On September 8, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved, by voice vote, H.R. 2074, the Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention Act. The Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on the bill on July 27 (see The Source, 7/29/11).
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), would require the secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) to develop, by October 1, a comprehensive policy on reporting and tracking sexual assault incidents and other safety incidents that occur at VA medical facilities. Rep. Buerkle drafted the legislation in response to a Government Accountability Office study that found that nearly 300 sexual assaults, including 67 alleged rapes, were reported to VA police between January 2007 and July 2010 and that many of the incidents had not been reported properly to VA officials.
The bill also would require that VA employees be trained with regard to awareness of, preparedness for, and police assistance with, sexual assaults within their facilities. The process by which incidents of sexual assault are reported, recorded, and tracked would be streamlined under the bill.
In addition, the bill would require the secretary to submit to Congress an annual report on the VA’s implementation of the policy, including the number and types of sexual assault reported by each VA facility.
