II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3116 

To amend title 36, United States Code, to designate October 1 as Choose 

Respect Day, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 28, 2021 

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 36, United States Code, to designate October 

1 as Choose Respect Day, 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 ‘‘Choose Respect Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 36, United 

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


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1 ‘‘§ 146. Choose Respect Day 

2 ‘‘(a) DESIGNATION.—October 1 is Choose Respect 

3 Day. 

4 ‘‘(b) RECOGNITION.—All private citizens, organiza5 tions, and Federal, State, and local governmental and leg6 islative entities are encouraged to recognize Choose Re7 spect Day through proclamations, activities, and edu8 cational efforts in furtherance of changing the culture 

9 around the tolerance of violence against women.’’. 

10 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

11 The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 36, United 

12 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

‘‘146. Choose Respect Day.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. MEDIA CAMPAIGN. 

15 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

17 the Director of the Office on Violence Against 

18 Women. 

19 (2) NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN.—The term 

20 ‘‘national media campaign’’ means the national 

21 ‘‘Choose Respect’’ media campaign described in sub22 section (b). 

23 (b) MEDIA CAMPAIGN.—The Director shall, to the ex24 tent feasible and appropriate, conduct a national ‘‘Choose 


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1 Respect’’ media campaign in accordance with this section 

2 for the purposes of— 

3 (1) preventing and discouraging the mistreat4 ment of women, including domestic abuse, violence, 

5 stalking, and harassment; 

6 (2) supporting evidence-based prevention pro7 grams targeting the attitudes, perceptions, and be8 liefs of individuals who have or are likely to partici9 pate in the activities described in paragraph (1); 

10 (3) encouraging victims of the activities de11 scribed in paragraph (1) to seek help through the 

12 means determined to be most effective by the most 

13 current evidence available, including seeking legal 

14 representation; and 

15 (4) informing the public about the help avail16 able to victims of the activities described in para17 graph (1). 

18 (c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts made available to 

20 carry out this section for the national media cam21 paign may only be used for the following: 

22 (A) The purchase of media time and space, 

23 including the strategic planning for, tracking, 

24 and accounting of, such purchases. 


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1 (B) Creative and talent costs, consistent 

2 with paragraph (2). 

3 (C) Advertising production costs, which 

4 may include television, radio, internet, social 

5 media, and other commercial marketing venues. 

6 (D) Testing and evaluation of advertising. 

7 (E) Evaluation of the effectiveness of the 

8 national media campaign. 

9 (F) Costs of contracts to carry out activi10 ties authorized by this section. 

11 (G) Partnerships with professional and 

12 civic groups, community-based organizations, 

13 including faith-based organizations, and govern14 ment organizations related to the national 

15 media campaign. 

16 (H) Entertainment industry outreach, 

17 interactive outreach, media projects and activi18 ties, public information, news media outreach, 

19 corporate sponsorship and participation, and 

20 professional sports associations and military 

21 branch participation. 

22 (I) Operational and management expenses. 

23 (2) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.— 

24 (A) CREATIVE SERVICES.—In using 

25 amounts for creative and talent costs under 


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1 paragraph (1), the Director shall use creative 

2 services donated at no cost to the Government 

3 wherever feasible and may only procure creative 

4 services for advertising— 

5 (i) responding to high-priority or 

6 emergent campaign needs that cannot 

7 timely be obtained at no cost; or 

8 (ii) intended to reach a minority, eth9 nic, or other special audience that cannot 

10 reasonably be obtained at no cost. 

11 (B) TESTING AND EVALUATION OF ADVER12 TISING.—In using amounts for testing and eval13 uation of advertising under paragraph (1)(D), 

14 the Director shall test all advertisements prior 

15 to use in the national media campaign to en16 sure that the advertisements are effective with 

17 the target audience and meet industry-accepted 

18 standards. The Director may waive this require19 ment for advertisements using no more than 10 

20 percent of the purchase of advertising time pur21 chased under this section in a fiscal year and 

22 no more than 10 percent of the advertising 

23 space purchased under this section in a fiscal 

24 year, if the advertisements respond to emergent 

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1 tisements will not be widely utilized in the na2 tional media campaign. 

