REFORM Act

Bill: 117-hr-7446
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Brown, Anthony G. [D-MD-4]
Introduced: 2022-04-07
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Latest action: action_date: 2022-04-07
text: Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-04-07
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Restoring Equity For Offenses Related to Marijuana Act or the REFORM Act</b></p> <p>This bill limits the maximum punishment for offenses related to the wrongful use or possession of marijuana under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and includes certain offenses related to controlled substances as<i> </i>ones handled by Special Trial Counsel.</p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7446 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 7, 2022 Mr. Brown of Maryland introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to modify the treatment of certain controlled substance violations, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Restoring Equity For Offenses Related to Marijuana Act or the REFORM Act . 2. Limitation on maximum punishment for certain offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice Section 856(a) of title 10, United States Code (article 56(a) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), is amended— (1) by striking The punishment which and inserting the following: (1) The punishment which ; and (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: (2) The President may not prescribe a limit that exceeds the limits specified in paragraph (3). (3) The limits referred to in paragraph (2) are as follows: (A) The limit for wrongful use of marijuana under subsection (a) of section 912a of this title (article 112a) shall not exceed the limit for drunk on duty under subsection (a) of section 912 of this title (article 112). (B) The limit for wrongful possession of marijuana under subsection (a) of section 912a of this title (article 112a) shall not exceed the limit for incapacitation for duty from drunkenness or drug use under subsection (b) of section 912 of this title (article 112). . 3. Inclusion of certain controlled substance violations in definition of covered offense (a) In general Section 801(17)(A) of title 10, United States Code (article 1(17)(A) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), as amended by section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 ( Public Law 117–81 ), is amended— (1) by striking or ; and (2) by striking of this title and inserting , the offense of manufacture of a controlled substance punishable under section 912a (article 112a), the offense of distribution of a controlled substance punishable under section 912a (article 112a), or the offense of introduction of a controlled substance punishable under section 912a (article 112a) of this title . (b) Effective date The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect immediately after the coming into effect of the amendments made by section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 ( Public Law 117–81 ) as provided in section 539C of that Act. 4. Annual report on controlled substance testing (a) Annual report (1) In general Not later than March 1, 2023, and not later than March 1 of each year thereafter through March 1, 2027, each Secretary of a military department shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the drug testing and evaluation program in the prior fiscal year. (2) Elements Each report under paragraph (1) shall include, for the previous ten fiscal years with respect to the Armed Forces covered by such report, the following: (A) The number of drug tests administered, disaggregated by statistical category. (B) The number of positive drug tests, disaggregated by statistical category and substance. (C) The percentage of positive drug tests from administered drug tests, disaggregated by statistical category and substance. (D) The number of each type of punishment imposed, disaggregated by statistical category and substance. (E) The percentage of each type of punishment imposed from the positive drug tests, disaggregated by statistical category and substance. (F) The data in subparagraphs (A) through (E) disaggregated for each of the ten largest military installations in the United States (based on the number of active duty personnel assigned to the installation and family members residing on or in the vicinity of the installations). (G) An analysis of any disparities among race, gender, ethnicity, and military installation during the year covered by the report. (3) Personal information exclusion The Secretary of a military department may exclude a military installation from disaggregation under paragraph (2) if such disaggregation could be used to uniquely identify a service member. (4) Statistical category In this section, the term statistical category means the categories of race, gender, ethnicity, and rank. (5) Availability of reports and data The Secretary of Defense shall— (A) make the results of each report under paragraph (1) available on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Defense; and (B) ensure that any data included with the report is made available in a machine-readable format that is downloadable, searchable, and sortable.