```

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5553 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5553

To direct the Secretary of Defense to take certain steps to improve the 
         Transition Assistance Program, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 18, 2018

 Mr. Bacon (for himself and Ms. Rosen) introduced the following bill; 
         which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To direct the Secretary of Defense to take certain steps to improve the 
         Transition Assistance Program, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Loya-Sears Warrior Transition 
Assistance Reform Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Congress affirms the importance of TAP in preparing 
        members of the Armed Forces of the United States to rejoin 
        civil society as productive citizens following their service.
            (2) Despite considerable effort and investment in military 
        transition assistance programs over many years, strong evidence 
        exists that many veterans remain unprepared for transition and 
        encounter significant challenges in living healthy and 
        productive lives.
            (3) Congress observes with concern the unacceptably high 
        rates of suicide, unemployment, and homelessness that persist 
        among America's veteran population.
            (4) While difficult to precisely establish the causal basis 
        of this crisis, Congress is concerned that management controls 
        should be improved to ensure the Department of Defense complies 
        with current statutes regarding TAP attendance and 
        participation, effective allocation of transition assistance 
        resources, and effective measurement of TAP outcomes with 
        timely feedback to the Department of Defense and its 
        interagency partners in the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 
        Labor.

SEC. 3. REQUIRED ACTIONS.

    Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of Defense shall provide an action plan to the 
congressional defense committees to accomplish the following with 
regards to all members of the regular and reserve components of the 
Armed Forces:
            (1) Mandate initiation of TAP one year before separation 
        from the Armed Forces.
            (2) Standardize TAP curriculum across all military 
        departments.
            (3) Ensure unit and installation compliance with applicable 
        statutes governing TAP program management and individual 
        attendance.
            (4) Implementation, in consultation with the Secretaries of 
        Veterans Affairs and Labor, of standardized performance metrics 
        to measure TAP participation and outcome-based objective 
        benchmarks in order to--
                    (A) provide feedback to stakeholders of each of the 
                Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Labor;
                    (B) improve program curriculum;
                    (C) share best practices; and
                    (D) facilitate effective oversight of TAP.

SEC. 4. REPORT.

    (a) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with 
the Secretaries of Veterans Affairs and Labor, shall provide a report 
to the congressional defense committees containing recommendations to 
improve the efficacy of TAP.
    (b) Elements.--The report under this section shall include 
recommendations regarding the following:
            (1) Methods to improve and expand the duration and 
        practical utility of the TAP curriculum in order to effectively 
        prepare members of the Armed Forces to rejoin the civilian 
        labor force.
            (2) Ways to more effectively utilize national and local 
        veterans service organizations to support veterans throughout 
        transition.
            (3) Proposed changes to law or policy to improve the 
        ability of TAP to prepare members of the Armed Forces to rejoin 
        civil society in productive manners.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``TAP'' means the Transition Assistance 
        Program under sections 1142 and 1144 of title 10, United States 
        Code.
            (2) The terms ``military departments'' and ``congressional 
        defense committees'' have the meaning given those terms in 
        section 101 of title 10, United States Code.
                                 <all>
```