3 (C) CONSULTATION.—For the planning of 

4 the campaign under subsection (b), the Director 

5 may consult with— 

6 (i) leading national advocacy groups; 

7 (ii) the heads of any victim support or 

8 antiviolence against women Federal agency 

9 or interagency department; 

10 (iii) State, local, and Tribal govern11 ments; 

12 (iv) experts in the field of preventing 

13 violence against women; and 

14 (v) communications professionals. 

15 (D) EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVENESS OF

16 NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN.—In using 

17 amounts for the evaluation of the effectiveness 

18 of the national media campaign under para19 graph (1)(E), the Attorney General shall— 

20 (i) designate an independent entity to 

21 evaluate by April 20 of each year the effec22 tiveness of the national media campaign 

23 based on data from any relevant studies or 

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1 uation data collected according to mar2 keting and advertising industry standards; 

3 and 

4 (ii) ensure that the effectiveness of 

5 the national media campaign is evaluated 

6 in a manner that enables consideration of 

7 whether the national media campaign has 

8 contributed to changes in attitude or be9 haviors among the target audience with re10 spect to violence against women and such 

11 other measures of evaluation as the Attor12 ney General determines are appropriate. 

13 (d) ADVERTISING.—In carrying out this section, the 

14 Director shall ensure that sufficient funds are allocated 

15 to meet the stated goals of the national media campaign. 

16 (e) RESPONSIBILITIES AND FUNCTIONS UNDER THE

17 PROGRAM.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall determine 

19 the overall purposes and strategy of the national 

20 media campaign. 

21 (2) DIRECTOR.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall ap23 prove— 

24 (i) the strategy of the national media 

25 campaign; 


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1 (ii) all advertising and promotional 

2 material used in the national media cam3 paign; and 

4 (iii) the plan for the purchase of ad5 vertising time and space for the national 

6 media campaign. 

7 (B) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Director 

8 shall be responsible for implementing a focused 

9 national media campaign to meet the purposes 

10 set forth in subsection (b) and shall ensure— 

11 (i) information disseminated through 

12 the campaign is accurate and scientifically 

13 valid; and 

14 (ii) the campaign is designed using 

15 strategies demonstrated to be the most ef16 fective at achieving the goals and require17 ments of subsection (b), which may in18 clude— 

19 (I) a media campaign, as de20 scribed in subsection (c); 

21 (II) local, regional, or population 

22 specific messaging; 

23 (III) the development of websites 

24 to publicize and disseminate informa25 tion; 


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1 (IV) conducting outreach and 

2 providing educational resources for 

3 women; 

4 (V) collaborating with law en5 forcement agencies; and 

6 (VI) providing support for school7 based public health education classes 

8 to improve teen knowledge about the 

9 effects of violence against women. 

10 (f) PROHIBITIONS.—None of the amounts made 

11 available under subsection (c) may be obligated or ex12 pended for any of the following: 

13 (1) To supplant current antiviolence against 

14 women community-based coalitions. 

15 (2) To supplant pro bono public service time 

16 donated by national and local broadcasting networks 

17 for other public service campaigns. 

18 (3) For partisan political purposes, or to ex19 press advocacy in support of or to defeat any clearly 

20 identified candidate, clearly identified ballot initia21 tive, or clearly identified legislative or regulatory 

22 proposal. 

23 (4) To fund advertising that features any elect24 ed officials, persons seeking elected office, cabinet 

25 level officials, or other Federal officials employed 


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1 pursuant to section 213 of Schedule C of title 5, 

2 Code of Federal Regulations. 

3 (5) To fund advertising that does not contain a 

4 primary message intended to reduce or prevent vio5 lence against women. 

6 (6) To fund advertising containing a primary 

7 message intended to promote support for the na8 tional media campaign or private sector contribu9 tions to the national media campaign. 

