National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Improvements Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2865 To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 to address sexual harassment involving National Oceanic and Atmos- pheric Administration personnel, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 28, 2021 Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. HUFFMAN, and Miss GONZA´LEZ- COLO´N) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 to address sexual harassment involving Na- tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration per- sonnel, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Oceanic and 4 Atmospheric Administration Sexual Harassment and As- 5 sault Prevention Improvements Act of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2865 IH SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 1 Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 2 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 3 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a provision, the ref- 4 erence shall be considered to be made to a provision of 5 subtitle C of title XXXV of Public Law 114–328 (33 6 U.S.C. 894 et seq.). 7 SEC. 3. POLICY ON THE PREVENTION OF AND RESPONSE 8 TO SEXUAL HARASSMENT INVOLVING NA- 9 TIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN- 10 ISTRATION PERSONNEL. 11 (a) COVERED PERSONNEL.—Section 3541(a) (33 12 U.S.C. 894(a)) is amended— 13 (1) by striking ‘‘Not later’’ and inserting the 14 following: 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later’’; and 16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(2) INCLUDED PERSONNEL.—The individuals 18 who work with or conduct business on behalf of the 19 Administration referred to in paragraph (1) include 20 the following: 21 ‘‘(A) Observers and at-sea monitors re- 22 quired by the National Marine Fisheries Service 23 to be aboard commercial fishing vessels and 24 other privately owned vessels, barges, or plat- 25 forms for— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2865 IH ‘‘(i) commercial fisheries observation 1 required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 2 Conservation and Management Act; 3 ‘‘(ii) protected species or endangered 4 species observation required by the Marine 5 Mammal Protection Act of 1972 or the 6 Endangered Species Act of 1973; or 7 ‘‘(iii) platform removal observation. 8 ‘‘(B) Voting members and executive and 9 administrative staff of regional fishery manage- 10 ment councils established by section 302 of the 11 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 12 Management Act.’’. 13 (b) INCLUSION OF EQUAL EMPLOYMENT IN QUAR- 14 TERLY REPORTS.—Section 3541(f) (33 U.S.C. 894(f)) is 15 amended— 16 (1) by inserting ‘‘and equal employment’’ after 17 ‘‘sexual harassment’’ each place it appears; and 18 (2) in paragraph (2)— 19 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 20 and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respec- 21 tively; and 22 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 23 the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2865 IH ‘‘(C) A synopsis of each case and the dis- 1 ciplinary action taken (if any) in each case.’’. 2 SEC. 4. COMPREHENSIVE POLICY ON PREVENTION OF AND 3 RESPONSE TO SEXUAL ASSAULTS. 4 (a) COVERED PERSONNEL.—Section 3542(a) (33 5 U.S.C. 894a(a)) is amended— 6 (1) by striking ‘‘Not later’’ and inserting the 7 following: 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later’’; and 9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(2) INCLUDED PERSONNEL.—The individuals 11 who work with or conduct business on behalf of the 12 Administration referred to in paragraph (1) include 13 the individuals described in section 3541(a)(2).’’. 14 (b) VICTIM ADVOCATES.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3542(c)(2) (33 16 U.S.C. 894a(c)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 17 ‘‘(2) VICTIM ADVOCATES.—For purposes of this 18 subsection, a victim advocate is a full-time perma- 19 nent employee of the Administration trained in and 20 responsible solely for matters relating to sexual as- 21 sault and the comprehensive policy developed under 22 subsection (a).’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2865 IH (2) LOCATION.—Section 3542(c)(4) (33 U.S.C. 1 894a(c)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘full time’’ 2 after ‘‘stationed’’. 3 SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT ON SEXUAL ASSAULTS, SEXUAL 4 HARASSMENT, AND EQUAL EMPLOYMENT. 