HR 3068 · 114th Congress 2015–2017, ended

Restore Honor to Service Members Act

Introduced Jul 15, 2015 Originated House Sponsor Mark Pocan D-WI

Latest action · Aug 13, 2015 Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

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.

IntroducedJul 15, 2015
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Restore Honor to Service Members Act

Requires appropriate military record correction boards or discharge review boards to review the discharge characterization of any former members of the Armed Forces requesting a review who were discharged because of their sexual orientation. Permits such boards to change a characterization to honorable if such characterization is any characterization except honorable.

Directs the Department of Defense to ensure that any such changes are carried out consistently and uniformly across the military departments using specified criteria, including that: (1) the original discharge was based on the policy of Don't Ask Don't Tell (as in effect before it was repealed pursuant to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010) or a similar earlier policy; and (2) the discharge characterization will be changed if, with respect to the original discharge, there were no aggravating circumstances, such as misconduct, that would have independently led to any discharge characterization except honorable.

Prohibits "aggravating circumstances" from including: (1) an offense of sodomy committed by the member against a consenting person of the same sex; or (2) statements, consensual sexual conduct, or consensual acts relating to sexual orientation or identity, or the disclosure of such statements, conduct, or acts, that were prohibited at the time of discharge but that became permitted after such discharge.

Directs the Secretary of each military department to ensure that oral historians of the department: (1) review discharges between World War II and September 2011 based on sexual orientation, and (2) receive oral testimony of individuals who personally experienced discrimination and discharge because of actual or perceived sexual orientation so that such testimony may serve as an official record of such discriminatory policies and their impact on American lives.

Requires the reissuance of specified military personnel records and discharge forms in a manner that shall not reflect the sexual orientation of the member.

Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice to remove from the offense of sodomy specified activity referred to as unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex.

Cosponsors 115

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jul 15, 2015 to Sep 9, 2016; 98 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
D-CA	Adam B. Schiff	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-FL	Alan Grayson	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Alan S. Lowenthal	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NJ	Albio Sires	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-FL	Alcee L. Hastings	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IN	André Carson	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-AZ	Ann Kirkpatrick	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Anna G. Eshoo	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Barbara Lee	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NM	Ben Ray Luján	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MN	Betty McCollum	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Bill Foster	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Bobby L. Rush	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NE	Brad Ashford	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Brian Higgins	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Carolyn B. Maloney	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Charles B. Rangel	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-ME	Chellie Pingree	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Cheri Bustos	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MD	Chris Van Hollen	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MI	Daniel T. Kildee	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-RI	David N. Cicilline	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-WA	Denny Heck	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-WA	Derek Kilmer	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NV	Dina Titus	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NJ	Donald M. Payne, Jr.	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-VA	Donald S. Beyer, Jr.	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-OR	Earl Blumenauer	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CO	Ed Perlmutter	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MD	Elijah E. Cummings	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Eliot L. Engel	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CT	Elizabeth H. Esty	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-FL	Frederica S. Wilson	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-VA	Gerald E. Connolly	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Grace F. Napolitano	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Grace Meng	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-WI	Gwen Moore	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-GA	Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.	Original	Jul 15, 2015
R-FL	Ileana Ros-Lehtinen	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Jackie Speier	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MA	James P. McGovern	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-RI	James R. Langevin	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Janice D. Schakowsky	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Janice Hahn	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CO	Jared Polis	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-WA	Jim McDermott	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-KY	John A. Yarmuth	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CT	John B. Larson	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MI	John Conyers, Jr.	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MD	John K. Delaney	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-GA	John Lewis	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MD	John P. Sarbanes	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Jose E. Serrano	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Joseph Crowley	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MA	Joseph P. Kennedy III	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Judy Chu	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Julia Brownley	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Kathleen M. Rice	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MN	Keith Ellison	Original	Jul 15, 2015
I-AZ	Kyrsten Sinema	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Lois Capps	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-FL	Lois Frankel	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Lucille Roybal-Allard	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Luis V. Gutierrez	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-TX	Marc A. Veasey	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-OH	Marcy Kaptur	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Mark DeSaulnier	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-HI	Mark Takai	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Mark Takano	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-PA	Matt Cartwright	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Michael M. Honda	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NM	Michelle Lujan Grisham	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Mike Quigley	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MA	Niki Tsongas	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-FL	Patrick Murphy	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Paul Tonko	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-OR	Peter A. DeFazio	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-AZ	Raúl M. Grijalva	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Raul Ruiz	Original	Jul 15, 2015
R-WI	Reid J. Ribble	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Robin L. Kelly	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-WI	Ron Kind	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CT	Rosa L. DeLauro	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Sam Farr	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Scott H. Peters	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Sean Patrick Maloney	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MA	Stephen F. Lynch	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-TN	Steve Cohen	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Steve Israel	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-WA	Suzan K. DelBene	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-OR	Suzanne Bonamici	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-IL	Tammy Duckworth	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Ted Lieu	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-FL	Theodore E. Deutch	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MN	Timothy J. Walz	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-CA	Tony Cárdenas	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-MA	William R. Keating	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-NY	Yvette D. Clarke	Original	Jul 15, 2015
D-DC	Eleanor Holmes Norton		Jul 23, 2015
D-NY	Nita M. Lowey		Jul 28, 2015
D-MN	Richard M. Nolan		Jul 28, 2015
D-TX	Al Green		Oct 29, 2015
D-FL	Debbie Wasserman Schultz		Oct 29, 2015
D-NY	Gregory W. Meeks		Oct 29, 2015
D-CA	Mike Thompson		Oct 29, 2015
R-NY	Richard L. Hanna		Oct 29, 2015
D-CA	Eric Swalwell		Nov 2, 2015
D-MA	Seth Moulton		Nov 2, 2015
R-FL	Carlos Curbelo		Nov 5, 2015
D-CA	Zoe Lofgren		Nov 5, 2015
D-PA	Chaka Fattah		Dec 2, 2015
D-NJ	Donald Norcross		Dec 2, 2015
D-VT	Peter Welch		Dec 10, 2015
D-AZ	Ruben Gallego		Feb 9, 2016
D-OH	Joyce Beatty		Sep 9, 2016

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Armed Services Committee	Referred Jul 15, 2015
	Military Personnel Subcommittee	Referred Aug 13, 2015

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

Aug 13, 2015Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
Jul 15, 2015Introduced in House
Jul 15, 2015Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

In the Congressional Record 1

Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.

Where	In the Record	Members	Date
House	Debate and remarks H5879	Brian Higgins D-NY	Sep 10, 2015

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 The Congress shall have Power . . . To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 110, July 15, 2015, page H5237.

Related bills 3

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

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 1766	Restore Honor to Service Members Act	Related bill	Jul 15, 2015
HR 2904	Restore Honor to Service Members Act	Reintroduced Bill	Jul 17, 2017
HR 6062	SERVICE Act	Related bill	Oct 19, 2016

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To direct the Secretary of Defense to review the discharge characterization of former members of the Armed Forces who were discharged by reason of the sexual orientation of the member, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced: Restore Honor to Service Members Act

Subjects

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

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Jul 15, 2015Introduced in House

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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; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.