10 (g) FINANCIAL AND PERFORMANCE ACCOUNT11 ABILITY.—The Director shall cause to be performed— 

12 (1) audits and reviews of costs of the national 

13 media campaign pursuant to section 4706 of title 

14 41, United States Code; and 

15 (2) an audit to determine whether the costs of 

16 the national media campaign are allowable under 

17 chapter 43 of title 41, United States Code. 

18 (h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Director shall sub19 mit on an annual basis a report to Congress that de20 scribes— 

21 (1) the strategy of the national media campaign 

22 and whether specific objectives of the national media 

23 campaign were accomplished; 

24 (2) steps taken to ensure that the national 

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1 cient manner consistent with the overall strategy 

2 and focus of the national media campaign; 

3 (3) plans to purchase advertising time and 

4 space; 

5 (4) policies and practices implemented to ensure 

6 that Federal funds are used responsibly to purchase 

7 advertising time and space and eliminate the poten8 tial for waste, fraud, and abuse; 

9 (5) all contracts entered into with a corpora10 tion, partnership, or individual working on behalf of 

11 the national media campaign; 

12 (6) the results of any financial audit of the na13 tional media campaign; 

14 (7) a description of any evidence used to de15 velop the national media campaign; 

16 (8) specific policies and steps implemented to 

17 ensure compliance with this section; 

18 (9) a detailed accounting of the amount of 

19 funds obligated during the previous fiscal year for 

20 carrying out the national media campaign, including 

21 each recipient of funds, the purpose of each expendi22 ture, the amount of each expenditure, any available 

23 outcome information, and any other information nec24 essary to provide a complete accounting of the funds 

25 expended; and 


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1 (10) a review and evaluation of the effectiveness 

2 of the national media campaign strategy for the past 

3 year. 

4 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to the Director to carry 

6 out this section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

7 through 2026, to remain available until expended. 

8 SEC. 4. REIMPLEMENTATION OF CHOOSE RESPECT INITIA9 TIVE. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Centers for 

11 Disease Control and Prevention shall reimplement the na12 tional ‘‘Choose Respect’’ initiative that the Centers for 

13 Disease Control and Prevention implemented in 2006. 

14 (b) REPORT.—The Director of the Centers for Dis15 ease Control and Prevention shall submit to Congress a 

16 report on the reimplementation of the ‘‘Choose Respect’’ 

17 initiative required under subsection (a). 

18 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

19 are authorized to be appropriated to the Director of the 

20 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to carry out 

21 this section $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

22 through 2026, to remain available until expended. 

23 SEC. 5. SEMIPOSTAL. 

24 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term 

25 ‘‘semipostal stamp’’ has the meaning given the term 


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1 ‘‘semipostal’’ in section 416(a) of title 39, United States 

2 Code. 

3 (b) ISSUANCE.—In order to afford a convenient way 

4 for members of the public to contribute to changing the 

5 culture around the tolerance of violence against women, 

6 the United States Postal Service shall issue a semipostal 

7 stamp (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Choose Respect 

8 Semipostal Stamp’’) in accordance with subsection (c). 

9 (c) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this 

11 subsection, the issuance and sale of the Choose Re12 spect Semipostal Stamp shall be governed by section 

13 416 of title 39, United States Code, and regulations 

14 issued under that section. 

15 (2) DURATION.—The Choose Respect 

16 Semipostal Stamp shall be made available to the 

17 public for a period of 5 years, beginning not later 

18 than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act. 

19 (3) DISPOSITION OF PROCEEDS.—All amounts 

20 becoming available from the sale of the Choose Re21 spect Semipostal Stamp (as determined under sec22 tion 416(d) of title 39, United States Code) shall be 

23 transferred to the Director of the Office on Violence 

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1 section (b), through payments which shall be made 

2 not less frequently than 2 times a year. 

3 (4) LIMITATION.—For purposes of section 416 

4 of title 39, United States Code (including any regu5 lation prescribed under subsection (e)(1)(C) of that 

6 section), the semipostal issued under this section 

7 shall not apply to any limitation relating to whether 

8 more than 1 semipostal may be offered for sale at 

9 the same time. 

Æ 


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