Combating Bias in Military Promotions Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4765 To amend title 10, United States Code, to eliminate the inclusion of certain personally identifying information from the information furnished to pro- motion selection boards for commissioned officers of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 30 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 29), 2020 Mr. YOUNG (for himself and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to eliminate the inclusion of certain personally identifying information from the information furnished to promotion selection boards for commissioned officers of the Armed Forces, 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 ‘‘Combating Bias in 4 Military Promotions Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4765.IS S4765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4765 IS SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF INCLUSION OF CERTAIN PERSON- 1 ALLY IDENTIFYING INFORMATION FROM IN- 2 FORMATION FURNISHED TO PROMOTION SE- 3 LECTION BOARDS FOR COMMISSIONED OFFI- 4 CERS OF THE ARMED FORCES. 5 (a) REGULAR OFFICERS.—Section 615 of title 10, 6 United States Code, is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (b)— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary of the mili- 9 tary department concerned’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘Subject to subsection (c), the Secretary of the 11 military department concerned’’; 12 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the 13 names’’ and inserting ‘‘the identifiers’’; 14 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘whose 15 name’’ and inserting ‘‘whose identifier’’; and 16 (D) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘sub- 17 section (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (d)’’; 18 (2) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), and 19 (e) as subsections (d), (e), and (f), respectively; and 20 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 21 lowing new subsection (c): 22 ‘‘(c)(1) Information on an officer furnished to a selec- 23 tion board under this section may not include any informa- 24 tion that indicates the sex, age, or race of the officer, or 25 a photograph of the officer. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4765.IS S4765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4765 IS ‘‘(2) In any information so furnished, an officer shall 1 be identified through a unique identifier employed by the 2 Secretary of the military department concerned for that 3 purpose, rather than by the use of, or explicit reference 4 to, the officer’s name.’’. 5 (b) RESERVE OFFICERS.—Section 14107 of title 10, 6 United States Code, is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (b)— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘The Secretary of the mili- 9 tary department concerned’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘Subject to subsection (c), the Secretary of the 11 military department concerned’’; 12 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘The 13 name’’ and inserting ‘‘The identifier’’; and 14 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the 15 name’’ and inserting ‘‘the identifier’’; and 16 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 17 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 18 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 19 lowing new subsection (c): 20 ‘‘(c) OMISSION OF CERTAIN PERSONALLY IDENTI- 21 FYING INFORMATION.—(1) Information on an officer fur- 22 nished to a selection board under this section may not in- 23 clude any information that indicates the sex, age, or race 24 of the officer, or a photograph of the officer. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Oct 20, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4765.IS S4765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4765 IS ‘‘(2) In any information so furnished, an officer shall 1 be identified through a unique identifier employed by the 2 Secretary of the military department concerned for that 3 purpose, rather than by the use of, or explicit reference 4 to, the officer’s name.’’. 5 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 6 this section shall take effect on the date that is two years 7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply 8 with respect to activities of promotion selection boards 9 convened under section 611(a) or 14101(a) of title 10, 10 United States Code, on or after that date. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:29 Oct 18, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4765.IS S4765 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS