[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5344 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5344

  To prevent and respond to hazing incidents involving members of the 
                 Armed Forces, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 7, 2012

   Ms. Chu (for herself, Mr. Cummings, and Mr. Honda) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prevent and respond to hazing incidents involving members of the 
                 Armed Forces, 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. COMPREHENSIVE ARMED FORCES POLICY ON PREVENTION AND RESPONSE 
              TO HAZING INVOLVING MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) Hazing Defined.--The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with 
the Secretaries of the military departments and the Secretary of 
Homeland Security (with respect to the Coast Guard), shall assess and 
develop a uniform definition of hazing applicable to members of the 
Armed Forces for inclusion in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The 
Secretary of Defense shall submit the definition to the designated 
congressional committees not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act. It is the sense of Congress that the definition 
should cover, at a minimum, any situation in which a member of the 
Armed Forces suffers, or is exposed to, any cruelty, indignity, 
humiliation, hardship, harm, harassment, or oppression, or the 
deprivation or abridgement of any right by another member of the Armed 
Forces.
    (b) Comprehensive Armed Forces Policy Required.--
            (1) Policy required.--Not later than one year after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in 
        consultation with the Secretaries of the military departments 
        and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall develop and 
        implement a comprehensive policy on the prevention of and 
        response to hazing involving members of the Armed Forces.
            (2) Consideration of recommendations.--In developing this 
        policy, the Secretaries shall consider the recommendations made 
        and findings of the Inspectors General of the Department of 
        Defense and the Department of Homeland Security in reports 
        investigating hazing involving members of the Armed Forces and 
        the recommendations of the Comptroller General of the United 
        States under subsection (e).
            (3) Use of definition.--The policy shall reflect the 
        comprehensive definition of hazing determined pursuant to 
        subsection (a).
    (c) Information Database on Hazing Incidents.--
            (1) Database required.--The Secretary of Defense and the 
        Secretary of Homeland Security shall develop and implement a 
        centralized, case-level database for the collection and 
        maintenance of information regarding hazing involving a member 
        of the Armed Services, including hazing incidents occurring at 
        officer candidate schools, military academies, military academy 
        preparatory schools, and basic training and professional 
        schools for enlisted members. The collection and maintenance of 
        information in the database shall be conducted in a manner 
        consistent with Department of Defense and the Department of 
        Homeland Security regulations for restricted reporting.
            (2) Scope of database.--The database shall provide the 
        following information with respect to each Armed Force:
                    (A) Description of each hazing complaint.
                    (B) Substantiated incidents of hazing.
                    (C) The nature and date of the hazing.
                    (D) The victim, including race, gender, and rank.
                    (E) The alleged offender, including race, gender, 
                and rank.
                    (F) The branch and division in which the hazing 
                incident occurred, along with whether it took place 
                during a contingency operation.
                    (G) Actions taken to resolve hazing, including 
                disciplinary action, transfer of an offender as a 
                result or related to the offense, and training, policy, 
                and internal guideline changes to address hazing.
                    (H) The outcome of any legal proceedings in 
                connection with the hazing.
            (3) Implementation.--
                    (A) Plan for implementation.--Not later than 90 
                days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
                Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security shall submit to the designated congressional 
                committees a plan to provide for the implementation of 
                the database.
                    (B) Relation to defense incident-based reporting 
                system.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall 
                submit to the designated congressional committees a 
                report containing--
                            (i) a description of the current status of 
                        the Defense Incident-Based Reporting System; 
                        and
                            (ii) an explanation of how the Defense 
                        Incident-Based Reporting System will relate to 
                        the database.
                    (C) Completion.--Not later than 15 months after the 
                date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
                Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 
                complete implementation of the database.
    (d) Annual Reporting Requirement.--
            (1) In general.--The database required by subsection (c) 
        shall be used to develop and implement an annual congressional 
        report.
            (2) Reports required.--Not later than January 15 of each 
        year, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland 
        Security shall submit to the designated congressional 
        committees a report on the hazing incidents involving members 
        of the Armed Forces during the preceding year.
            (3) Elements.--Each report shall include the following:
                    (A) An assessment by the Secretaries of the 
                implementation during the preceding year of the 
                policies and procedures of each Armed Force on the 
                prevention of and response to hazing involving members 
                of the Armed Forces in order to determine the 
                effectiveness of such policies and procedures.
                    (B) Data on the number of alleged and substantiated 
                hazing incidents within each Armed Force that occurred 
                that year, including the race, gender and Armed Force 
                of the victim and offender, the nature of the hazing, 
                and actions taken to resolve and address the hazing.
    (e) Comptroller General Report.--
            (1) Report required.--Not later than one year after the 
        date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
        United States shall submit to the designated congressional 
        committees a report on the policies to prevent hazing and 
        systems initiated to track incidents of hazing in each of the 
        Armed Forces, including officer cadet schools, military 
        academies, military academy preparatory schools, and basic 
        training and professional schools for enlisted members.
            (2) Elements.--The report required by paragraph (1) shall 
        include the following:
                    (A) An evaluation of the definition of hazing 
                developed under subsection (a).
                    (B) A description of the criteria used, and the 
                methods implemented, in the systems to track incidents 
                of hazing in the Armed Forces.
                    (C) An assessment of the following:
                            (i) The scope of hazing in each Armed 
                        Force.
                            (ii) The policies in place and the training 
                        on hazing provided to members throughout the 
                        course of their careers for each Armed Force.
                            (iii) The actions taken to mitigate hazing 
                        incidents in each Armed Force.
                            (iv) The effectiveness of the training and 
                        policies in place regarding hazing.
                            (v) The number of alleged and substantiated 
                        incidents of hazing over the last five years 
                        for each Armed Force, the nature of these cases 
                        and actions taken to address such matters 
                        through non-judicial and judicial action.
                    (D) An evaluation of the additional actions, if 
                any, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 
                Homeland Security propose to take to further address 
                the incidence of hazing in the Armed Forces.
                    (E) Such recommendations as the Comptroller General 
                considers appropriate for improving hazing prevention 
                programs, policies, and other actions taken to address 
                hazing within the Armed Forces.
    (f) Designated Congressional Committees Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``designated congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Oversight and Government Reform, and the Committee on Commerce, 
        Science and Transportation of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Oversight and Government Reform, and the Committee on 
        Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 
        Representatives.
                                 <all>