Vanessa Guillén Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4104 To reform the disposition of charges and convening of courts-martial for certain offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and increase the prevention of sexual assaults and other crimes in the military. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 23, 2021 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. TURNER, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mrs. LURIA, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. HUDSON, Ms. BASS, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. BUSH, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. COOPER, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CROW, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. HOULAHAN, Ms. JACOBS of California, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. JONES, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. LEE of Nevada, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. MANNING, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. NEWMAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. STRICK- LAND, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TRONE, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WILSON of Flor- ida, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CORREA, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. EVANS, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. PIN- GREE, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, and Ms. CRAIG) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4104 IH A BILL To reform the disposition of charges and convening of courts- martial for certain offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and increase the prevention of sexual assaults and other crimes in the military. 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 ‘‘Vanessa Guille´n Mili- 4 tary Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention 5 Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF DETERMINATIONS ON DISPOSI- 7 TION OF CHARGES FOR CERTAIN OFFENSES 8 UNDER UCMJ WITH AUTHORIZED MAXIMUM 9 SENTENCE OF CONFINEMENT OF MORE THAN 10 ONE YEAR. 11 (a) IMPROVEMENT OF DETERMINATIONS.— 12 (1) MILITARY DEPARTMENTS.—With respect to 13 charges under chapter 47 of title 10, United States 14 Code (the Uniform Code of Military Justice), that 15 allege an offense specified in subsection (b) and not 16 excluded under subsection (c), the Secretary of De- 17 fense shall require the Secretaries of the military de- 18 partments to provide as described in subsection (d) 19 for the determinations as follows: 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4104 IH (A) Determinations under section 830 of 1 such chapter (article 30 of the Uniform Code of 2 Military Justice) on the preferral of charges. 3 (B) Determinations under section 830 of 4 such chapter (article 30 of the Uniform Code of 5 Military Justice) on the disposition of charges. 6 (C) Determinations under sections 822 7 and 823 of such chapter (articles 22 and 23 of 8 the Uniform Code of Military Justice) on the 9 referral of charges (as that term is defined in 10 section 834(d) of such chapter (article 34(d) of 11 the Uniform Code of Military Justice)). 12 (2) HOMELAND SECURITY.—With respect to 13 charges under chapter 47 of title 10, United States 14 Code (the Uniform Code of Military Justice), that 15 allege an offense specified in subsection (b) and not 16 excluded under subsection (c) against a member of 17 the Coast Guard (when it is not operating as a serv- 18 ice in the Navy), the Secretary of Homeland Secu- 19 rity shall provide as described in subsection (d) for 20 the determinations as follows: 21 (A) Determinations under section 830 of 22 such chapter (article 30 of the Uniform Code of 23 Military Justice) on the preferral of charges. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4104 IH (B) Determinations under section 830 of 1 such chapter (article 30 of the Uniform Code of 2 Military Justice) on the disposition of charges. 3 (C) Determinations under sections 822 4 and 823 of such chapter (articles 22 and 23 of 5 the Uniform Code of Military Justice) on the 6 referral of charges (as that term is defined in 7 section 834(d) of such chapter (article 34(d) of 8 the Uniform Code of Military Justice)). 9 (3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section 10 shall not be construed to terminate or otherwise 11 alter the authorities enumerated in any articles of 12 the Uniform Code of Military Justice other than ar- 13 ticles 22, 23, and 30 (10 U.S.C. 822, 823, and 830). 14 (b) COVERED OFFENSES.—An offense specified in 15 this subsection is an offense as follows: 16 (1)(A) Offenses under the following sections of 17 chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code (the Uni- 18 form Code of Military Justice), for which the max- 19 imum punishment authorized under that chapter in- 20 cludes confinement for more than one year: sections 21 893a, 917a, 918, 919, 919a, 919b, 920, 920a, 920b, 22 920c, 921, 921a, 921b, 922, 924, 924a, 924b, 925, 23 926, 927, 928(b) and (c), 928a, 928b, 930, 931, 24 931a, 931b, 931c, 931d, 931e, 931f, 931g, and 932 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4104 IH (articles 93a, 117a, 118, 119, 119a, 119b, 120, 1 120a, 120b, 120c, 121, 121a, 121b, 122, 124, 124a, 2 124b, 125, 126, 127, 128(b) and (c), 128a, 128b, 3 130, 131, 131a, 131b, 131c, 131d, 131e, 131f, 4 131g, and 132, respectively, of the Uniform Code of 5 Military Justice). 6 (B) The offenses of child pornography, neg- 7 ligent homicide, indecent conduct, indecent language 8 communicated to any child under the age of 16 9 years, and pandering and prostitution, as punishable 10 under the general punitive article in 934 of such 11 title (article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military 12 Justice). 13 (2) A conspiracy to commit an offense specified 14 in paragraph (1) as punishable under section 881 of 15 title 10, United States Code (article 81 of the Uni- 16 form Code of Military Justice). 17 (3) A solicitation to commit an offense specified 18 in paragraph (1) as punishable under section 882 of 19 title 10, United States Code (article 82 of the Uni- 20 form Code of Military Justice). 21 (4) An attempt to commit an offense specified 22 in paragraph (1) as punishable under section 880 of 23 title 10, United States Code (article 80 of the Uni- 24 form Code of Military Justice). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4104 IH (c) EXCLUDED OFFENSES.