I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1517 

To amend titles 10 and 28, United States Code, to provide for military 

sexual assault and domestic violence accountability, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 13, 2011 

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa (for himself, Mr. POE of Texas, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. 

FILNER, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, and Ms. SPEIER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and 

in addition to the Committee on 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 amend titles 10 and 28, United States Code, to provide 

for military sexual assault and domestic violence accountability, 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 ‘‘Holley Lynn James 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE POLICY ON SEXUAL AS2 SAULT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 10, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 130e. Policy on sexual assault and domestic vio7 lence 

8 ‘‘(a) OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL

9 FOR POLICY AND OVERSIGHT.—The Deputy Inspector 

10 General for Policy and Oversight of the Department of 

11 Defense shall develop and maintain a Department-wide 

12 sexual assault prevention and response policy and domes13 tic violence policy and shall provide oversight within the 

14 Department with respect to such policies. The Deputy In15 spector General shall— 

16 ‘‘(1) develop overall policy and provide guidance 

17 for the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response 

18 Program of the Department; 

19 ‘‘(2) develop overall policy and provide guidance 

20 for domestic violence prevention and response within 

21 the Department; 

22 ‘‘(3) provide guidance and technical assistance 

23 to the heads of the military departments in address24 ing matters concerning sexual assault and domestic 

25 violence prevention and response; 


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1 ‘‘(4) develop strategic program guidance, joint 

2 planning objectives, and identify legislative changes 

3 needed to ensure the future availability of resources 

4 in support of Department sexual assault and domes5 tic violence prevention and response policies; 

6 ‘‘(5) maintain sexual assault and domestic vio7 lence data collected from each of the military depart8 ments; 

9 ‘‘(6) acquire the quarterly and annual sexual 

10 assault prevention and response data from each of 

11 the military departments and assemble the annual 

12 reports involving members of the Armed Forces; 

13 ‘‘(7) ensure that the annual report required to 

14 be submitted under section 577(f) of the Ronald W. 

15 Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fis16 cal Year 2005 (Public Law 108–375; 10 U.S.C. 116 

17 note) includes information on the commands of the 

18 victim and accused in any sexual assault or domestic 

19 violence case; 

20 ‘‘(8) develop metrics to measure compliance and 

21 the effectiveness of sexual assault and domestic vio22 lence prevention and response training and aware23 ness objectives; 

24 ‘‘(9) review and analyze data collected by the 

25 head of each of the military departments; 


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1 ‘‘(10) establish reporting categories and mon2 itor specific goals for use in producing the Sec3 retary’s annual assessment of each military depart4 ment required under section 577(f)(3) of such Act; 

5 ‘‘(11) collaborate with appropriate Federal and 

6 State agencies that address sexual assault and do7 mestic violence prevention and response issues and 

8 serve as liaison to the committees and advisory 

9 groups of such agencies, as appropriate; and 

10 ‘‘(12) ensure the maintenance of documents re11 lating to— 

12 ‘‘(A) complaints of sexual assault and do13 mestic violence; 

14 ‘‘(B) trials of members of the Armed 

15 Forces for sexual assault and domestic violence; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(C) any medical treatment received by an 

18 alleged victim of sexual assault or domestic vio19 lence for complete reporting in the service 

20 records of the victim. 

21 ‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SECRETARY OF DE22 FENSE.—The Secretary of Defense shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) cooperate with the oversight, investiga24 tions, and policy advice of the Deputy Inspector 

25 General for Policy and Oversight in accordance with 


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1 the Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95– 

2 452; 5 U.S.C. App.); and 

3 ‘‘(2) acting through the General Counsel of the 

4 Department of Defense, provide advice and assist5 ance to the Deputy Inspector General for Policy and 

6 Oversight on all legal matters, including the review 

7 and coordination of all proposed policies, regulations, 

8 directives, instructions, and proposed exceptions to 

9 policy and the review of all legislative proposals af10 fecting the responsibilities of the Deputy Inspector 

11 General under subsection (a). 

12 ‘‘(c) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The Deputy In13 spector General for Policy and Oversight shall determine 

14 the feasibility of establishing a database that would be 

15 known as the ‘Military Sexual Predator Database’. Such 

16 a database would include— 

17 ‘‘(1) the capability to report and register sex of18 fenders who are members of the Armed Forces; and 

19 ‘‘(2) the capability to effectively coordinate with 

20 the National Sex Offender Registry established 

21 under section 119 of the Adam Walsh Child Protec22 tion and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16919). 

23 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION FOR ADDITIONAL PER24 SONNEL.—For the purposes of completing the functions 

25 of this section, the Deputy Inspector General may select, 


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1 appoint, and employ such officers and employees as may 

2 be necessary for carrying out the duties of the Inspector 

3 General, subject to the provisions of title 5, United States 

4 Code, governing appointments in the competitive service, 

5 and the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of 

6 chapter 53 of such title, relating to classification and Gen7 eral Schedule pay rates.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘130e. Policy on sexual assault and domestic violence.’’. 

