Text of US HB 5638 (2012)

I 112TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5638 To direct the Secretary concerned to develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent and respond to hazing in the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 8, 2012 Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To direct the Secretary concerned to develop and implement policies and procedures to prevent and respond to hazing in 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 ‘‘Service Member Anti- 4 Hazing Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY CONCERNED. 6 (a) HAZING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.—The Sec- 7 retary concerned, in consultation with the Panel estab- 8 lished in section 3, shall— 9 VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:32 May 12, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5638.IH H5638 tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5638 IH (1) develop and implement a policy to prevent 1 and respond to hazing of members of that branch of 2 the Armed Forces; 3 (2) develop and implement a program to train 4 members of that branch of the Armed Forces on the 5 dangers of and the need to avoid hazing and on 6 issues related to diversity, which each such member 7 shall attend not less than annually; 8 (3) expand any policies for reporting incidents 9 of hazing to include a phone service through which 10 an individual can anonymously call to report inci- 11 dents of hazing in that branch of the Armed Forces; 12 and 13 (4) develop and implement a procedure to 14 transfer a member of that branch of the Armed 15 Forces who has been the victim of a substantiated 16 incident of hazing to another unit in such branch of 17 the Armed Forces. 18 (b) DATA COLLECTION.—The Secretary concerned 19 shall collect and maintain data on each incident of hazing 20 reported, including— 21 (1) the gender, race or ethnicity, sexual orienta- 22 tion, and religion of the victim and perpetrator of 23 the incident of hazing; and 24 VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:32 May 12, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5638.IH H5638 tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5638 IH (2) whether the Secretary concerned responded 1 to the incident of hazing, and if there was a re- 2 sponse, information about such response. 3 (c) REPORT.—The Secretary concerned shall submit 4 an annual report to Congress on the data collected and 5 maintained under subsection (b). 6 SEC. 3. MILITARY HAZING PREVENTION OVERSIGHT 7 PANEL. 8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a panel 9 to be known as the Military Hazing Prevention Oversight 10 Panel (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Panel’’). 11 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Panel shall be composed of 12 the following members: 13 (1) The Secretary of the Army or the Sec- 14 retary’s designee. 15 (2) The Secretary of the Navy or the Sec- 16 retary’s designee. 17 (3) The Secretary of the Air Force or the Sec- 18 retary’s designee. 19 (4) The Secretary of Homeland Security (with 20 respect to the Coast Guard) or the Secretary’s des- 21 ignee. 22 (5) Members appointed by the Secretary of De- 23 fense from among individuals who are not officers or 24 VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:32 May 12, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5638.IH H5638 tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5638 IH employees of any government and who have exper- 1 tise in advocating for— 2 (A) women; 3 (B) racial or ethnic minorities; 4 (C) religious minorities; or 5 (D) gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender 6 individuals. 7 (c) DUTIES.—The Panel shall— 8 (1) make recommendations to the Secretary 9 concerned on the development of the policies, pro- 10 grams, and procedures described in section 2(a); and 11 (2) monitor the policies, programs, and proce- 12 dures described in section 2(a) and make rec- 13 ommendations to the Secretary concerned, based on 14 the data collected in section 2(b), on ways to im- 15 prove such policies, programs, and procedures. 16 (d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 180 days 17 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Panel shall 18 hold its initial meeting. 19 (e) MEETINGS.—The Panel shall meet not less than 20 annually. 21 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 22 (a) HAZING.—The term ‘‘hazing’’ means any conduct 23 whereby a member of the Armed Forces, regardless of 24 branch or rank, without proper authority causes another 25 VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:32 May 12, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5638.IH H5638 tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5638 IH member to suffer, or be exposed to, any activity which is 1 cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning, or 2 harmful, and includes— 3 (1) soliciting or coercing another individual to 4 perpetrate any such activity; 5 (2) verbal or psychological conduct; and 6 (3) instances in which the victim of such activ- 7 ity gave actual or implied consent. 8 (b) SECRETARY CONCERNED.—The term ‘‘Secretary 9 concerned’’ has the meaning given the term in section 10 101(a) of title 10, United States Code. 11 Æ VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:32 May 12, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5638.IH H5638 tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS