I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2026 

To enhance the sexual assault prevention and response program of the 

Department of Defense. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2015 

Mr. TURNER (for himself and Ms. TSONGAS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To enhance the sexual assault prevention and response 

program of the Department of Defense. 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Support Uniformed Patriots; Prevent Offenses and Re6 store Trust Act’’ or the ‘‘SUPPORT Act’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Sexual assault prevention and response training for administrators and 

instructors of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. 


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Sec. 3. Strategy to prevent retaliation against members of the Armed Forces 

who report or intervene on behalf of the victim in instances of 

sexual assault. 

Sec. 4. Department of Defense civilian employee access to Special Victims’ 

Counsel. 

Sec. 5. Improvements to Special Victims’ Counsel program. 

Sec. 6. Improved Department of Defense prevention and response to sexual assaults in which the victim is a male member of the Armed 

Forces. 

Sec. 7. Additional guidance regarding the use of mental health records. 

Sec. 8. Improvements to the implementation of changes to the Uniform Code 

of Military Justice. 

1 SEC. 2. SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION AND RESPONSE 

2 TRAINING FOR ADMINISTRATORS AND IN3 STRUCTORS OF THE RESERVE OFFICERS’ 

4 TRAINING CORPS. 

5 (a) TRAINING AND EDUCATION REQUIRED.—The 

6 Secretary of a military department shall ensure that the 

7 commander of each unit of the Junior Reserve Officers’ 

8 Training Corps or Senior Reserve Officers’ Training 

9 Corps and all Professors of Military Science, senior mili10 tary instructors, and civilian employees detailed, assigned, 

11 or employed as administrators and instructors of the Re12 serve Officers’ Training Corps receive regular sexual as13 sault prevention and response training and education. 

14 (b) AVAILABILITY OF LEGAL ASSISTANCE AND SEX15 UAL ASSAULT PREVENTION AND RESPONSE PROGRAM

16 SERVICES.—The Secretary of a military department shall 

17 ensure that information regarding the availability of legal 

18 assistance and the services of the sexual assault prevention 

19 and response program of the Department of Defense is 


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1 made available to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps 

2 personnel referred to in subsection (a). 

3 SEC. 3. STRATEGY TO PREVENT RETALIATION AGAINST 

4 MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES WHO RE5 PORT OR INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF THE 

6 VICTIM IN INSTANCES OF SEXUAL ASSAULT. 

7 (a) STRATEGY REQUIRED.—The Secretary of De8 fense shall establish a comprehensive strategy to prevent 

9 retaliation carried out by members of the Armed Forces 

10 against other members who report or otherwise intervene 

11 on behalf of the victim in instances of sexual assault. 

12 (b) ELEMENTS.—The comprehensive strategy re13 quired by subsection (a) shall include, at a minimum, the 

14 following: 

15 (1) Bystander intervention programs empha16 sizing the importance of guarding against such retal17 iation. 

18 (2) Department of Defense and military depart19 ment policies and requirements to ensure protection 

20 from retaliation against victims of sexual assault 

21 and members who intervene on behalf of a victim. 

22 (3) Additional training for commanders on 

23 methods and procedures to combat attitudes and be24 liefs that lead to acts of retaliation by members. 


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1 (c) RETALIATION DESCRIBED.—For purposes of this 

2 section, the term ‘‘retaliation’’ has the meaning given that 

3 term in the regulations issued by the Secretary of Defense 

4 pursuant to section 1709(b)(1) of the National Defense 

5 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113– 

6 66; 10 U.S.C. 113 note) and shall include ostracism and 

7 other acts of maltreatment designated by the Secretary 

8 pursuant to subparagraph (B) of such section. 

9 (d) BRIEFING.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

10 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 

11 shall brief the Committees on Armed Services of the Sen12 ate and the House of Representatives on the comprehen13 sive strategy required by subsection (a). 

14 SEC. 4. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CIVILIAN EMPLOYEE 

15 ACCESS TO SPECIAL VICTIMS’ COUNSEL. 

16 Section 1044(a) of title 10, United States Code, is 

17 amended by adding the following new paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(8) In any instance in which the victim of a 

19 sex-related offense is a Department of Defense civil20 ian employee, the Secretary of Defense or the Sec21 retary of a military department may waive the limi22 tation outlined in paragraph (7) in order to permit 

23 the civilian employee to obtain the services of a Spe24 cial Victims’ Counsel under section 1044e of this 

25 title.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. IMPROVEMENTS TO SPECIAL VICTIMS’ COUNSEL 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 (a) QUALIFICATIONS AND DESIGNATION.—Section 

4 1044e(d) of title 10, United States Code, is amended— 

5 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘An individual’’; 

6 (2) by designating existing paragraphs (1) and 

7 (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

9 paragraphs: 

10 ‘‘(2) The Secretary of Defense shall direct the Sec11 retary of each military department to implement addi12 tional selection criteria requiring that judge advocates 

13 have adequate criminal justice experience before they are 

14 assigned as Special Victims’ Counsel. 