5 Section 3548 (33 U.S.C. 894e) is amended— 6 (1) by striking the section heading and insert- 7 ing the following: ‘‘ANNUAL REPORT ON SEXUAL 8 ASSAULTS, SEXUAL HARASSMENT, AND EQUAL 9 EMPLOYMENT IN THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND 10 ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION.’’; 11 (2) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘, sexual har- 12 assment, and equal employment’’ after ‘‘sexual as- 13 saults’’; and 14 (3) in subsection (b)— 15 (A) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, in- 16 cluding a synopsis of each case and the discipli- 17 nary action taken, if any, in each case’’ before 18 the period at the end; and 19 (B) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(5) A summary of the number of change of 21 station, unit transfer, and change of work location 22 requests submitted to the Under Secretary under 23 section 3544(a), including the number of such re- 24 quests that were denied. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2865 IH ‘‘(6) A summary of the number of cases re- 1 ferred to the Coast Guard under section 5 of Na- 2 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sex- 3 ual Harassment and Assault Prevention Improve- 4 ments Act of 2021. 5 ‘‘(7) The number of alleged sexual assaults and 6 sexual harassment cases involving fisheries, pro- 7 tected species, and endangered species observers, in- 8 cluding— 9 ‘‘(A) a synopsis of each case and the sta- 10 tus; 11 ‘‘(B) the disposition of any investigation; 12 and 13 ‘‘(C) a description of the fishery manage- 14 ment region and fishery or the geographic re- 15 gion and type of permitted operation in which 16 the assault or harassment is alleged to have oc- 17 curred, as appropriate.’’. 18 SEC. 6. INVESTIGATION AND CRIMINAL REFERRAL RE- 19 QUIREMENTS. 20 (a) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Sections 3548 (as 21 amended by section 5) and 3549 (33 U.S.C. 894e and 22 894f) are redesignated as sections 3551 and 3552, respec- 23 tively. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2865 IH (b) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of title XXXV of Pub- 1 lic Law 114–328 (33 U.S.C. 894 et seq.) is amended by 2 inserting after section 3547 the following: 3 ‘‘SEC. 3548. EXCEPTIONS REGARDING ANONYMITY OF SUR- 4 VIVORS IN CERTAIN CASES. 5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which an em- 6 ployee, member of the commissioned officer corps, or indi- 7 vidual conducting business on behalf of the administration 8 elects anonymous reporting under section 3541(b)(3)(B) 9 or 3542(b)(5)(B), disclosure of such person’s personally 10 identifying information is authorized to the following per- 11 sons or organizations when disclosure would be for the fol- 12 lowing reasons: 13 ‘‘(1) To National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 14 ministration staff or law enforcement personnel, 15 when authorized by the survivor in writing. 16 ‘‘(2) To National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 17 ministration staff or law enforcement personnel to 18 prevent or lessen a serious or imminent threat to the 19 health or safety of the survivor or another person. 20 ‘‘(3) To a victim advocate or healthcare pro- 21 vider, when required for the provision of victim serv- 22 ices. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2865 IH ‘‘(4) To a State or Federal court, when ordered 1 by such court or if disclosure is required by Federal 2 or State statute. 3 ‘‘(b) NOTICE OF DISCLOSURE AND PRIVACY PROTEC- 4 TION.—In any case in which information is disclosed 5 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 6 ‘‘(1) make reasonable attempts to provide no- 7 tice to the employee, member, or individual whose 8 personally identifying information is disclosed; and 9 ‘‘(2) take such action as is necessary to protect 10 the privacy and safety of the employee, member, or 11 individual. 12 ‘‘SEC. 3549. RESTRICTED REPORTING. 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the 14 date of enactment of the National Oceanic and Atmos- 15 pheric Administration Sexual Harassment and Assault 16 Prevention Improvements Act of 2021, the Secretary of 17 Commerce, acting through the Under Secretary for 18 Oceans and Atmosphere, shall develop a mechanism to 19 provide a system of restricted reporting. 20 ‘‘(b) RESTRICTED REPORTING DEFINED.—In this 21 section the term ‘restricted reporting’ means a system of 22 reporting that allows employees of the National Oceanic 23 and Atmospheric Administration, members of the Com- 24 missioned Officer Corps of the Administration, and indi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2865 IH viduals who work with or conduct business on behalf of 1 the Administration who are sexually assaulted to confiden- 2 tially disclose the details of such person’s assault to speci- 3 fied individuals and receive the services outlined in this 4 subtitle title— 5 ‘‘(1) without the dissemination of such 6 persons’s personally identifying information except 7 as necessary for the provision of such services; and 8 ‘‘(2) without automatically triggering an inves- 9 tigative process. 