I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4758 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a 

national sexual assault care and treatment task force; and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 18, 2019 

Mr. GRIFFITH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 

Ways and Means, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to establish a national sexual assault care and treatment 

task force; and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sexual Assault Victims 

5 Protection Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL SEXUAL ASSAULT CARE AND TREAT2 MENT TASK FORCE. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Health and 

4 Human Services shall establish a task force to be known 

5 as the ‘‘National Sexual Assault Care and Treatment 

6 Task Force’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Task 

7 Force’’) to identify barriers to improving access to sexual 

8 assault forensic examiners, sexual assault nurse exam9 iners, and other forensic medical examiners. 

10 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force shall include a 

11 representative from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

12 Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

13 the Health Resources and Services Administration, the In14 dian Health Service, the Office for Victims of Crime of 

15 the Department of Justice, the Office on Women’s Health 

16 of the Department of Health and Human Services, and 

17 the Office on Violence Against Women of the Department 

18 of Justice, a survivor of sexual assault; representatives 

19 from regional and national organizations with expertise in 

20 forensic nursing, rape trauma or crisis counseling, inves21 tigating rape and gender violence cases, survivors’ advo22 cacy and support, sexual assault prevention education, 

23 rural health, and responding to sexual violence in Native 

24 communities; representatives from hospitals, patient 

25 groups, and emergency department physicians; and rep26 resentatives of States, including States that have in effect 


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1 State laws or procedures that address the objectives de2 scribed in subsection (c). 

3 (c) OBJECTIVES.—To assist and standardize State4 level efforts to improve medical forensic evidence collection 

5 relating to sexual assault, the Task Force shall— 

6 (1) identify barriers to the recruitment, train7 ing, and retention of sexual assault forensic exam8 iners, sexual assault response teams, sexual assault 

9 nurse examiners, and others who perform such ex10 aminations; 

11 (2) make recommendations for improving access 

12 to medical forensic examinations, including the feasi13 bility of, or barriers to, utilizing mobile units and 

14 telehealth services; 

15 (3) make recommendations for improving co16 ordination of services, other protocols regarding the 

17 care and treatment of sexual assault survivors, and 

18 the preservation of evidence between law enforce19 ment officials and health care providers; 

20 (4) make recommendations for updating na21 tional minimum standards for forensic medical ex22 aminer training and forensic medical evidence collec23 tion relating to sexual assault; 

24 (5) make recommendations for the development 

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1 section (e) for inclusion on the public website of the 

2 Department of Health and Human Services; 

3 (6) make recommendations on the collection 

4 and retention of sexual assault kits, including anony5 mous or unreported sexual assault kits; and 

6 (7) make recommendations on processes and 

7 best practices for communicating to sexual assault 

8 survivors who seek care in the emergency room in9 formation about the availability of forensic medical 

10 evidence collection as part of the care and treatment 

11 of such survivors. 

12 (d) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

14 after first convening, the Task Force shall submit to 

15 the Secretary a report on the recommendations, 

16 findings, and conclusions of the Task Force. 

17 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

19 shall submit to Congress a report on the rec20 ommendations, findings, and conclusions of the Task 

21 Force. 

22 (e) SEXUAL ASSAULT TREATMENT RESOURCES.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than July 1, 2020, 

24 the Secretary shall post on the public website of the 

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1 sources and best practices developed by health care 

2 providers, forensic scientists, law enforcement rep3 resentatives, and advocates of sexual assault victims, 

4 relating to the treatment of individuals for sexual 

5 assault by health care providers. Such resources and 

6 best practices shall include the following: 

7 (A) RESOURCES FOR HEALTH CARE PRO8 VIDERS.—Resources and best practices for 

9 health care providers, including— 

10 (i) best practices for training per11 sonnel on sexual assault forensic evidence 

12 collection; 

13 (ii) best practices relating to providing 

14 counseling and appropriate referrals to 

15 such individuals; and 

16 (iii) other resources and best practices 

17 determined appropriate by the Secretary. 

