever been undertaken,” Roughead said during an interview Saturday aboard his plane. “I think the work that has been done is extraordinary.” [...]

“I’ve done a review [of the report] and now I’m just trying to put it all in context,” he said. …But he added that the decision on whether to change the law is ultimately rests with Congress. “I’m eager to see where it goes on the Hill,” said Roughead, who previously served as head of the Navy’s legislative liaison operation.

Roughead’s description of the policy echoes the words of Army Gen. Carter F. Ham — the co-chairman of the Pentagon’s Working Group on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — who told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) last week that the study is, in fact, “the most comprehensive assessment of a personnel policy matter that the Department of Defense has conducted.”

But that’s still unlikely to sway McCain, who has insisted that the Department of Defense conduct an entirely new study on “the effects on morale and battle effectiveness.” McCain made this claim during a recent appearance on Meet The Press, despite the fact that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ specifically asked this review to “assess and consider the impacts, if any, a change in the law would have on military readiness, military effectiveness and unit cohesion, and how to best manage such impacts during implementation.”

Yesterday, Gates has announced that he will move-up the release of the study from December 1 to November 30th, to allow Congress more time to review the report and possibly move to repeal the policy in the lame duck session. “[I]f this law is going to change, it’s better that it be changed by legislation than it simply be struck down — rather than have it struck down by the courts with the potential for us having to implement it immediately,” Gates said today at roundtable with reporters in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.