10 ‘‘SEC. 3550. MARINER REFERRAL. 11 ‘‘The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and 12 Atmosphere, acting through the Director of the Office of 13 Marine and Aviation Operations and in consultation with 14 the Commandant of the Coast Guard, shall, not later than 15 180 days after the date of the enactment of the National 16 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sexual Harass- 17 ment and Assault Prevention Improvements Act of 2021, 18 develop and implement a policy to report to the Coast 19 Guard Suspension and Revocation National Center of Ex- 20 pertise, the names of personnel of the National Oceanic 21 and Atmospheric Administration who— 22 ‘‘(1) are the subject of a claim of an act or of- 23 fense detrimental to good discipline and safety at 24 sea, such as sexual harassment or sexual assault 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2865 IH that is substantiated by an investigation under sec- 1 tion 3546, or any other substantiated claim of an 2 act or offense for which suspension or revocation of 3 a credential is either mandatory or sought pursuant 4 to part 5 of title 46 of the Code of Federal Regula- 5 tions; and 6 ‘‘(2) are— 7 ‘‘(A) employees or contractors of the Ad- 8 ministration required to hold a valid merchant 9 mariner credential as a condition of employ- 10 ment; or 11 ‘‘(B) crew of a vessel that, at the time of 12 such act or offence, was operating under a con- 13 tract with the Administration.’’. 14 SEC. 7. CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS. 15 (a) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Subtitle C of title 16 XXXV of Public Law 114–328 (33 U.S.C. 894 et seq.) 17 is amended— 18 (1) by striking the term ‘‘victims’’ each place it 19 appears and inserting ‘‘survivors’’; 20 (2) in section 3541(b)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘vic- 21 tim’’ and inserting ‘‘target of sexual harassment’’; 22 (3) in section 3542(c)(5)(A), by striking ‘‘vic- 23 tim of’’ and inserting ‘‘survivor of’’; 24 (4) in section 3543— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2865 IH (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘VICTIM’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘SURVIVOR’’; and 2 (B) by striking ‘‘victim’’ and inserting 3 ‘‘survivor’’; 4 (5) in section 3544— 5 (A) in subsection (a)— 6 (i) by striking ‘‘VICTIMS’’ and insert- 7 ing ‘‘SURVIVORS’’; and 8 (ii) in paragraph (1), by striking 9 ‘‘was’’ each place such term appears and 10 inserting ‘‘is’’; and 11 (B) by striking ‘‘victim’’ each place such 12 term appears and inserting ‘‘survivor’’. 13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—Each of the tables of 14 contents in section 2(b) and at the beginning of title 15 XXXV of Public Law 114–328 is amended— 16 (1) by striking the item relating to section 3543 17 and inserting the following: 18 ‘‘Sec. 3543. Rights of the survivor of a sexual assault.’’; and (2) by striking the items relating to sections 19 3548 and 3549 and inserting the following: 20 ‘‘Sec. 3548. Exceptions regarding anonymity of survivors in certain cases. ‘‘Sec. 3549. Restricted reporting. ‘‘Sec. 3550. Mariner referral. ‘‘Sec. 3551. Annual report on sexual assaults, sexual harassment, and equal employment in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- tration. ‘‘Sec. 3552. Sexual assault defined.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2865 IH SEC. 8. PROHIBITED ACTS. 1 Section 307(1)(L) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 2 Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 3 1857(1)(L)) is amended— 4 (1) by striking ‘‘forcibly’’; and 5 (2) by striking ‘‘on a vessel’’. 6 SEC. 9. PROHIBITION ON SERVICE IN THE NATIONAL OCE- 7 ANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION 8 COMMISSIONED OFFICER CORPS BY INDIVID- 9 UALS CONVICTED OF CERTAIN SEXUAL OF- 10 FENSES. 11 Section 261(a) of the National Oceanic and Atmos- 12 pheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Act of 13 2002 (33 U.S.C. 3071(a)) is amended— 14 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 15 (16) as paragraphs (5) through (17), respectively; 16 and 17 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(4) Section 657, relating to prohibition on 20 service by individuals convicted of certain sexual of- 21 fenses.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Jun 30, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2865.IH H2865 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS