I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7292 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the 

Megan Rondini and Leah Griffin national sexual assault care and treatment task force, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 13, 2018 

Mr. POE of Texas (for himself, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. GRIFFITH, and Mrs. 

BLACK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 

Ways and Means, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to establish the Megan Rondini and Leah Griffin national sexual assault care and treatment task force, 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 ‘‘Megan Rondini and 

5 Leah Griffin Sexual Assault Victims Protection Act of 

6 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MEGAN RONDINI AND LEAH GRIFFIN NATIONAL 

2 SEXUAL ASSAULT CARE AND TREATMENT 

3 TASK FORCE. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Health and 

5 Human Services shall establish a task force to be known 

6 as the ‘‘Megan Rondini and Leah Griffin National Sexual 

7 Assault Care and Treatment Task Force’’ (referred to in 

8 this section as the ‘‘Task Force’’) to identify barriers to 

9 improving access to sexual assault forensic examiners, sex10 ual assault nurse examiners, and other forensic medical 

11 examiners. 

12 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force shall include a 

13 representative from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

14 Services, the Health and Human Services Immediate Of15 fice of the Secretary, the Health Resources and Services 

16 Administration, the Indian Health Service, the Office for 

17 Victims of Crime of the Department of Justice, the Office 

18 on Women’s Health of the Department of Health and 

19 Human Services, and the Office on Violence Against 

20 Women of the Department of Justice, a survivor of sexual 

21 assault; representatives from regional and national organi22 zations that collectively have expertise in forensic nursing, 

23 rape trauma or crisis counseling, investigating rape and 

24 gender violence cases, survivors’ advocacy and support, 

25 sexual assault prevention education, rural health, and re26 sponding to sexual violence in Native communities; repVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:49 Dec 18, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7292.IH H7292

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1 resentatives from hospitals, patient groups, and emer2 gency department physicians; representatives of States, in3 cluding States that have in effect State laws or procedures 

4 that address the objectives described in subsection (c); and 

5 any other governmental or nongovernmental representa6 tive or stakeholder as specified by the Secretary, in con7 sultation with the Attorney General. 

8 (c) OBJECTIVES.—To assist and standardize State9 level efforts to improve medical forensic evidence collection 

10 relating to sexual assault, the Task Force shall— 

11 (1) identify barriers to the recruitment, train12 ing, and retention of sexual assault forensic exam13 iners, sexual assault response teams, sexual assault 

14 nurse examiners, and others who perform such ex15 aminations; 

16 (2) make recommendations for improving access 

17 to medical forensic examinations, including the feasi18 bility of, or barriers to, utilizing mobile units and 

19 telehealth services; 

20 (3) make recommendations for improving co21 ordination of services, other protocols regarding the 

22 care and treatment of sexual assault survivors, and 

23 the preservation of evidence between law enforce24 ment officials and health care providers; 


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1 (4) make recommendations for updating na2 tional minimum standards for forensic medical ex3 aminer training and forensic medical evidence collec4 tion relating to sexual assault; 

5 (5) make recommendations for the development 

6 of resources and best practices described in sub7 section (e) for inclusion on the public website of the 

8 Department of Health and Human Services; 

9 (6) make recommendations on the collection 

10 and retention of sexual assault kits, including anony11 mous or unreported sexual assault kits; 

12 (7) make recommendations on processes and 

13 best practices for communicating to sexual assault 

14 survivors who seek care in the emergency room in15 formation about the availability of forensic medical 

16 evidence collection as part of the care and treatment 

17 of such survivors; 

18 (8) make recommendations to develop, promote, 

19 and inculcate trauma-informed approaches (as de20 fined in subsection (g)) in the treatment of sexual 

21 assault victims through training, leadership and su22 pervision; 

23 (9) make recommendations to inform the devel24 opment of protocols to use when patients seeking 

25 medical forensic care have not yet reported a crime 


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1 to law enforcement, including developing guidance 

2 related to presenting patients with their options 

3 when they request a medical forensic exam; 

4 (10) obtain feedback and review how the best 

5 practices, protocols, care, and treatment for sexual 

6 assault are impacting sexual assault survivors in 

7 States with laws or procedures that address any of 

8 the task force objectives described in a previous 

9 paragraph of this subsection, including Texas, 

10 Washington, and Illinois, including the impact on a 

11 patient of any financial obligations associated with a 

12 sexual assault forensic exam, including when the 

13 exam is performed in a different jurisdiction than 

14 where the assault was committed; and 

15 (11) any other objective specified by the Sec16 retary, in consultation with the Attorney General. 

17 (d) TRANSPARENCY REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Task 

20 Force shall submit to the Secretary a report on the 

21 recommendations, findings, and conclusions of the 

22 Task Force. 

23 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 


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1 submit to Congress a report on the recommenda2 tions, findings, and conclusions of the Task Force. 

