I am Vanessa Guillén Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3224 To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve the responses of the Department of Defense to sex-related offenses, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 13, 2021 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. BALDERSON, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. CROW, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BEYER, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BLU- MENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BROWN, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. COLE, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CUELLAR, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DELBENE, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GARCIA of California, Mr. GARCI´A of Il- linois, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas, Mr. VICENTE GON- ZALEZ of Texas, Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HARDER of Cali- fornia, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HERN, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. HOULAHAN, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JONES, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. KILMER, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. KIND, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Ms. KUSTER, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. MCCAUL, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Mr. MFUME, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. MRVAN, Mrs. NAPOLI- TANO, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. NEWMAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ROSS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUP- PERSBERGER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. SOTO, Ms. SPANBERGER, Ms. STRICK- LAND, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3224 IH TRONE, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. VELA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WILD, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. YOUNG, Ms. BASS, Mr. BERA, Ms. BLUNT ROCH- ESTER, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CORREA, Ms. CRAIG, Mr. CRIST, Ms. DELAURO, Mrs. FLETCHER, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. MANNING, Mr. NADLER, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. SCHRIER, and Ms. JACOBS of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve the responses of the Department of Defense to sex-related offenses, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘I am Vanessa Guille´n 4 Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE TO 6 PROCEED TO TRIAL BY COURT-MARTIAL ON 7 CHARGES INVOLVING SEX-RELATED OF- 8 FENSES. 9 (a) ROLE OF OFFICE OF THE CHIEF PROSECUTOR 10 IN DETERMINATION TO PROCEED TO TRIAL ON CHARGE 11 INVOLVING SEX-RELATED OFFENSE.— 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3224 IH (1) REVIEW AND DETERMINATIONS BY OFFICE 1 OF THE CHIEF PROSECUTOR.—Section 834 of title 2 10, United States Code (article 34 of the Uniform 3 Code of Military Justice) is amended— 4 (A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘Be- 5 fore referral’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided 6 in subsection (c), before referral’’; 7 (B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Before 8 referral’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 9 subsection (c), before referral’’; 10 (C) by redesignating subsections (c) and 11 (d) as subsections (d) and (e) respectively; and 12 (D) by inserting after the subsection (b) 13 the following new subsection (c): 14 ‘‘(c) REFERRAL AND DETERMINATIONS BY OFFICE 15 OF THE CHIEF PROSECUTOR.— 16 ‘‘(1) In the case of a charge relating to a sex- 17 related offense, instead of submitting the charge, 18 and any accompanying charges and specifications, to 19 the staff judge advocate under subsection (a), the 20 convening authority shall submit, as soon as reason- 21 ably practicable, the charge and accompanying 22 charges and specifications to the Office of the Chief 23 Prosecutor of the armed force of which the accused 24 is a member to make the determination required by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3224 IH subsection (a). The advice and recommendations of 1 the Office of the Chief Prosecutor regarding disposi- 2 tion of charges by court-martial shall be free of un- 3 lawful or unauthorized influence or coercion. 4 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term 5 ‘sex-related offense’ means any of the following: 6 ‘‘(A) An offense covered by section 920, 7 920a, 920b, 920c, or 920d of this title (article 8 120, 120a, 120b, 120c, or 120d). 9 ‘‘(B) A conspiracy to commit an offense 10 specified in subparagraph (A) as punishable 11 under section 881 of this title (article 81). 12 ‘‘(C) A solicitation to commit an offense 13 specified in subparagraph (A) as punishable 14 under section 882 of this title (article 82). 15 ‘‘(D) An attempt to commit an offense 16 specified in subparagraphs (A) through (C) as 17 punishable under section 880 of this title (arti- 18 cle 80). 19 ‘‘(3) If the Office of the Chief Prosecutor deter- 20 mines any specification under a charge should be 21 disposed of at court-martial, the Office of the Chief 22 Prosecutor also shall determine whether to try the 23 charge by a general court-martial convened under 24 section 822 of this title (article 22) or a special 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3224 IH court-martial convened under section 823 of this 1 title (article 23). 2 ‘‘(4) A determination under paragraph (3) to 3 try a charge relating to a sex-related offense by 4 court-martial shall include a determination to try all 5 known offenses, including lesser included offenses. 6 ‘‘(5) The Office of the Chief Prosecutor’s deter- 7 mination to dispose of any reviewed charge by court- 8 martial under paragraph (3), and by type of court- 9 martial, shall be transmitted to the convening au- 10 thority established in section 822(a)(8) of this title, 11 and shall be binding on any applicable convening au- 12 thority. The Office of the Chief Prosecutor will no- 13 tify the original convening authority of the deter- 14 mination. 15 ‘‘(6) A determination under paragraph (3) not 16 to proceed to trial on a charge by general or special 17 court-martial shall not operate to terminate or oth- 18 erwise alter the authority of commanding officers to 19 refer such charge for trial by summary court-martial 20 convened under section 824 of this title (article 24), 21 to impose non-judicial punishment in connection 22 with the conduct covered by the charge as author- 23 ized by section 815 of this title (article 15), or to 24 take other administrative action. