Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps Safety Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1966 To amend title 10, United States Code, to increase transparency and report- ing on sexual violence in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 14, 2023 Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. SANDERS, and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to increase trans- parency and reporting on sexual violence in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Program, 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 ‘‘Junior Reserve Offi- 4 cers’ Training Corps Safety Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1966 IS SEC. 2. JROTC PROGRAM CERTIFICATION. 1 Section 2031 of title 10, United States Code, is 2 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 3 section: 4 ‘‘(i)(1) The Secretary of Defense shall permanently 5 suspend any Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps unit 6 that fails to notify the Department of Defense and the 7 Department of Education of allegations that an instructor 8 sexually harassed or assaulted a student participating in 9 the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps within 48 10 hours after the institution is notified of the allegation. 11 ‘‘(2) The Secretary of Defense shall submit to the 12 Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Com- 13 mittee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives 14 an annual report including information on units sus- 15 pended pursuant to this subsection and a justification for 16 the reinstatement of any such unit.’’. 17 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CLIMATE SURVEYS. 18 Section 481 of title 10, United States Code, is 19 amended— 20 (1) in subsection (a)— 21 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘four 22 surveys’’ and inserting ‘‘five surveys’’; and 23 (B) in paragraph (2)— 24 (i) by striking ‘‘four surveys’’ and in- 25 serting ‘‘five surveys’’; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1966 IS (ii) by adding at the end the following 1 new subparagraphs: 2 ‘‘(E) To identify and assess gender issues and 3 discrimination among members of the Junior Re- 4 serve Officers’ Training Corps and the Senior Re- 5 serve Officers’ Training Corps. 6 ‘‘(F) To identify and assess disability issues 7 and discrimination among members of the Armed 8 Forces serving on active duty. 9 ‘‘(G) To identify and assess disability issues 10 and discrimination among members of the Armed 11 Forces serving in the reserve components. 12 ‘‘(H) To identify and assess racial and ethnic 13 issues and discrimination among members of the 14 Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and the 15 Senior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. 16 ‘‘(I) To identify and assess disability issues and 17 discrimination among members of the Junior Re- 18 serve Officers’ Training Corps and the Senior Re- 19 serve Officers’ Training Corps.’’; and 20 (2) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘and publish 21 on a publicly accessible website of the Department’’ 22 after ‘‘the Secretary shall submit to Congress’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:56 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1966 IS SEC. 4. PROGRAM INSPECTIONS. 1 Section 2031(b) of title 10, United States Code, is 2 amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 4 inserting a semicolon; 5 (2) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para- 6 graph (8); and 7 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol- 8 lowing new paragraphs: 9 ‘‘(5) the institution has been inspected and ap- 10 proved by the military department concerned in the 11 previous 18 months; 12 ‘‘(6) the military department concerned certifies 13 that— 14 ‘‘(A) the institution— 15 ‘‘(i) has created a process for students 16 to report violations of their rights under 17 title IX of the Education Amendments of 18 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), title VI of 19 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 20 2000d et seq.), and section 504 of the Re- 21 habilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794), including 22 the rights of students to not be subject to 23 discrimination or subject to retaliation for 24 reporting a violation of those laws; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1966 IS ‘‘(ii) has notified the students and in- 1 structors of those rights and the process 2 for reporting violations of those rights, in- 3 cluding information on available reporting 4 options, including mandatory reporters, 5 and available supportive measures to en- 6 sure students have access to any accom- 7 modations needed in the aftermath of ex- 8 periencing discrimination; and 9 ‘‘(B) the unit includes biannual training to 10 inform students of methods to prevent, respond 11 to, and report sexual assault and harassment; 12 ‘‘(7) the institution agrees to report all allega- 13 tions of violations described under paragraph (6)(A) 14 to the military department concerned and the De- 15 partment of Education’s Office for Civil Rights not 16 less than annually; and’’. 17 SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT ON ALLEGATIONS OF DISCRIMI- 18 NATION AND SEX-BASED HARASSMENT IN 19 JROTC PROGRAMS. 20 Section 2031 of title 10, United States Code, as 21 amended by section 2 of this Act, is further amended by 22 adding at the end the following new subsection: 23 ‘‘(j)(1) Not later than March 31 each year, the Sec- 24 retary of Defense and the Secretary of Education shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1966 IS submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re- 1 port on allegations of sex-based harassment (including 2 sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dat- 3 ing violence, and stalking) and discriminatory harassment 4 based on disability, race, color, national origin, and other 5 sex-based harassment, including sexual orientation, gender 6 identity, transgender status, pregnancy, and related med- 7 ical conditions in all JROTC programs during the pre- 8 ceding year. 9 ‘‘(2) Each report required under paragraph (1) shall 10 set forth the following: 11 ‘‘(A) The number of reported allegations of a 12 possible violation under title IX of the Education 13 Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) in 14 school-affiliated JROTC programs, including— 15 ‘‘(i) the number of such reported allega- 16 tions that were investigated; 17 ‘‘(ii) the outcome of those investigations; 18 ‘‘(iii) the number of allegations the De- 19 partment of Defense, military services, or De- 20 partment of Education received directly from 21 students or third parties, including whether the 22 individual making the report raised concerns 23 that the institution had not properly inves- 24 tigated the incident or reported it to proper au- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1966 IS thorities within and outside of the school on any 1 initial allegation that was reported to the insti- 2 tution; and 3 ‘‘(iv) the number of such reported allega- 4 tions by State, including the District of Colum- 5 bia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, 6 Northern Mariana Islands, and United States 7 Virgin Islands, in which these reports occurred. 8 ‘‘(B) The number of reports that the Depart- 9 ment of Defense, military services, or Department of 10 Education have received during the reporting period 11 involving allegations of sex-based harassment (in- 12 cluding sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic 13 violence, dating violence, and stalking), harassment 14 based on disability, race, color, national origin, and 15 other sex-based harassment, including sexual ori- 16 entation, gender identity, transgender status, preg- 17 nancy and related medical conditions, by instructors 18 against students in the JROTC program, includ- 19 ing— 20 ‘‘(i) the type of incident; 21 ‘‘(ii) the military service; 22 ‘‘(iii) the number of instructors and num- 23 ber of allegations they each received; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1966 IS ‘‘(iv) the number of reports of sex-based 1 harassment (including sexual harassment, sex- 2 ual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, 3 and stalking), harassment based on disability, 4 race, color, national origin, and other sex-based 5 harassment, including sexual orientation, gen- 6 der identity, transgender status, pregnancy and 7 related medical conditions, that have been in- 8 vestigated; 9 ‘‘(v) the number of reports or investiga- 10 tions that have led to the removal of instructors 11 from JROTC programs; 12 ‘‘(vi) the number of allegations the Depart- 13 ment of Defense received directly from students 14 or third parties, including whether the indi- 15 vidual making the report raised concerns the in- 16 stitution had not properly investigated the inci- 17 dent or reported it to proper authorities within 18 and outside of the school on any initial allega- 19 tion that was reported to the institution; and 20 ‘‘(vii) the number of such reported allega- 21 tions by State, including the District of Colum- 22 bia, in which these reports occurred. 23 ‘‘(C) The number of reports that the Depart- 24 ment of Defense, military services, or Department of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1966 IS Education have received during the reporting period 1 involving allegations of sex-based harassment (in- 2 cluding sexual harassment, sexual assault, domestic 3 violence, dating violence, and stalking), harassment 4 based on disability, race, color, national origin, and 5 other sex-based harassment, including sexual ori- 6 entation, gender identity, transgender status, preg- 7 nancy, and related medical conditions, by students 8 against students in the JROTC program, includ- 9 ing— 10 ‘‘(i) the type of incident; 11 ‘‘(ii) the military service; 12 ‘‘(iii) the number of students who were al- 13 leged to have committed such acts and the 14 number of allegations that each student re- 15 ceived; 16 ‘‘(iv) the number of reports of sex-based 17 harassment (including sexual harassment, sex- 18 ual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, 19 and stalking), harassment based on disability, 20 race, color, national origin, and other sex-based 21 harassment, including sexual orientation, gen- 22 der identity, transgender status, pregnancy and 23 related medical conditions, that have been in- 24 vestigated; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1966 IS ‘‘(v) the number of reports or investiga- 1 tions that have led to the removal of students 2 who were alleged to have committed such acts 3 or students who were alleged victims of those 4 acts from the JROTC program; 5 ‘‘(vi) the number of allegations the Depart- 6 ment of Defense or Department of Education 7 received directly from students or third parties, 8 including whether the individual making the re- 9 port raised concerns the institution had not 10 properly investigated the incident or reported it 11 to proper authorities within and outside of the 12 school on any initial allegation that was re- 13 ported to the institution; and 14 ‘‘(vii) the number of such reported allega- 15 tions by State, including the District of Colum- 16 bia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, 17 Northern Mariana Islands, and United States 18 Virgin Islands in which these reports occurred. 19 ‘‘(D) Any steps the Department of Defense and 20 the Department of Education have taken to mitigate 21 sex-based harassment (including sexual harassment, 22 sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, 23 and stalking) in JROTC programs during the pre- 24 ceding year. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1966 IS ‘‘(3) Each report required under paragraph (1) shall 1 be submitted in unclassified form and may not be marked 2 as controlled unclassified information. 3 ‘‘(4) Each secondary school (as defined in section 4 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 5 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7081)) participating in the JROTC pro- 6 gram under this chapter that receives funding under title 7 I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 8 shall develop and submit to the Secretary of Defense and 9 the Secretary of Education for inclusion in the report re- 10 quired under paragraph (1) a statement of policy regard- 11 ing— 12 ‘‘(A) the secondary school’s programs to pre- 13 vent sex-based harassment (including sexual harass- 14 ment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating vio- 15 lence, and stalking), harassment based on disability, 16 race, color, national origin, and other sex-based har- 17 assment, including sexual orientation, gender iden- 18 tity, transgender status, pregnancy and related med- 19 ical conditions; 20 ‘‘(B) the JROTC program’s provision of evi- 21 dence-based training to JROTC recruits, in coordi- 22 nation with school-based mental health services pro- 23 viders as defined in section 4102(6) of the Elemen- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:26 Jul 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1966.IS S1966 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1966 IS tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 1 U.S.C. 7012(6)), if applicable, regarding— 2 ‘‘(i) the mental health resources and serv- 3 ices made available to them; 4 ‘‘(ii) mental health education; and 5 ‘‘(iii) methods that students can use to 6 seek help for themselves and others, including 7 for sex-based harassment (including sexual har- 8 assment, sexual assault, domestic violence, dat- 9 ing violence, and stalking), harassment based 10 on disability, race, color, national origin, and 11 other sex-based harassment, including sexual 12 orientation, gender identity, transgender status, 13 pregnancy and related [Text truncated for display. 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