Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 3.djvu/216

 104 STAT. 1568 PUBLIC LAW 101-510—NOV. 5, 1990 Regulations. (d) FUNCTIONS. —(1) The advisory committee shall develop and recommend to the Secretary regulations on procedural protections that should be afforded to any member of the Armed Forces who is referred by a commanding officer for a mental health evaluation by a mental health professional. The recommended regulations shall apply uniformly throughout the Department of Defense and shall include appropriate procedural protections according to whether the evaluations are to be carried out on an outpatient or inpatient basis and whether, based on the results of the evaluation, the member is to be involuntarily hospitalized in a mental health treatment facility. In developing the regulations with respect to procedural protections for evaluations conducted on an inpatient basis, the committee shall take into account any guidelines regarding psychiatric hospitalization of adults prepared by professional civilian mental health organizations. (2)(A) T^e regulations developed under paragraph (1) shall include both of the following: (i) A prohibition on the inappropriate referral for a mental health evaluation of a member of the Armed Forces as a reprisal against the member for making or preparing to make a communication described in subparagraph (B). (ii) Procedural protections to be afforded to a member who is referred for a mental health evaluation following a communication described in subparagraph (B). Such protections shall provide the member with an appropriate opportunity to allow for a timely, prompt challenge to the referral. (B) A communication referred to in subparagraph (A) is a lawful communication by a member of the Armed Forces of the type described in section 1034(c)(2) of title 10, United States Code, except that, for purposes of this section, such a communication shall include a communication to any appropriate authority in the chain of command of the member (as defined by the Secretary of Defense in regulations under subsection (g)). (e) DEFINITIONS.— In this section: (1) The term 'mental health evaluation' means a psychiatric examination or evaluation, a psychological examination or evaluation, an examination for psychiatric or psychological fitness for duty, or any other means of assessing a member's state of mental health. (2) The term 'mental health professional' means a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a person with a master's degree in social work, or any other individual who conducts mental health evaluations for the Department of Defense. (f) REPORT. —(1) Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the advisory committee shall submit to the Secretary of Defense a report containing the recommended regulations and such other information as the committee considers appropriate. (2) Not later than 30 days after receipt of the report under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives the report of the advisory committee, along with such additional comments and recommendations by the Secretary as the Secretary considers appropriate. (g) REGULATIONS. — Not later than 180 days after receipt by the committees described in subsection (fK2) of the report, comments, and recommendations described in that subsection, the Secretary of

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