U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) has co-introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill addressing inconsistencies in how various federal agencies collect data on sexual violence. Companion legislation has also been unveiled in the U.S. Senate.
The Improve Data on Sexual Violence Act would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which oversees data collection by federal agencies, to adopt Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations to improve how sexual violence data is collected. Reps. Turner and Ann Kuster (D-NH) introduced the House bill, while U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced their version, S. 2349.
The bill is informed by a 2016 GAO review that found four federal agencies — the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Justice (DOJ) — use 23 different terms to define sexual violence, according to the report. GAO also identified variations in how agencies define target populations and measurements. “Differences in data collection efforts may hinder the understanding of the occurrence of sexual violence, and agencies’ efforts to explain and lessen differences have been fragmented and limited in scope,” the GAO report stated.
Rep. Turner said, “I’ve worked with my colleagues across the aisle for nearly a decade as chair of the Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus to address and improve the culture our troops work in. However, we can only address what we know about. Improved reporting across these departments will help us better understand the magnitude of and more effectively combat sexual violence in the workplace.”
Also under the bill, the director of the OMB would establish an interagency working group to study federal efforts toward collecting data on sexual violence and make recommendations on coordinating those efforts, according to the text of the bill. At least one representative from the Departments of Defense, Education, HHS, DOJ and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be selected by the head of each agency as a member of the interagency working group.