S 967 · 113th Congress 2013–2015, ended

Military Justice Improvement Act of 2013

Fact sheet

Latest action · Jun 4, 2013 Committee on Armed Services. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-320.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedMay 16, 2013
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Military Justice Improvement Act of 2013 - Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), with respect to charges that allege an offense triable by court-martial (with certain exclusions) for which the maximum punishment includes confinement for more than one year, to direct the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to require the Secretaries of the military departments to provide for the determination of whether to try such charges by general or special court-martial to be made by a commissioned officer of grade O-6 or higher with significant experience in such trials and who is outside the chain of command of the accused. Provides that a determination not to proceed to trial shall not preclude a commanding officer from either referring such charges for trial by summary court-martial or imposing non-judicial punishment.

Requires Rule 306 (relating to policy on initial disposition of offenses) of the Manual for Courts-Martial to be amended to strike the character and military service of the accused from factors to be considered by the disposition authority.

Revises the list of officers authorized to convene general and special courts-martial to include those in grade O-6 or higher assigned such responsibility by their department chief of staff (with the same prohibition against an officer in the same chain of command as the accused). Requires each chief of staff to establish an office which shall convene general and special courts-martial and detail judges and members.

Requires a military judge to call a general or special court-martial trial into session within 90 days of the determination of its necessity.

Requires a convening authority (the official acting on the sentence of a court-martial), when taking any action other than approving a sentence, to prepare a written justification of such action which shall be made part of the record of the court-martial. Prohibits a convening authority from: (1) dismissing or setting aside a finding of guilty, or (2) reducing a finding of guilty to a finding of guilty to a lesser included offense.

Requires a commanding officer who receives a report of a sexual-related offense involving a member in such officer's chain of command to act immediately upon such report by way of referral to the appropriate criminal investigative office or service.

Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 to require an independent panel established by the DOD Secretary to monitor and assess the implementation and efficacy of this Act and its amendments.

Cosponsors 38

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 16, 2013 to Jul 24, 2013, with 15 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-MNAl FrankenOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-MDBarbara A. MikulskiOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-CABarbara BoxerOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-HIBrian SchatzOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-DEChristopher A. CoonsOriginalMay 16, 2013
R-IAChuck GrassleyOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-CADianne FeinsteinOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-NHJeanne ShaheenOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-WVJohn D. Rockefeller IVOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-AKMark BegichOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-ARMark L. PryorOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-HIMazie K. HironoOriginalMay 16, 2013
R-NEMike JohannsOriginalMay 16, 2013
D-CTRichard BlumenthalOriginalMay 16, 2013
R-MESusan M. CollinsOriginalMay 16, 2013

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Jun 4, 2013Committee on Armed Services. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-320.
  2. May 16, 2013Introduced in Senate
  3. May 16, 2013Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

Related bills 5

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. May 16, 2013Introduced in Senate

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.