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S. 5189: A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, to codify and clarify gender neutral standards for members of certain Armed Forces, and for other purposes.

119th Congress · introduced 2026-07-30 · Armed Forces and National Security · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

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Official title

A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, and the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, to codify and clarify gender neutral standards for members of certain Armed Forces, and for other purposes.

Plain summary

This bill prohibits the Department of Defense (DOD) from excluding an individual from military positions or assignments based on gender. It also limits changes to DOD occupational performance standards that address gender neutrality. First, the bill prohibits the exclusion of members of the Armed Forces from an occupational specialty, career field, or assignment on the basis of gender. Next, it prohibits DOD from changing an occupational performance standard to increase or decrease the number of individuals in a career field on the basis of gender. (Currently, this prohibition only applies to increasing or decreasing the number of women.) DOD must also apply occupational standards related to technical, tactical, cognitive, or physical abilities on a gender-neutral basis for positions that require such standards and must determine any such standards after a rigorous scientific process. In situations where DOD establishes or revises a physical requirement for a military position, a member serving satisfactorily in such a position must be provided at least 18 months to meet the new standard. Finally, DOD must notify Congress of any proposed changes to the gender-neutral occupational standards for a military position that may result in at least a 10% change in the number of members of any gender who are assigned to or enter that position. (Currently, such notice is required only with respect to a change in the number of female members.) DOD must provide the congressional defense committees with a report on the proposed change, estimated costs, and justification for the change.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI] · 24 cosponsors

Money: No cost estimate published yet. No linked contracts or vendors yet.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119s5189.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/s>

Record fed-us-cong119-s5189 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills