Military Sexual Trauma Accountability Act

Key Points

• The bill lets current and former service members sue the federal government when they suffer sexual assault, rape, aggravated or abusive sexual contact, or sexual harassment while serving, something largely barred today under the Feres doctrine.
• Claims can be based not just on the misconduct itself but on the military's negligent failure to prevent it or properly investigate it.
• Victims get 5 years to file a claim from the date it accrues, and that clock pauses while any related investigation or proceeding is ongoing.
• Money awarded in these lawsuits cannot be used to reduce a person's existing VA or DoD health care and benefits, so survivors do not have to choose between compensation and the benefits they already earned.
• The law would apply retroactively, meaning people harmed before the bill becomes law can still sue, with their 5-year filing window starting on the date of enactment rather than when the harm occurred.