18 (B) RESOURCES FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT

19 SURVIVORS.—Resources and best practices for 

20 sexual assault survivors, including— 

21 (i) information about the forensic 

22 exam furnished by a sexual assault forensic 

23 examiner, including the process and poten24 tial benefits of collecting evidence; 


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1 (ii) information on available State2 wide databases of sexual assault nurse ex3 aminer-ready or sexual assault forensic ex4 aminer-ready facilities; 

5 (iii) survivor advocacy group websites 

6 and hotlines; 

7 (iv) next-steps guides for survivors 

8 with best practices for preserving evidence 

9 and seeking treatment after an assault; 

10 and 

11 (v) other resources and best practices 

12 determined appropriate by the Secretary. 

13 (2) UPDATES.—As soon as practicable after the 

14 submission of the report under subsection (d)(1) to 

15 the Secretary, the Secretary shall update the re16 sources and best practices posted on the website of 

17 the Department of Health and Human Services 

18 under paragraph (1) to take into consideration the 

19 recommendations, findings, and conclusions of the 

20 Task Force contained in such report. The Secretary 

21 shall update such resources and best practices peri22 odically, but not less frequently than annually. 

23 (f) ANNUAL SUMMIT.—The Secretary shall convene 

24 an annual stakeholder meeting to address gaps in health 


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1 care provider care relating to sexual assault that includes 

2 the Task Force. 

3 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

4 (1) MEDICAL FORENSIC EXAMINATION.—The 

5 term ‘‘medical forensic examination’’ means an ex6 amination provided to a sexual assault survivor by 

7 medical personnel trained to gather evidence of a 

8 sexual assault in a manner suitable for use in a 

9 court of law. 

10 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

12 (3) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘‘sexual as13 sault’’ means any non-consensual sexual act pro14 scribed by Federal, tribal, or State law, including 

15 when the individual lacks capacity to consent. 

16 (4) SEXUAL ASSAULT EXAMINER.—The term 

17 ‘‘sexual assault examiner’’ means a registered nurse, 

18 advanced practice nurse, physician, or physician as19 sistant specifically trained to provide comprehensive 

20 care to sexual assault forensic examinations. 

21 (5) SEXUAL ASSAULT FORENSIC EXAMINER.— 

22 The term ‘‘sexual assault forensic examiner’’ means 

23 a medical practitioner who has specialized forensic 

24 training in treating sexual assault survivors and con25 ducting medical forensic examinations. 


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1 (6) SEXUAL ASSAULT NURSE EXAMINER.—The 

2 term ‘‘sexual assault nurse examiner’’ means a reg3 istered nurse who has specialized forensic training in 

4 treating sexual assault survivors and conducting 

5 medical forensic examinations. 

6 (7) SEXUAL ASSAULT RESPONSE TEAM.—The 

7 term ‘‘sexual assault response team’’ means a multi8 disciplinary team that provides a specialized and im9 mediate response to survivors of sexual assault, and 

10 may include health care personnel, law enforcement 

11 representatives, community-based survivor advo12 cates, prosecutors, and forensic scientists. 

13 SEC. 3. PROMOTING COORDINATION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT 

14 CARE IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES. 

15 Not later than one year after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 

17 Services shall revise section 489.24(j) of title 42, Code of 

18 Federal Regulations, to require each formal community 

19 call plan (as described in section 489.24(j)(2)(iii) of such 

20 title (or a successor regulation)) to provide— 

21 (1) with respect to the delineation of on-call 

22 coverage responsibilities described in subparagraph 

23 (A) of such section, for a delineation of such cov24 erage responsibilities for screening and treatment re25 lating to sexual assault and includes a schedule of 


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1 the on-call coverage availability for such screening 

2 and treatment at each hospital with on-call coverage 

3 responsibilities for such treatment; and 

4 (2) with respect to assurances related to local 

5 and regional EMS system protocols described in sub6 paragraph (D) of such section, for an assurance that 

7 such protocols include information with respect to 

8 community on-call arrangements for screening and 

9 treatment relating to sexual assault. 

Æ 


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