3 (e) SEXUAL ASSAULT TREATMENT RESOURCES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than July 1, 2019, 

5 the Secretary shall post on the public website of the 

6 Department of Health and Human Services re7 sources and best practices developed by health care 

8 providers, forensic scientists, law enforcement rep9 resentatives, and advocates of sexual assault victims, 

10 relating to the treatment of individuals for sexual 

11 assault by health care providers. Such resources and 

12 best practices shall include the following: 

13 (A) RESOURCES FOR HEALTH CARE PRO14 VIDERS.—Resources and best practices for 

15 health care providers, including— 

16 (i) best practices for training per17 sonnel on sexual assault forensic evidence 

18 collection; 

19 (ii) best practices relating to providing 

20 counseling and appropriate referrals to 

21 such individuals; and 

22 (iii) other resources and best practices 

23 determined appropriate by the Secretary. 


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1 (B) RESOURCES FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT

2 SURVIVORS.—Resources and best practices for 

3 sexual assault survivors, including— 

4 (i) information about the forensic 

5 exam furnished by a sexual assault forensic 

6 examiner, including the process and poten7 tial benefits of collecting evidence; 

8 (ii) information on available State9 wide databases of sexual assault nurse ex10 aminer-ready or sexual assault forensic ex11 aminer-ready facilities; 

12 (iii) survivor advocacy group websites 

13 and hotlines; 

14 (iv) next-steps guides for survivors 

15 with best practices for preserving evidence 

16 and seeking treatment after an assault; 

17 and 

18 (v) other resources and best practices 

19 determined appropriate by the Secretary. 

20 (2) UPDATES.—As soon as practicable after the 

21 submission of the report under subsection (d)(1) to 

22 the Secretary, the Secretary shall update the re23 sources and best practices posted on the website of 

24 the Department of Health and Human Services 

25 under paragraph (1) to take into consideration the 


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1 recommendations, findings, and conclusions of the 

2 Task Force contained in such report. The Secretary 

3 shall update such resources and best practices peri4 odically, but not less frequently than annually, in5 cluding for purposes of taking into account the most 

6 recent recommendations, findings, and conclusions 

7 of the Task Force. 

8 (f) ANNUAL MEETING.—The Task Force shall meet 

9 annually to address gaps in health care provider care re10 lating to sexual assault and report findings, recommenda11 tions, and conclusions to the Secretary in a timely manner. 

12 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

13 (1) MEDICAL FORENSIC EXAMINATION.—The 

14 term ‘‘medical forensic examination’’ means an ex15 amination provided to a sexual assault survivor by 

16 medical personnel trained to gather evidence of a 

17 sexual assault in a manner suitable for use in a 

18 court of law. 

19 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

21 (3) SEXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘‘sexual as22 sault’’ means any non-consensual sexual act pro23 scribed by Federal, tribal, or State law, including 

24 when the individual lacks capacity to consent. 


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1 (4) SEXUAL ASSAULT EXAMINER.—The term 

2 ‘‘sexual assault examiner’’ means a registered nurse, 

3 advanced practice nurse, physician, or physician as4 sistant specifically trained to provide comprehensive 

5 care to sexual assault forensic examinations. 

6 (5) SEXUAL ASSAULT FORENSIC EXAMINER.— 

7 The term ‘‘sexual assault forensic examiner’’ means 

8 a medical practitioner who has specialized forensic 

9 training in treating sexual assault survivors and con10 ducting medical forensic examinations. 

11 (6) SEXUAL ASSAULT NURSE EXAMINER.—The 

12 term ‘‘sexual assault nurse examiner’’ means a reg13 istered nurse who has specialized forensic training in 

14 treating sexual assault survivors and conducting 

15 medical forensic examinations. 

16 (7) SEXUAL ASSAULT RESPONSE TEAM.—The 

17 term ‘‘sexual assault response team’’ means a multi18 disciplinary team that provides a specialized and im19 mediate response to survivors of sexual assault, and 

20 may include health care personnel, law enforcement 

21 representatives, community-based survivor advo22 cates, prosecutors, and forensic scientists. 

23 (8) TRAUMA-INFORMED APPROACH.—The term 

24 ‘‘trauma-informed approach’’ means an approach 

25 that is built on an understanding of how trauma afVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:49 Dec 18, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7292.IH H7292

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1 fects a person’s physical, emotional, and psycho2 logical health, and accounts for the potential for 

3 health care systems to unintentionally cause further 

4 trauma. 

5 SEC. 3. PROMOTING COORDINATION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT 

6 CARE IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES. 

7 Not later than one year after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 

9 Services shall revise section 489.24(j) of title 42, Code of 

10 Federal Regulations, to require each formal community 

11 call plan (as described in section 489.24(j)(2)(iii) of such 

12 title (or a successor regulation)) to provide— 

13 (1) with respect to the delineation of on-call 

14 coverage responsibilities described in subparagraph 

15 (A) of such section, for a delineation of such cov16 erage responsibilities for screening and treatment re17 lating to sexual assault and includes a schedule of 

18 the on-call coverage availability for such screening 

19 and treatment at each hospital with on-call coverage 

20 responsibilities for such treatment; and 

21 (2) with respect to assurances related to local 

22 and regional EMS system protocols described in sub23 paragraph (D) of such section, for an assurance that 

24 such protocols include information with respect to 


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1 community on-call arrangements for screening and 

2 treatment relating to sexual assault. 

Æ 


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