H.R. 2230 — Introduced in House

I 113th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2230 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 3, 2013 Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To address the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the Armed Forces. 1. Short title; table of contents (a) Short title This Act may be cited as the Track It to Prevent It Act. (b) Table of contents The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Improved climate assessments and dissemination and tracking of results. Sec. 5. Inclusion of letter of reprimands, nonpunitive letter of reprimands and counseling statements. Sec. 6. Service-wide 360 assessments. Sec. 7. Health welfare inspections. Sec. 8. Review of security of military installations, including barracks and multi-family residences. Sec. 9. Review of the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity role in sexual harassment cases. Sec. 10. Authorization of appropriations. 2. Findings Congress makes the following findings: (1) According to the Department of Defense, 3,374 sexual assault cases involving a member of the Armed Forces were reported in fiscal year 2012, a 6 percent increase in the number of reported cases in fiscal year 2011. (2) However, approximately 26,000 members of the Armed Forces made an anonymous report of a sexual assault in fiscal year 2012, a substantial increase from fiscal year 2011. (3) According to the Department of Defense, of the 6.1 percent of female members of the Armed Forces who experienced unwanted sexual contact in fiscal year 2012, 77 percent also experienced sexual harassment and, of the 1.2 percent of male members of the Armed Forces who experienced unwanted sexual contact in fiscal year 2012, 52 percent also experienced sexual harassment. (4) Sixty-two percent of those members who experienced unwanted sexual contact also perceived some form of social, administrative, or professional retaliation. (5) Climate assessments are required by law and commanders at all levels must comply as it is their core responsibility to create a safe and healthy environment for the unit. (6) Trends in bad behavior and reoccurring actions that harm the members of the unit, such as sexual harassment and sexual assault, must be identified earlier through improved performance assessments and better reporting by commanders at all levels. (7) According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, two of the primary reasons why members decide not to report sexual harassment and sexual assault incidents are because they do not think anything will be done about the incident if they report it and they think that reporting the incident will adversely impact their military career. (8) As long as commanders at any level continue to condone or ignore certain types of sexual misconduct, this behavior will continue to be prevalent in the military obstructing the change in culture. 3. Definitions In this Act (1) The term sexual harassment has the meaning given such term in Department of Defense Directive 1350.2, Department of Defense Military Equal Opportunity Program. (2) The term sexual assault means any of the offenses described in section 920 of title 10, United States Code (article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 4. Improved climate assessments and dissemination and tracking of results (a) Improved dissemination of results in chain of command The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the results of command climate assessments are provided to the relevant individual commander and to the next higher level of command. (b) Performance tracking (1) Evidence of compliance The Secretary of each military department shall include in the performance evaluations and assessments used by each Armed Force under the jurisdiction of the Secretary a designated form where senior commanders can indicate whether the commander has conducted the required climate assessments. (2) Effect of failure to conduct assessment If a commander is found to not have conducted the required climate assessments, the failure shall be noted in the commander’s performance evaluation and be considered a serious factor during consideration for any subsequent promotion. (c) Tracking system The Inspector General of the Department of Defense shall develop a system to track whether commanders are conducting command climate assessments. (d) Unit compliance reports Working with the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, unit commanders shall gather all the climate assessments from the unit and develop a compliance report that, at a minimum, shall include the following: (1) A comprehensive overview of the concerns members of the unit expressed in the climate assessments. (2) Data showing how leadership is perceived in the unit. (3) A detailed strategic plan on how leadership plans to address the expressed concerns. 5. Inclusion of letter of reprimands, nonpunitive letter of reprimands and counseling statements The Secretary of Defense shall require commanders to include letter of reprimands, nonpunitive letter of actions and counseling statements involving substantiated cases of sexual harassment or sexual assault in the performance evaluation report of a member of the Armed Forces for the purpose of— (1) providing commanders increased visibility of the background information of members of the unit; (2) identifying and preventing trends of bad behavior early and effectively disciplining repeated actions which hinder units from fostering a healthy climate; and (3) preventing the transfer of sexual offenders. 6. Service-wide 360 assessments (a) Adoption of 360-Degree approach The Secretary of each military department shall develop an assessment program modeled after the current Department of the Army Multi-Source Assessment and Feedback (MSAF) Program, known in this section as the 360-degree approach. (b) Report on inclusion in performance evaluation reports Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report containing the results of an assessment of the feasibility of including the 360-degree approach as part of the performance evaluation reports. (c) Individual counseling The Secretary of each military department shall include individual counseling as part of the performance evaluation process. 7. Health welfare inspections The Secretary of each military department shall conduct health welfare inspections on a monthly basis in order to ensure and maintain security, military readiness, good order, and discipline of all units of the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of the Secretary. Results of the Health Welfare Inspections shall be provided to both the commander and senior commander. 8. Review of security of military installations, including barracks and multi-family residences (a) Review of security measures The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a review of security measures on United States military installations, specifically with regard to barracks and multi-family residences on military installations, for the purpose of ensuring the safety of members of the Armed Forces and their dependents who reside on military installations. (b) Elements of study In conducting the review under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall— (1) identify security gaps on military installations; and (2) evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of using 24-hour electronic monitoring or placing security personnel at all points of entry into barracks and multi-family residences on military installation. (c) Submission of results Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report containing the results of the study conducted under subsection (a), including an estimate of the costs— (1) to eliminate all security gaps identified under subsection (b)(1); and (2) to provide 24-hour security monitoring as evaluated under subsection (b)(2). 9. Review of the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity role in sexual harassment cases (a) Review required The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a review of the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity for the purposes specified in subsection (b). (b) Elements of study In conducting the review under subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall— (1) identify and evaluate the resource and personnel gaps in the Office; (2) identify and evaluate the role of the Office in sexual harassment cases; and (3) evaluate how the Office works with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office to address sexual harassment in the Armed Forces. 10. Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Defense such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act for fiscal year 2014.