—Subsection (a) does not 1 apply to an offense as follows: 2 (1) An offense under sections 883 through 917 3 of title 10, United States Code (articles 83 through 4 117 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), but 5 not an offense under section 893a of such title (arti- 6 cle 93a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 7 (2) An offense under section 922a, 923, 923a, 8 or 928(a) of title 10, United States Code (articles 9 122a, 123, 123a, and 128(a) of the Uniform Code 10 of Military Justice). 11 (3) An offense under section 933 or 934 of title 12 10, United States Code (articles 133 and 134 of the 13 Uniform Code of Military Justice), but not the of- 14 fense of child pornography, negligent homicide, inde- 15 cent conduct, indecent language communicated to 16 any child under the age of 16 years, or pandering 17 and prostitution as punishable under the general pu- 18 nitive article in section 934 of such title (article 134 19 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 20 (4) A conspiracy to commit an offense specified 21 in paragraphs (1) through (3) as punishable under 22 section 881 of title 10, United States Code (article 23 81 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4104 IH (5) A solicitation to commit an offense specified 1 in paragraphs (1) through (3) as punishable under 2 section 882 of title 10, United States Code (article 3 82 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 4 (6) An attempt to commit an offense specified 5 in paragraphs (1) through (3) as punishable under 6 section 880 of title 10, United States Code (article 7 80 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 8 (d) REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS.—The dis- 9 position of charges covered by subsection (a) shall be sub- 10 ject to the following: 11 (1) The determination whether to cause charges 12 to be preferred or refer such charges to a court-mar- 13 tial for trial, as applicable, shall be made by a com- 14 missioned officer of the Armed Forces designated as 15 a court-martial convening authority in accordance 16 with regulations prescribed for purposes of this sub- 17 section from among commissioned officers of the 18 Armed Forces in grade O–6 or higher who— 19 (A) are available for detail as trial counsel 20 under section 827 of title 10, United States 21 Code (article 27 of the Uniform Code of Mili- 22 tary Justice); 23 (B) have significant experience in trials by 24 general or special court-martial; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4104 IH (C) are outside the chain of command of 1 the member subject to such charges. 2 (2) Upon a determination under paragraph (1) 3 to refer charges to a court-martial for trial, the offi- 4 cer making that determination shall determine 5 whether to refer such charges for trial by a general 6 court-martial convened under section 822 of title 10, 7 United States Code (article 22 of the Uniform Code 8 of Military Justice), or a special court-martial con- 9 vened under section 823 of title 10, United States 10 Code (article 23 of the Uniform Code of Military 11 Justice). 12 (3) A determination under paragraph (1) to 13 cause charges to be preferred or refer charges to a 14 court-martial for trial, as applicable, shall cover all 15 known offenses, including lesser included offenses. 16 (4) The determination to cause charges to be 17 preferred or refer charges to a court-martial for 18 trial, as applicable, under paragraph (1), and the 19 type of court-martial to which to refer under para- 20 graph (2), shall be binding on any applicable con- 21 vening authority for the referral of such charges. 22 (5) The actions of an officer described in para- 23 graph (1) in determining under that paragraph 24 whether or not to cause charges to be preferred or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 4104 IH refer charges to a court-martial for trial, as applica- 1 ble, shall be free of unlawful or unauthorized influ- 2 ence or coercion. 3 (6) The determination under paragraph (1) not 4 to refer charges to a general or special court-martial 5 for trial shall not operate to terminate or otherwise 6 alter the authority of commanding officers to refer 7 charges for trial by special court-martial under sec- 8 tion 823 of title 10, United States Code (article 23 9 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice) or sum- 10 mary court-martial convened under section 824 of 11 title 10, United States Code (article 24 of the Uni- 12 form Code of Military Justice), or to impose non-ju- 13 dicial punishment in connection with the conduct 14 covered by such charges as authorized by section 15 815 of title 10, United States Code (article 15 of the 16 Uniform Code of Military Justice). 17 (7) The determination under paragraph (1) to 18 refer charges to a general or special court-martial 19 shall not be subject to section 834 of title 10, United 20 States Code (article 34 of the Uniform Code of Mili- 21 tary Justice), provided that the officer making the 22 determination determines that— 23 (A) the specification alleges an offense 24 under the Uniform Code of Military Justice; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 4104 IH (B) there is probable cause to believe that 1 the accused committed the offense charged; and 2 (C) a court-martial would have jurisdiction 3 over the accused and the offense. 4 (e) CONSTRUCTION WITH CHARGES ON OTHER OF- 5 FENSES.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to 6 alter or affect the preferral, disposition, or referral author- 7 ity of charges under chapter 47 of title 10, United States 8 Code (the Uniform Code of Military Justice), that allege 9 an offense for which the maximum punishment authorized 10 under that chapter includes confinement for one year or 11 less, except for the offenses of child pornography, neg- 12 ligent homicide, indecent conduct, indecent language com- 13 municated to any child under the age of 16 years, and 14 pandering and prostitution as punishable under the gen- 15 eral punitive article in section 934 of such title (article 16 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice). 17 (f) POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.— 18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries of the mili- 19 tary departments and the Secretary of Homeland 20 Security (with respect to the Coast Guard when it 21 is not operating as a service in the Navy) shall re- 22 vise policies and procedures as necessary to comply 23 with this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Jul 10, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4104.IH H4104 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with [Text truncated for display. 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