I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1079 
To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to eliminate the authority 
of the convening authority to modify the findings and sentence of a 
court-martial as a matter of command prerogative involving the sole 
discretion of the convening authority. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 12, 2013 
Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Ms. PINGREE 
of Maine, Ms. KUSTER, Ms. EDWARDS, and Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY 
of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to eliminate 
the authority of the convening authority to modify the 
findings and sentence of a court-martial as a matter 
of command prerogative involving the sole discretion of 
the convening authority. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Judicial Re-
form Act of 2013’’. 
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SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF CONVENING AUTHORITY DISCRE-
TION TO MODIFY THE FINDINGS AND SEN-
TENCE OF COURTS-MARTIAL. 
(a) REQUIRED ACTION BY CONVENING AUTHORITY 
UPON RECEIPT OF COURT-MARTIAL FINDINGS AND SEN-
TENCE.—Section 860 of title 10, United States Code (ar-
ticle 60 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice) is 
amended by striking subsections (c) through (e) and in-
serting the following new subsection (c): 
‘‘(c)(1) As soon as practicable after the receipt of the 
findings and sentence of a court-martial by the convening 
authority, the convening authority shall approve of the 
sentence in whole. Except as provided in section 858b(b) 
of this title (article 58b(b)), the convening authority shall 
have no authority whatsoever to modify the findings or 
sentence of the court-martial. 
‘‘(2) Under regulations of the Secretary concerned, 
a commissioned officer commanding for the time being, 
a successor in command, or any person exercising general 
court-martial jurisdiction may act under paragraph (1) in 
place of the convening authority.’’. 
(b) SUBMISSION OF MATTERS BY THE ACCUSED; 
TREATMENT.—Subsection (b) of such section and article 
is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b)(1) The accused may submit to the convening au-
thority matters for inclusion in the final record of trial. 
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Any such submission shall be in writing. Except in a sum-
mary court-martial case, such a submission shall be made 
within 10 days after the accused has been given an au-
thenticated record of trial. In a summary court-martial 
case, such a submission shall be made within seven days 
after the sentence is announced. 
‘‘(2) If the accused shows that additional time is re-
quired for the accused to submit such matters, the con-
vening authority or other person taking action under this 
section, for good cause, may extend the applicable period 
under paragraph (1) for not more than an additional 20 
days. 
‘‘(3) In a summary court-martial case, the accused 
shall be promptly provided a copy of the record of trial 
for use in preparing a submission authorized by paragraph 
(1). 
‘‘(4) The accused may waive the right to make a sub-
mission under paragraph (1). Such a waiver may not be 
revoked.’’. 
(c) REPEAL OF OTHER AUTHORITY FOR CONVENING 
AUTHORITY TO SUSPEND SENTENCE.—Section 871 of 
such title (article 71 of the Uniform Code of Military Jus-
tice) is amended by striking subsection (d). 
(d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
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(1) UCMJ.—Section 856a(b) of such title (arti-
cle 56a(b) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice) 
is amended by striking paragraph (1) and inserting 
the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(1) the sentence is set aside or otherwise 
modified as a result of any action authorized to be 
taken during post-trial procedure and review under 
subchapter IX;’’. 
(2) TRANSITIONAL
COMPENSATION
FOR
DE-
PENDENTS OF MEMBERS SEPARATED FOR DEPEND-
ENT
ABUSE.—Section 1059(e) of such title is 
amended by striking paragraph (3). 
Æ 
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