I 

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112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2074 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require a comprehensive policy 

on reporting and tracking sexual assault incidents and other safety 

incidents that occur at medical facilities of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2011 

Ms. BUERKLE (for herself and Mr. MILLER of Florida) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to require a comprehensive policy on reporting and tracking sexual assault incidents and other safety incidents that occur at 

medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

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 ‘‘Veterans Sexual As5 sault Prevention Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPREHENSIVE POLICY ON REPORTING AND 

2 TRACKING SEXUAL ASSAULT INCIDENTS AND 

3 OTHER SAFETY INCIDENTS. 

4 (a) POLICY.—Subchapter I of chapter 17 of title 38, 

5 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘§ 1709. Comprehensive policy on reporting and 

8 tracking sexual assault incidents and 

9 other safety incidents 

10 ‘‘(a) POLICY REQUIRED.—Not later than October 1, 

11 2011, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall develop and 

12 implement a centralized and comprehensive policy on the 

13 reporting and tracking of sexual assault incidents and 

14 other safety incidents that occur at each medical facility 

15 of the Department, including— 

16 ‘‘(1) suspected, alleged, attempted, or confirmed 

17 cases of sexual assault, regardless of whether such 

18 assaults lead to prosecution or conviction; 

19 ‘‘(2) criminal and purposefully unsafe acts; 

20 ‘‘(3) alcohol or substance abuse related acts (in21 cluding by employees of the Department); and 

22 ‘‘(4) any kind of event involving alleged or sus23 pected abuse of a patient. 

24 ‘‘(b) SCOPE.—The policy required by subsection (a) 

25 shall cover each of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) For purposes of reporting and tracking 

2 sexual assault incidents and other safety incidents, 

3 definitions of the terms— 

4 ‘‘(A) ‘safety incident’; 

5 ‘‘(B) ‘sexual assault’; and 

6 ‘‘(C) ‘sexual assault incident’. 

7 ‘‘(2) The development and use of specific risk8 assessment tools to examine any risks related to sex9 ual assault that a veteran may pose while being 

10 treated at a medical facility of the Department, in11 cluding clear and consistent guidance on the collec12 tion of information related to— 

13 ‘‘(A) the legal history of the veteran; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the medical record of the veteran. 

15 ‘‘(3) The mandatory training of employees of 

16 the Department on security issues, including aware17 ness, preparedness, precautions, and police assist18 ance. 

19 ‘‘(4) The mandatory implementation, use, and 

20 regular testing of appropriate physical security pre21 cautions and equipment, including surveillance cam22 era systems, computer-based panic alarm systems, 

23 stationary panic alarms, and electronic portable per24 sonal panic alarms. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Clear, consistent, and comprehensive cri2 teria and guidance with respect to an employee of 

3 the Department communicating and reporting sexual 

4 assault incidents and other safety incidents to— 

5 ‘‘(A) supervisory personnel of the employee 

6 at— 

7 ‘‘(i) a medical facility of the Depart8 ment; 

9 ‘‘(ii) an office of a Veterans Inte10 grated Service Network; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) the central office of the Veterans 

12 Health Administration; and 

13 ‘‘(B) a law enforcement official of the De14 partment. 

15 ‘‘(6) Clear and consistent criteria and guide16 lines with respect to an employee of the Department 

17 referring and reporting to the Office of Inspector 

18 General of the Department sexual assault incidents 

19 and other safety incidents that meet the regulatory 

20 criminal threshold in accordance with section 1.201 

21 and 1.204 of title 38, Code of Federal Regulations. 

22 ‘‘(7) An accountable oversight system within 

23 the Veterans Health Administration that includes— 

24 ‘‘(A) systematic information sharing of re25 ported sexual assault incidents and other safety 


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1 incidents among officials of the Administration 

2 who have programmatic responsibility; and 

3 ‘‘(B) a centralized reporting, tracking, and 

4 monitoring system for such incidents. 

5 ‘‘(8) Consistent procedures and systems for law 

6 enforcement officials of the Department with respect 

7 to investigating, tracking, and closing reported sex8 ual assault incidents and other safety incidents. 

9 ‘‘(9) Clear and consistent guidance for the clin10 ical management of the treatment of sexual assaults 

11 that are reported more than 72 hours after the as12 sault. 

13 ‘‘(c) UPDATES TO POLICY.—The Secretary shall re14 view and revise the policy required by subsection (a) on 

15 a periodic basis as the Secretary considers appropriate and 

16 in accordance with best practices. 

17 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—(1) Not later than 60 days 

18 after the date on which the Secretary develops the policy 

19 required by subsection (a), and by not later than October 

20 1 of each year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to 

21 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Rep22 resentatives and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of 

23 the Senate a report on the implementation of the policy. 

24 ‘‘(2) The report under paragraph (1) shall include— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the number and type of sexual assault in2 cidents and other safety incidents reported by each 

3 medical facility of the Department; 

4 ‘‘(B) a detailed description of the implementa5 tion of the policy required by subsection (a), includ6 ing any revisions made to such policy from the pre7 vious year; and 

8 ‘‘(C) the effectiveness of such policy on improv9 ing the safety and security of the medical facilities 

10 of the Department, including the performance meas11 ures used to evaluate such effectiveness. 

12 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 

13 regulations to carry out this section.’’. 

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

15 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

16 after the item relating to section 1708 the following: 

‘‘1709. Comprehensive policy on reporting and tracking of sexual assault incidents and other safety incidents.’’. 

17 (c) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

19 Veterans Affairs shall submit to the Committee on Vet20 erans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives and the 

21 Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate a report on 

22 the development of the performance measures described 


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1 in section 1709(d)(2)(C) of title 38, United States Code, 

2 as added by subsection (a). 

Æ 


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