Legal Justice for Servicemembers Act of 2015
Latest action · Apr 29, 2015 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
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.
- IntroducedApr 29, 2015
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Legal Justice for Servicemembers Act of 2015
This bill revises whistle blower protections for members of the Armed Forces.
Prohibited personnel actions shall include:
- a superior's failure to respond to retaliatory action or harassment taken against a subordinate; and
- action that could be understood as an attempt to dissuade a service member from making or preparing a communication, or participating in any other activity.
A service member may opt out of a military branch investigation in favor of an investigation by the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (DODIG).
An investigating Inspector General (IG) may impose a 90-day stay of a personnel action, which may be extended by the military department concerned to complete an investigation, in order to prevent undue hardship to a service member if reasonable grounds exist to believe that a prohibited personnel action has occurred.
Periodic notice must be given to service members on the progress of IG investigations.
IG recommendations for disposition of complaints must include recommendations for disciplinary actions against the person who committed the prohibited personnel action, against a superior who knew or should have known but failed to address the action, or both.
An investigating IG shall submit a substantiated investigation to the appropriate military corrections board unless the service member requests otherwise.
Service members may request a corrections board hearing under specified circumstances.
DODIG shall prescribe uniform standards for: (1) investigation of allegations of prohibited personnel actions, and (2) staff training.
The investigative evidentiary burden of proof shall be "clear and convincing evidence."
Provisions are revised for improvements to authorities and procedures for correction of military records, including permitting a claimant to seek judicial review of a board's determination in an appropriate U.S. court.
The Inspector General Act of 1978 is amended to include the Inspectors General of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the National Guard Bureau, and the Coast Guard in the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.
Cosponsors 4
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Apr 29, 2015 to Jun 1, 2015, with 2 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MA | Edward J. Markey | Original | Apr 29, 2015 |
| D-OR | Ron Wyden | Original | Apr 29, 2015 |
| D-MT | Jon Tester | May 20, 2015 | |
| D-NY | Kirsten E. Gillibrand | Jun 1, 2015 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Apr 29, 2015Introduced in Senate
- Apr 29, 2015Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 2190 | Legal Justice for Servicemembers Act of 2015 | Identical bill | Aug 13, 2015 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Apr 29, 2015Introduced in Senate
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.