11 SEC. 3. DISPOSITION OF RAPE, SEXUAL ASSAULT OR SEX12 UAL HARASSMENT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 

13 CASES WITHIN THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILI14 TARY JUSTICE. 

15 (a) AMENDMENT TO TITLE 10.—Subchapter XI of 

16 chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code, is amended 

17 by adding at the end the following new section: 

18 ‘‘§ 940A. Art. 140A. Disposition of rape, sexual assault, 

19 sexual harassment, and domestic violence 

20 cases 

21 ‘‘(a) SPECIAL DISPOSITION.—Notwithstanding any 

22 other provision of law, there shall be special disposition 

23 for charges stemming from a sexual-related offense and 

24 charges involving an allegation of domestic violence com25 mitted by a member of the Armed Forces as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(1) A case involving such charges shall auto2 matically be referred to a general court-martial con3 vening authority, as described in section 818 of this 

4 title (article 18). 

5 ‘‘(2) The staff judge advocate shall provide de6 tailed billets for prosecutors in cases involving alle7 gations of rape or sexual assault, to be filled by a 

8 field-grade officer of the Judge Advocate General’s 

9 Corps with a rank of O–4 or higher. 

10 ‘‘(3) In a case involving an accusation of rape, 

11 sexual assault, harassment, or domestic violence, the 

12 facts of the case shall be given precedence over the 

13 value to the service of the accused. 

14 ‘‘(4) In a case involving an accusation of rape, 

15 sexual assault, or harassment, the accused will not 

16 be eligible for non-judicial punishment or adminis17 trative punishment if found guilty. 

18 ‘‘(b) VICTIM’S RIGHTS.—A victim in a case involving 

19 allegations of rape, sexual assault, harassment, or domes20 tic violence shall have rights as follows: 

21 ‘‘(1) The Secretary concerned shall provide 

22 counsel for the victim, in the same manner as coun23 sel is provided for an accused under section 827(b) 

24 of this title (article 27), for any investigation or 

25 courts-martial proceeding relating to the case. 


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1 ‘‘(2) All communications between a victim and 

2 a victim’s advocates or the victim’s counsel shall be 

3 considered privileged communications for purposes 

4 of the case and any proceedings relating to the case. 

5 ‘‘(3) A victim may appeal the decision of a gen6 eral court martial in the case to the appropriate 

7 Court of Criminal Appeals under section 866 of this 

8 title (article 66). 

9 ‘‘(c) REVISION OF MANUAL FOR COURTS-MAR10 TIAL.—The Joint Service Committee on Military Justice 

11 shall amend the Manual for Courts-Martial to reflect this 

12 section, with especially section 306 of such manual con13 cerning disposition. 

14 ‘‘(d) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to as15 sure proper treatment of sexual assault cases in military 

16 judicial system, remove cases from chain of command that 

17 may contain both victim and accused, prevent non-judicial 

18 punishment and determination being decided in case by 

19 unqualified personnel without legal experience, considers 

20 the rights of the victim.’’. 

21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

22 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

23 at the end of the items relating to subchapter XI the fol24 lowing new item: 

‘‘940A. Art. 140A. Disposition of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and 

domestic violence cases.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. ALLOWANCE OF CLAIMS BY MEMBERS OF THE 

2 ARMED FORCES AGAINST THE UNITED 

3 STATES FOR CERTAIN INJURIES RELATING 

4 TO OR ARISING OUT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT OR 

5 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 171 of title 28, United 

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘§ 2681. Certain claims by members of the Armed 

10 Forces of the United States 

11 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding section 2680, a claim may be 

12 brought against the United States under this chapter for 

13 damages or other appropriate relief for any act or omis14 sion related to or arising out of covered assaultive conduct 

15 or failure to prevent or properly investigate or prosecute 

16 covered assaultive conduct. 

17 ‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘covered assaultive con18 duct’ means sexual assault or harassment, domestic vio19 lence, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emo20 tional distress, false imprisonment, or discrimination or 

21 negligent hiring, supervision, promotion, or retention. 

22 ‘‘(c) For purposes of claims brought under this sec23 tion, in the case of an act or omission occurring outside 

24 the United States— 

25 ‘‘(1) the law that applies to the act or omission 

26 shall be the law of the place where the claimant is 


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1 domiciled within the United States, or, if there is no 

2 place where the claimant is so domiciled, the law of 

3 the place the claimant has identified as the claim4 ant’s home of record for military purposes; and 

5 ‘‘(2) any choice-of-law rules which would re6 quire the application of foreign or international law 

7 shall be disregarded.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 at the beginning of chapter 171 of title 28, United States 

10 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘2681. Certain claims by members of the Armed Forces of the United States.’’. 

Æ 


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