Title: PERSIST Against MST Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Purposefully Expanding and Reinforcing the Statutes we Insist Support our Troops Against Military Sexual Trauma Act or the PERSIST Against MST Act
This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to: (1) designate a single official or entity within the Office of the Secretary of Defense for oversight of the registered sex offender management program of DOD, and (2) issue guidance relating to expedited transfers for members of the Armed Forces who are victims of a sexual assault or related offense.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5622 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5622

 To improve the ability of the Department of Defense to address sexual 
                   offenses, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 25, 2018

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve the ability of the Department of Defense to address sexual 
                   offenses, 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 ``Purposefully Expanding and 
Reinforcing the Statutes we Insist Support our Troops Against Military 
Sexual Trauma Act'' or the ``PERSIST Against MST Act''.

SEC. 2. OVERSIGHT OF REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) Designation of Official or Entity.--The Secretary of Defense 
shall designate a single official or entity within the Office of the 
Secretary of Defense to have the principle responsibility in the 
Department of Defense for providing oversight of the registered sex 
offender management program of the Department.
    (b) Duties.--The official or entity designated under subsection (a) 
shall--
            (1) monitor compliance with Department of Defense 
        Instruction 5525.20;
            (2) compile data on service members who have been convicted 
        of a qualifying sex offense, including data on the sex offender 
        registration status of each member;
            (3) maintain statistics of the total number of service 
        members, by military department, who are required to register 
        as sex offenders; and
            (4) perform such other duties as the Secretary of Defense 
        may require.
    (c) Briefing Required.--Not later than June 1, 2019, the Secretary 
of Defense shall provide to the Committee on Armed Services of the 
House of Representatives a briefing on--
            (1) the compliance of the military departments with the 
        policies of the Department of Defense related to registered sex 
        offenders;
            (2) the results of the data compiled under subsection (b); 
        and
            (3) any other matters determined to be appropriate by the 
        Secretary.

SEC. 3. POLICY ON EXPEDITED TRANSFERS.

    The Secretary of Defense shall issue policy guidance to clarify 
that section 673 of title 10, United States Code (relating to expedited 
transfers for members of the armed forces who are victims of a sexual 
assault or related offense), applies to all active duty service members 
of who are victims of sexual assault or a related offense under article 
120, 120a, or 120c of the Uniform Code of Military Justices regardless 
of whether the service member's sexual assault report is handled by the 
Sexual Assault Prevention Program or the Family Advocacy Program.

SEC. 4. INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    Section 546 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 
113-291; 10 U.S.C. 1561 note) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(f) Information From Federal Agencies.--Upon request by the chair 
of a panel, a department or agency of the Federal Government shall 
provide information that the panel considers necessary to carry out its 
duties under this section.''.
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