I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3015 To reduce the number of members of the Armed Forces stationed in certain foreign countries with which the United States does not have a proper and enforceable Status of Forces Agreement, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 28, 2023 Mr. LALOTA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To reduce the number of members of the Armed Forces stationed in certain foreign countries with which the United States does not have a proper and enforceable Status of Forces Agreement, 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 ‘‘Safeguarding Our 4 Forces Abroad Act’’ or the ‘‘SOFA Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3015.IH H3015 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3015 IH SEC. 2. REDUCTION OF PERSONNEL STATIONED IN FOR- 1 EIGN COUNTRIES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that is 180 3 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 4 retary of Defense shall reduce, at a rate of 1 percent each 5 month, the number of members of the Armed Forces sta- 6 tioned in each covered foreign country with which a bind- 7 ing and enforceable Status of Forces Agreement is not in 8 place that— 9 (1) prohibits the government of such country, 10 including any jurisdiction within such country, from 11 undertaking pretrial detention of any member of the 12 Armed Forces subject to an accusation of commit- 13 ting a non-violent crime; 14 (2) guarantees to any member of the Armed 15 Forces who is accused of a crime and whose liberty 16 is at risk the right to immediately have access to 17 and the presence of counsel of choice during all 18 stages of the legal process, including investigations 19 and interrogations; 20 (3) guarantees to any member of the Armed 21 Forces who is accused of a crime and whose liberty 22 is at risk the right to immediately have access to ap- 23 propriate language translation services; and 24 (4) guarantees that any such accused member 25 of the Armed Forces may not be compelled to be a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3015.IH H3015 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3015 IH witness against themselves and will be protected 1 from confessions obtained through torture, coercion, 2 threats, violence, or any means of improper influ- 3 ence. 4 (b) COVERED FOREIGN COUNTRY.—In this section, 5 the term ‘‘covered foreign country’’ means a foreign coun- 6 try in which at least 1,000 members of the Armed Forces 7 were stationed in the previous fiscal year. 8 (c) WAIVER.—The requirement to draw down the 9 number of members of the Armed Forces stationed in a 10 covered foreign country under subsection (a) may be 11 waived if the Secretary of Defense certifies to the Chair 12 and Ranking Member of the Committees on Armed Serv- 13 ices of the House of Representatives and of the Senate 14 that it is in the national security interests of the United 15 States to avoid such a reduction in forces. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3015.IH H3015 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB