[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5638 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5638

To direct the Secretary concerned to develop and implement policies and 
 procedures to prevent and respond to hazing in the Armed Forces, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2012

Ms. Velazquez introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary concerned to develop and implement policies and 
 procedures to prevent and respond to hazing in 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Service Member Anti-Hazing Act''.

SEC. 2. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY CONCERNED.

    (a) Hazing Policies and Procedures.--The Secretary concerned, in 
consultation with the Panel established in section 3, shall--
            (1) develop and implement a policy to prevent and respond 
        to hazing of members of that branch of the Armed Forces;
            (2) develop and implement a program to train members of 
        that branch of the Armed Forces on the dangers of and the need 
        to avoid hazing and on issues related to diversity, which each 
        such member shall attend not less than annually;
            (3) expand any policies for reporting incidents of hazing 
        to include a phone service through which an individual can 
        anonymously call to report incidents of hazing in that branch 
        of the Armed Forces; and
            (4) develop and implement a procedure to transfer a member 
        of that branch of the Armed Forces who has been the victim of a 
        substantiated incident of hazing to another unit in such branch 
        of the Armed Forces.
    (b) Data Collection.--The Secretary concerned shall collect and 
maintain data on each incident of hazing reported, including--
            (1) the gender, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, and 
        religion of the victim and perpetrator of the incident of 
        hazing; and
            (2) whether the Secretary concerned responded to the 
        incident of hazing, and if there was a response, information 
        about such response.
    (c) Report.--The Secretary concerned shall submit an annual report 
to Congress on the data collected and maintained under subsection (b).

SEC. 3. MILITARY HAZING PREVENTION OVERSIGHT PANEL.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established a panel to be known as the 
Military Hazing Prevention Oversight Panel (in this Act referred to as 
the ``Panel'').
    (b) Membership.--The Panel shall be composed of the following 
members:
            (1) The Secretary of the Army or the Secretary's designee.
            (2) The Secretary of the Navy or the Secretary's designee.
            (3) The Secretary of the Air Force or the Secretary's 
        designee.
            (4) The Secretary of Homeland Security (with respect to the 
        Coast Guard) or the Secretary's designee.
            (5) Members appointed by the Secretary of Defense from 
        among individuals who are not officers or employees of any 
        government and who have expertise in advocating for--
                    (A) women;
                    (B) racial or ethnic minorities;
                    (C) religious minorities; or
                    (D) gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender 
                individuals.
    (c) Duties.--The Panel shall--
            (1) make recommendations to the Secretary concerned on the 
        development of the policies, programs, and procedures described 
        in section 2(a); and
            (2) monitor the policies, programs, and procedures 
        described in section 2(a) and make recommendations to the 
        Secretary concerned, based on the data collected in section 
        2(b), on ways to improve such policies, programs, and 
        procedures.
    (d) Initial Meeting.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Panel shall hold its initial meeting.
    (e) Meetings.--The Panel shall meet not less than annually.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) Hazing.--The term ``hazing'' means any conduct whereby a member 
of the Armed Forces, regardless of branch or rank, without proper 
authority causes another member to suffer, or be exposed to, any 
activity which is cruel, abusive, humiliating, oppressive, demeaning, 
or harmful, and includes--
            (1) soliciting or coercing another individual to perpetrate 
        any such activity;
            (2) verbal or psychological conduct; and
            (3) instances in which the victim of such activity gave 
        actual or implied consent.
    (b) Secretary Concerned.--The term ``Secretary concerned'' has the 
meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 10, United States 
Code.
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