H.R. 1079: Military Judicial Reform Act of 2013

Introduced:
Mar 12, 2013 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)
Sponsor:
Rep. Jackie Speier [D-CA14]
Status:
Referred to Committee

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was assigned to a congressional committee on March 12, 2013, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole.

Progress
Introduced Mar 12, 2013
Referred to Committee Mar 12, 2013
Reported by Committee ...
Passed House ...
Passed Senate ...
Signed by the President ...
Prognosis

3% chance of getting past committee.
0% chance of being enacted.

Only 11% of House bills made it past committee and only 3% were enacted in 2011–2013. [show factors | methodology]

Cosponsors
9 cosponsors (8D, 1R) (show)
Committees

House Armed Services

↪ Military Personnel

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice to eliminate the authority of the convening authority to modify the findings and sentence of a court-martial as a matter of command prerogative involving the sole discretion of the convening authority.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

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Last updated Mar 12, 2013.
4 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

3/12/2013--Introduced.
Military Judicial Reform Act of 2013 - Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to require a convening authority (the person taking action on the findings of a court-martial), as soon as practicable after receipt of the findings and sentence of a court-martial, to approve the sentence in whole.
Prohibits such authority from modifying such findings or sentence.
(Under current law, modifying findings or a sentence is a command prerogative involving the sole discretion of such authority.) Allows certain other officials to act in place of the convening authority.
Allows the accused in a court-martial to submit to the convening authority matters for inclusion in the final record of trial.
(Under current law, such accused may submit matters for consideration with respect to the findings and sentence.) Removes the requirement that a convening authority obtain and consider the recommendation of his/her staff judge advocate or legal officer.
Repeals the authority of a convening authority to suspend the execution of any sentence or part thereof other than a death sentence.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)