Sexual Harassment Independent Investigations and Prosecution Act

Sexual Harassment Independent Investigations and Prosecution Act

This bill provides for the inclusion of sexual harassment as an offense subject to the authority of special trial counsel under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and sets forth requirements related to independent investigations of sexual harassment under the UCMJ.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7560 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7560

To provide for the independent investigation and prosecution of sexual 
 harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 2022

 Ms. Speier (for herself, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Escobar, Mr. Balderson, Ms. 
Garcia of Texas, Mr. Tony Gonzales of Texas, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Ms. 
 Norton, Mr. Cooper, Ms. Porter, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of 
     New York, Mrs. Bustos, Mr. Takano, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Lee of 
 California, Ms. Adams, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Garamendi, Ms. Ross, Ms. Titus, 
Ms. Jacobs of California, Mr. Lynch, Mrs. Hayes, Ms. Chu, Ms. Sherrill, 
Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Cleaver, 
  Mrs. Radewagen, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Levin of California, Ms. 
 Kuster, Mr. Kind, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mr. Schiff, Mr. McGovern, 
 Ms. Spanberger, Ms. Newman, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Strickland, 
Ms. Dean, Mr. Stanton, and Ms. Slotkin) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the independent investigation and prosecution of sexual 
 harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Sexual Harassment Independent 
Investigations and Prosecution Act''.

SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN OFFENSES SUBJECT TO AUTHORITY 
              OF SPECIAL TRIAL COUNSEL.

    (a) Definition of Covered Offense.--Section 801(17)(A) of title 10, 
United States Code (article 1(17)(A) of the Uniform Code of Military 
Justice), as added by section 533 of the National Defense Authorization 
Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81), is amended--
            (1) by striking ``or''; and
            (2) by striking ``of this title'' and inserting ``, or the 
        standalone offense of sexual harassment punishable under 
        section 934 (article 134) of this title''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect immediately after the coming into effect of the amendments 
made by section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81) as provided in section 539C of 
that Act.

SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 1561 of title 10, United States Code, as 
amended by section 543 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81), is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``or Space Force'' and inserting 
                ``Space Force, or Coast Guard''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``or the Department of Homeland 
                Security (in the case of a matter involving the Coast 
                Guard when not operating as a service in the Navy)'' 
                after ``Department of Defense''; and
            (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) The term `independent investigator' means a member of 
        the armed forces or a civilian employee of the Department of 
        Defense or the Department of Homeland Security (in the case of 
        a matter involving the Coast Guard when not operating as a 
        service in the Navy) who--
                    ``(A) is outside the chain of command of the 
                complainant and the subject of the investigation; and
                    ``(B) is trained in the investigation of sexual 
                harassment, as determined by--
                            ``(i) the Secretary concerned, in the case 
                        of a member of the armed forces;
                            ``(ii) the Secretary of Defense, in the 
                        case of a civilian employee of the Department 
                        of Defense; or
                            ``(iii) the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
                        in the case of a civilian employee of the 
                        Department of Homeland Security.
            ``(2) The term `sexual harassment' means conduct that 
        constitutes the offense of sexual harassment as punishable 
        under section 934 of this title (article 134) pursuant to the 
        regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense for purposes 
        of such section (article).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect immediately after the coming into effect of the amendments 
made by section 543 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 117-81) as provided in subsection (c) of 
that section.
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