15 ‘‘(3) The Secretary of Defense shall develop a policy 

16 to standardize both the timeframe within which Special 

17 Victims’ Counsel receive training and the training that 

18 each Special Victims’ Counsel receives.’’. 

19 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY.—Section 

20 1044e(e) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 

21 adding at the end the following new paragraphs: 

22 ‘‘(3) The Secretary of Defense shall establish appro23 priate program performance measures and standards, in24 cluding evaluating, monitoring, and reporting on the Spe25 cial Victims’ Counsel programs, establishing guiding prin26 ciples for the military departments, and ensuring centralVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:03 May 08, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2026.IH H2026

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1 ized, standardized assessment of program effectiveness 

2 and client satisfaction. 

3 ‘‘(4) The Secretary of Defense shall direct the Sec4 retary of each military department to perform regular 

5 evaluations to ensure that Special Victims’ Counsel are as6 signed to locations that maximize the opportunity for face7 to-face interactions between counsel and clients and to de8 velop effective means by which a Special Victims’ Counsel 

9 may communicate with a client when face-to-face commu10 nication is not feasible.’’. 

11 SEC. 6. IMPROVED DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PREVEN12 TION AND RESPONSE TO SEXUAL ASSAULTS 

13 IN WHICH THE VICTIM IS A MALE MEMBER 

14 OF THE ARMED FORCES. 

15 (a) REVISED TRAINING.—The Secretary of Defense 

16 shall direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel 

17 and Readiness, in collaboration with the Secretaries of the 

18 military services, to revise sexual assault prevention and 

19 response training to more comprehensively and directly 

20 address the incidence of male servicemembers being sexu21 ally assaulted and how certain behavior and activities— 

22 like hazing—can constitute a sexual assault. 

23 (b) EVALUATION OF DIFFERENCES IN MEDICAL AND

24 MENTAL HEALTH-CARE NEEDS.—The Secretary of De25 fense shall direct the Assistant Secretary of Defense for 


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1 Health Affairs, in collaboration with the services’ Sur2 geons General, to systematically evaluate the extent to 

3 which differences exist in the medical and mental health4 care needs of male and female sexual assault victims, and 

5 the care regimen, if any, that will best meet those needs. 

6 (c) IMPROVED DATA COLLECTION AND USE.—The 

7 Secretary of Defense shall direct the Under Secretary of 

8 Defense for Personnel and Readiness, in collaboration 

9 with the Secretaries of the military services, to develop— 

10 (1) a plan for data-driven decisionmaking for 

11 male victim sexual assault prevention and response 

12 program efforts; and 

13 (2) clear goals with associated metrics to drive 

14 the changes needed to address sexual assaults of 

15 males. 

16 (d) IMPROVED INFORMATION TO MEMBERS.—The 

17 Secretary of Defense shall direct the Under Secretary of 

18 Defense for Personnel and Readiness, in collaboration 

19 with the Secretaries of the military services, to include in20 formation about the sexual victimization of males in com21 munications to servicemembers that are used to raise 

22 awareness of sexual assault and the department’s efforts 

23 to prevent and respond to it. 

24 (e) IMPROVED GUIDELINES FOR PROVIDERS.—The 

25 Secretary of Defense shall direct the Assistant Secretary 


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1 of Defense for Health Affairs should, in collaboration with 

2 the services’ Surgeons General, to develop and issue guid3 ance for the department’s medical and mental health pro4 viders—and other personnel, as appropriate—based on 

5 the results of this evaluation that delineates these gender6 specific distinctions and the care regimen that is rec7 ommended to most effectively meet those needs. 

8 SEC. 7. ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE REGARDING THE USE OF 

9 MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS. 

10 The Secretary of Defense shall establish and issue 

11 uniform guidance to ensure that mental health records are 

12 neither sought from a medical treatment facility by inves13 tigators or military justice practitioners nor acknowledged 

14 or released by medical treatment facility personnel until 

15 the production of such mental health records have been 

16 ordered by a military judge or Article 32 hearing officer. 

17 SEC. 8. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 

18 CHANGES TO THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILI19 TARY JUSTICE. 

20 The Secretary of Defense shall examine the Depart21 ment of Defense and interagency review process for imple22 menting statutory changes to the Uniform Code of Mili23 tary Justice and should explore options for streamlining 

24 these procedures. The Secretary shall adopt procedures 

25 that ensure that legal guidance is published as statutory 


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1 changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice are im2 plemented. 

Æ 


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