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3224 IH ‘‘(7) This subsection does not apply to the 1 Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service 2 in the Department of the Navy.’’. 3 (2) APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF PROSECUTOR.— 4 For any Armed Force (other than the Coast Guard) 5 for which the position of Chief Prosecutor does not 6 exist as of the date of the enactment of this Act, the 7 Judge Advocate General of that Armed Force shall 8 establish the position of Chief Prosecutor and ap- 9 point as the Chief Prosecutor a judge advocate in 10 the grade of O–6 or above who meets the require- 11 ments set forth in paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 12 827(b) of title 10, United States Code (article 27(b) 13 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), and who 14 has significant experience prosecuting sexual assault 15 trials by court-martial. 16 (b) CHIEF PROSECUTOR AUTHORITY TO CONVENE 17 ARTICLE 32 PRELIMINARY HEARINGS.—Section 832(a) of 18 title 10, United States Code (article 32(a) of the Uniform 19 Code of Military Justice), is amended by adding at the 20 end the following new paragraph: 21 ‘‘(3) The Office of the Chief Prosecutor of an armed 22 force may order a preliminary hearing under this section 23 in the event of an allegation of a sex-related offense (as 24 defined in section 834(c)(2) of this title (article 34(c)(2))) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3224 IH involving a member of that armed force. This paragraph 1 does not apply to the Coast Guard when it is not operating 2 as a service in the Department of the Navy.’’. 3 (c) MODIFICATION OF OFFICERS AUTHORIZED TO 4 CONVENE GENERAL AND SPECIAL COURTS-MARTIAL.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 822(a) of title 10, 6 United States Code (article 22(a) of the Uniform 7 Code of Military Justice) is amended— 8 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (8) and 9 (9) as paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; 10 and 11 (B) by inserting after paragraph (7) the 12 following new paragraph (8): 13 ‘‘(8) an officer in the grade of O–6 or higher 14 who is assigned such responsibility by the Chief of 15 Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, 16 the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the Com- 17 mandant of the Marine Corps, or the Chief of Space 18 Operations, except that an officer designated as a 19 convening authority under this paragraph— 20 ‘‘(A) may convene a court-martial only 21 with respect to a sex-related offense (as defined 22 in section 834(c)(2) of this title (article 23 34(c)(2))) and any accompanying charges and 24 specifications; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3224 IH ‘‘(B) may not convene a court-martial if 1 such officer is in the chain of command of the 2 accused or the victim;’’. 3 (2) OFFICES OF CHIEFS OF STAFF ON COURTS- 4 MARTIAL.— 5 (A) OFFICES REQUIRED.—The Chief of 6 Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Oper- 7 ations, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, the 8 Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the 9 Chief of Space Operations shall each establish 10 or designate an office to do the following: 11 (i) To convene general and special 12 courts-martial under sections 822 and 823 13 of title 10, United States Code (articles 22 14 and 23 of the Uniform Code of Military 15 Justice), pursuant to paragraph (8) of sec- 16 tion 822(a) of title 10, United States Code 17 (article 22(a) of the Uniform Code of Mili- 18 tary Justice), as amended by paragraph 19 (1), with respect to a sex-related offense 20 (as defined in section 834(c)(2) of title 10, 21 United States Code (article 34(c)(2) of the 22 Uniform Code of Military Justice)) and 23 any accompanying charges and specifica- 24 tions. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3224 IH (ii) To detail under section 825 of 1 title 10, United States Code (article 25 of 2 the Uniform Code of Military Justice), 3 members of courts-martial convened as de- 4 scribed in clause (i). 5 (B) PERSONNEL.—The personnel of each 6 office established under subparagraph (A) shall 7 consist of such members of the Armed Forces 8 and civilian personnel of the Department of De- 9 fense as may be detailed or assigned to the of- 10 fice by the service chief concerned. The mem- 11 bers and personnel so detailed or assigned, as 12 the case may be, shall be detailed or assigned 13 from personnel billets in existence on the date 14 of the enactment of this Act. 15 (d) IMPLEMENTATION AND EFFECTIVE DATE.— 16 (1) FUNDING SOURCE.—The Secretaries of the 17 military departments shall carry out subsections (a), 18 (b), and (c) (and the amendments made by such 19 subsections) using funds appropriated after the date 20 of enactment of this Act and otherwise available to 21 the Secretary of the military department concerned. 22 (2) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.— 23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries of the 24 military departments shall revise policies and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3224 IH procedures as necessary to comply with this sec- 1 tion. 2 (B) UNIFORMITY.—The General Counsel 3 of the Department of Defense shall review the 4 policies and procedures revised under this para- 5 graph in order to ensure that any lack of uni- 6 formity in policies and procedures, as so re- 7 vised, among the military departments does not 8 render unconstitutional any policy or procedure, 9 as so revised. 10 (3) MANUAL FOR COURTS-MARTIAL.—The Sec- 11 retary of Defense shall recommend such changes to 12 the Manual for Courts-Martial as are necessary to 13 ensure compliance with this section. 14 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY.— 15 The amendments made by this section shall take ef- 16 fect on the first day of the first month beginning 17 after the 2-year period following the date of the en- 18 actment of this Act, and shall apply with respect to 19 charges preferred under section 830 of title 10, 20 United States Code (article 30 of the Uniform Code 21 of Military Justice), on or after such effective date. 22 SEC. 3. PUNITIVE ARTICLE ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND 23 RELATED INVESTIGATION MATTERS. 24 (a) PUNITIVE ARTICLE ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:53 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3224.IH H3224 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3224 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Su [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]