[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1432 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1432

   To direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to 
  establish an interagency working group to study Federal efforts to 
  collect data on sexual violence and to make recommendations on the 
        harmonization of those efforts, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 13, 2019

Mr. Johnson (for himself and Ms. Ernst) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to 
  establish an interagency working group to study Federal efforts to 
  collect data on sexual violence and to make recommendations on the 
        harmonization of those efforts, 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 ``Improve Data on Sexual Violence 
Act''.

SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP TO STUDY FEDERAL EFFORTS TO COLLECT 
              DATA ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE.

    (a) Definitions.--In this Act--
            (1) the term ``harmonize'' includes coordinating the 
        collection of data on sexual violence by Federal agencies to 
        produce complementary information, as appropriate, without 
        compromising programmatic needs;
            (2) the term ``sexual violence'' includes any unwanted 
        sexual act, regardless of whether the act involves physical 
        contact, about which the Federal Government collects data; and
            (3) the term ``Working Group'' means the interagency 
        working group established by the Director of the Office of 
        Management and Budget under subsection (b).
    (b) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall establish an interagency working group to--
            (1) study Federal efforts to collect data on sexual 
        violence; and
            (2) make recommendations on the harmonization of Federal 
        efforts to collect data on sexual violence.
    (c) Composition.--The Working Group shall be composed of not less 
than 1 representative, who shall be selected by the head of the Federal 
agency of which the representative is a representative, from each of 
the following Federal agencies:
            (1) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
            (2) The Department of Defense.
            (3) The Department of Education.
            (4) The Department of Health and Human Services.
            (5) The Department of Justice.
    (d) Duties.--In carrying out the purposes of the Working Group 
described in subsection (b), the Working Group shall--
            (1) consider--
                    (A) what acts constitute different acts of sexual 
                violence;
                    (B) whether Federal reports that use the same terms 
                for acts of sexual violence are collecting the same 
                data on those acts;
                    (C) whether the context in which an act of sexual 
                violence occurs should impact how that act is accounted 
                for in a Federal report;
                    (D) whether the data collected is presented in a 
                way that allows the general public to understand what 
                acts of sexual violence are included in each 
                measurement;
                    (E) steps that Federal agencies that collect data 
                on or compile Federal reports relating to sexual 
                violence can take to avoid double counting any incident 
                of sexual violence in a single Federal report;
                    (F) best practices for collecting data on acts of 
                sexual violence;
                    (G) the extent to which Federal efforts to collect 
                data on sexual violence incorporate the best practices 
                described in subparagraph (F);
                    (H) steps that Federal agencies that collect data 
                on sexual violence can take to ensure that Federal 
                reports on sexual violence are able to provide 
                comparisons to data contained in Federal reports on 
                sexual violence for prior years if changes are made to 
                the methodology used to prepare those Federal reports; 
                and
                    (I) steps that Federal agencies that collect data 
                on sexual violence can take to harmonize Federal 
                efforts to collect data on sexual violence; and
            (2) consult with stakeholders that have--
                    (A) expertise in the study of sexual violence; or
                    (B) experience working with victims of sexual 
                violence.
    (e) Report Required.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Working Group shall publish and submit to 
Congress a report that contains--
            (1) a description of the activities of the Working Group;
            (2) the findings and recommendations of the Working Group 
        with respect to each of the topics described in subsection 
        (d)(1), including the findings and recommendations of the 
        Working Group relating to harmonizing Federal efforts to 
        collect data on sexual violence; and
            (3) the recommendations of the Working Group relating to 
        actions that Federal agencies and Congress can take to 
        implement the recommendations described in paragraph (2).
    (f) Termination.--The Working Group shall terminate 30 days after 
the date on which the Working Group submits the report under subsection 
(e).
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