II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4272 

To improve promotion practices in the National Guard, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 19 (legislative day, MAY 17), 2022 

Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Ms. 

WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To improve promotion practices in the National Guard, 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 ‘‘National Guard Pro5 motion Improvement Act of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

8 (1) existing processes contribute to the long 

9 delays experienced by reserve officers of the National 


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1 Guard for Federal recognition of State vacancy pro2 motions; and 

3 (2) unduly delayed promotions have a signifi4 cant impact on members of the National Guard as 

5 they manage their careers and make financial plans 

6 for the future, and pose retention challenges. 

7 SEC. 3. INDEPENDENT STUDY ON FEDERAL RECOGNITION 

8 PROCESS. 

9 (a) INDEPENDENT STUDY.—Not later than 60 days 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

11 of Defense shall seek to enter into a contract with a feder12 ally funded research and development center to conduct 

13 a study on the National Guard commissioned officer and 

14 warrant officer promotion system and provide rec15 ommendations to the Department of Defense, the Depart16 ment of the Air Force, the Department of the Army, the 

17 National Guard Bureau, and individual State National 

18 Guard commands. 

19 (b) ELEMENTS.—The study referred to in subsection 

20 (a) shall include a comprehensive review and assessment 

21 of the following: 

22 (1) The Federal recognition process used to ex23 tend Federal recognition to State promotions. 

24 (2) Best practices among the various State Na25 tional Guards for managing their requirements 


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1 under the existing National Guard promotion sys2 tem. 

3 (3) Possible improvements to requirements, 

4 policies, procedures, workflow, or resources to reduce 

5 the time required for Federal recognition to be ex6 tended to a State promotion. 

7 (4) The feasibility of developing or adopting a 

8 commercially available solution for an integrated en9 terprise information technology system for managing 

10 National Guard officer and warrant officer pro11 motions that allows seamless transition for pro12 motions as they move through reviews at the Na13 tional Guard Bureau, the Department of the Army, 

14 the Department of the Air Force, and the Depart15 ment of Defense. 

16 (5) Possible metrics to evaluate effectiveness of 

17 any recommendations made. 

18 (6) Any other matters the federally funded re19 search and development center determines relevant. 

20 (c) REPORT.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The contract under sub22 section (a) shall require the federally funded re23 search and development center that conducts the 

24 study under the contract to submit to the Secretary 

25 of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary 


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1 of the Air Force, and the Chief of the National 

2 Guard Bureau a report on the results of the study. 

3 (2) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

4 30 days after receiving the report required under 

5 paragraph (1), the Secretary of Defense shall submit 

6 an unedited copy of the report results to the con7 gressional defense committees. 

8 SEC. 4. BACKDATING OF EFFECTIVE DATE OF RANK FOR 

9 RESERVE OFFICERS IN THE NATIONAL 

10 GUARD DUE TO UNDUE DELAYS IN FEDERAL 

11 RECOGNITION. 

12 Paragraph (2) of section 14308(f) of title 10, United 

13 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘(2) If there is a delay in extending Federal recogni15 tion in the next higher grade in the Army National Guard 

16 or the Air National Guard to a reserve commissioned offi17 cer of the Army or the Air Force that exceeds 60 days 

18 from when the National Guard Bureau received the pro19 motion from the State, and the delay was not attributable 

20 to the action or inaction of such officer, the effective date 

21 of the promotion concerned under paragraph (1) shall be 

22 adjusted by the Secretary concerned to not later than 60 

23 days after the National Guard Bureau received the pro24 motion but not earlier than the effective date of the State 

25 promotion.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 

4 until the date specified in subsection (c), the Secretary of 

5 Defense, acting through the Chief of the National Guard 

6 Bureau and in consultation with the Secretary of the 

7 Army and the Secretary of the Air Force as appropriate, 

8 shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the 

9 Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the 

10 House of Representatives a report detailing the current 

11 status of the Federal recognition process for National 

12 Guard promotions. 

13 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required under sub14 section (a) shall include the following elements: 

15 (1) An update on actions taken to reduce the 

16 average time needed to extend Federal recognition in 

17 the next higher grade in the Army and Air National 

18 Guards to a reserve commissioned officer promotion. 

19 (2) The average time it took during the pre20 vious fiscal year to extend Federal recognition in the 

21 next higher grade in the Army National Guard to a 

22 reserve commissioned officer of the Army, as meas23 ured from the date at which the National Guard Bu24 reau received the promotion until the date at which 

25 Federal recognition was granted. 


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1 (3) The average time it took during the pre2 vious fiscal year to extend Federal recognition in the 

3 next higher grade in the Air National Guard to a re4 serve commissioned officer of the Air Force, as 

5 measured from the date at which the National 

6 Guard Bureau received the promotion until the date 

7 at which Federal recognition was granted. 

8 (4) The number of Army National Guard offi9 cers who experienced Federal recognition delays 

10 greater than 60 days in the previous fiscal year. 

11 (5) The number of Air National Guard officers 

12 who experienced Federal recognition delays greater 

13 than 60 days in the previous fiscal year. 

14 (6) A summary of any additional resources or 

15 authorities needed to further streamline the Federal 

16 recognition to reduce average Federal recognition 

17 delays to less than 60 days. 

18 (7) Any other information the Chief of the Na19 tional Guard Bureau or the Secretaries concerned 

20 determine relevant. 

21 (c) EXPIRATION OF ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIRE22 MENT.—The report required under subsection (a) may be 

23 submitted once every three years after the Secretary of 

24 Defense certifies to the Committee on Armed Services of 

25 the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the 


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1 House of Representatives that the average delay for Fed2 eral recognition of Army National Guard and Air Force 

3 National Guard members is less than 60 days. 

Æ 


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