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National Guard and Reserve Equal Access to Legal Services Act

H.R. 4863 · 113th Congress · Jun 12, 2014 · Lineage

A BILL

To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide certain members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces who are victims of sex-related offenses with access to a special victims’ counsel.

Section 1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the “National Guard and Reserve Equal Access to Legal Services Act”.

Sec. 2 Access to special victims’ counsel

(a)
In general— Subsection (a) of section 1044e of title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

“(a) Designation; purposes

“(1) The Secretary concerned shall designate legal counsel (to be known as “Special Victims’ Counsel”) for the purpose of providing legal assistance to an individual described in paragraph (2) who is the victim of an alleged sex-related offense, regardless of whether the report of that offense is restricted or unrestricted.

“(2) An individual described in this paragraph is any of the following:

“(A) An individual eligible for military legal assistance under section 1044 of this title.

“(B) An individual who is—

“(i) not covered under subparagraph (A);

“(ii) a member of a reserve component of the armed forces; and

“(iii) a victim of an alleged sex-related offense as described in paragraph (1) that was allegedly committed by a member of the armed forces—

“(I) during a period in which the individual served on active duty, full-time National Guard duty, or inactive-duty training; or

“(II) during any period, regardless of the duty status of the individual, if the circumstances of the alleged sex-related offense have a nexus to the military service of the individual based on the membership in the armed forces of either the victim or the member who allegedly committed such offense.”

(b)
Conforming amendment— Subsection (f) of such section is amended by striking “eligible for military legal assistance under section 1044 of this title” each place it appears and inserting “described in subsection (a)(2)”.
(c)
Construction— The amendments made by this section may not be construed to authorize any additional benefit to a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces other than the access to a Special Victims’ Counsel under section 1044e of title 10, United States Code, as so amended.