Governor's Recommendations for Military Sexual Assault Prevention Bill May Lead to its Failure this Year
General Assembly unlikely to accept his recommendation to convene a work group to study the issue, sponsor Josh Cole says.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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After passing both houses of the General Assembly with bipartisan support, a bill that would establish a sexual assault prevention and response program within the Virginia Department of Military Affairs is being returned with recommendations from Gov. Glenn Youngkin that make it likely to fail, supporters say.
Instead of signing or vetoing House Bill 2520 last week, Youngkin returned it to the General Assembly with the recommendation that instead of establishing the program, the Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs should convene a work group to “study the efficacy of existing responses to address sexual offenses” within the department and the Virginia National Guard “to determine if a state response is needed to improve efficacy.”
HB 2520 was introduced by Delegate Josh Cole—who represents House District 65, which includes Fredericksburg City and parts of Spotsylvania and Stafford counties—at the request of Jean Ibanez Payne, a constituent and survivor of military sexual assault from her time serving in the U.S. Navy.
“To me, it’s a complete betrayal of military sexual trauma survivors,” Payne told the Advance this week. “It invalidates [Youngkin’s] commitment to protect men and women from sexual abuse.”
Cole said that “in our perspective, the study is not going to give us the support that the people in our armed forces need.”
“I don’t think that we need to study this,” he said. “We have way too many people who have shared their stories. This needs bold action.”
A 2024 report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University concluded that “sexual assault prevalence in the military is likely two to four times higher than official government estimations.”
On average, 24% of active-duty women and 1.9% of active-duty men have experienced sexual assault, and minorities of gender and race are at a greater risk, according to the report.
HB 2520 passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 93-to-3 and the Senate by a vote of 39-to-0. Cole said he expected Youngkin to accept the bill, based on its bipartisan support and the fact that a similar bill passed in Texas and was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican.
“I assumed that we would be able to get it passed here as well,” Cole said.
No one from the Department of Military Affairs testified either for or against the bill as it made its way through the General Assembly this winter, but during a hearing on the bill before a Senate committee, Bryce Reeves—who represents Senate District 28, which includes part of Spotsylvania County—called on Brig. Gen. James Ring, the state Adjutant General, to talk about how instances of sexual assault and abuse are currently handled.
Ring said there are “federal programs in place” that include “federally funded positions that support sexual assault prevention programs” at the state level, with oversight coming from the federal level.
In response to a follow-up question from Reeves, Ring said that “in his assessment” the bill would be “a duplicative effort at the state level to do something already codified by federal regulation.”
Cole speculated this week that Youngkin may share this assessment.
But he said that rather than being “duplicative,” the Virginia bill would “make sure that people in the state have their recourse,” and added that uncertainty at the federal level, as departments work to implement the Trump Administration’s executive order eliminating DEI programs, makes it more important for the state to take action.
In February, the Navy and Marine Corps paused all training on sexual assault prevention and reporting amid a review to determine whether the training complies with the orders. It’s not clear if the training has resumed.
The General Assembly reconvenes on Wednesday to take up Youngkin’s recommendations on this and other bills, and Cole said legislators will likely reject the study, which will lead Youngkin to veto HB 2520.
“We may be surprised,” Cole said. “We could reject his amendment and he may sign [the bill anyway,] but typically he vetoes the bill.”
In that case, Cole said, he will introduce the bill again next year.
Payne said it is “very devastating and painful” to see the bill poised to fail after “we worked so hard and [had] the full support of the House and Senate.”
“But we will come back next year,” she said. “We may have lost this battle, but we’ll come back next year.”
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