CODIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF RETIRED OFFICERS AND FORMER OFFICERS FOR CONSIDERATION BY SPECIAL SELECTION BOARDS.

SEC. 501. CODIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF RETIRED OFFICERS AND FORMER OFFICERS FOR CONSIDERATION BY SPECIAL SELECTION BOARDS. (a) Persons Not Considered by Promotion Boards Due to Administrative Error.— subsection (a) of section 628 of title 10, United States Code, is amended— (1) by striking out paragraph (1) (and the subsection designation at the beginning of that paragraph) and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “(a) Persons Not Considered by Promotion Boards Due to Administrative Error.— (1) If the Secretary of the military department concerned determines that because of administrative error a person who should have been considered for selection for 112 STAT. 2001promotion by a promotion board was not so considered, the Secretary shall convene a special selection board under this subsection to determine whether that person (whether or not then on active duty) should be recommended for promotion.”; (2) in paragraph (2), by striking out “the officer as his record” in the first sentence and inserting in lieu thereof “the person whose name was referred to it for consideration as that record”; and (3) in paragraph (3), by striking out “an officer in a grade” and all that follows through “the officer” and inserting in lieu thereof “a person whose name was referred to it for consideration for selection for appointment to a grade other than a general officer or flag officer grade, the person”. (b) Persons Considered by Promotion Boards in Unfair Manner.— subsection (b) of such section is amended— (1) by striking out paragraph (1) and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “(b) Persons Considered by Promotion Boards in Unfair Manner,— (1) If the Secretary of the military department concerned determines, in the case of a person who was considered for selection for promotion by a promotion board but was not selected, that there was material unfairness with respect to that person, the Secretary may convene a special selection board under this subsection to determine whether that person (whether or not then on active duty) should be recommended for promotion. In order to determine that there was material unfairness, the Secretary must determine that— “(A) the action of the promotion board that considered the person was contrary to law or involved material error of fact or material administrative error; or “(B) the board did not have before it for its consideration material information.”; (2) in paragraph (2), by striking out “the officer as his record” in the first sentence and inserting in lieu thereof “the person whose name was referred to it for consideration as that record”; and (3) in paragraph (3)— (A) by striking out “an officer” and inserting in lieu thereof “a person”; and (B) by striking out “the officer” and inserting in lieu thereof “the person”. (c) Conforming Amendments.— (1) subsection (c) of such section is amended— (A) by inserting “Reports of Boards.—” after “(c)”; (B) by striking out “officer” both places it appears in paragraph (1) and inserting in lieu thereof “person”; and (C) in paragraph (2), by adding the following new sentence at the end: “However, in the case of a board convened under this section to consider a warrant officer or former warrant officer, the provisions of sections 576(d) and 576(f) of this title (rather than the provisions of section 617(b) and 618 of this title) apply to the report and proceedings of the board in the same manner as they apply to the report and proceedings of a selection board convened under section 573 of this title.”. (2) subsection (d)(1) of such section is amended— (A) by inserting “Appointment of Persons Selected by Boards.—” after “(d)”; 112 STAT. 2002 (B) by striking out “an officer” and inserting in lieu thereof “a person”; (C) by striking out “such officer” and inserting in lieu thereof “that person”; (D) by striking out “the next higher grade” the second place it appears and inserting in lieu thereof “that grade”; and (E) by adding at the end the following: “However, in the case of a board convened under this section to consider a warrant officer or former warrant officer, if the report of that board, as approved by the Secretary concerned, recommends that warrant officer or former warrant officer for promotion to the next higher grade, that person shall, as soon as practicable, be appointed to the next higher grade in accordance with provisions of section 578(c) of this title (rather than subsections (b), (c), and (d) of section 624 of this title).”. (3) subsection (d)(2) of such section is amended— (A) by striking out “An officer who is promoted” and inserting in lieu thereof “A person who is appointed”; (B) by striking out “such promotion” and inserting in lieu thereof “that appointment”; and (C) by adding at the end the following new sentence: “In the case of a person who is not on the active-duty list when appointed to the next higher grade, placement of that person on the active-duty list pursuant to the preceding sentence shall be only for purposes of determination of eligibility of that person for consideration for promotion by any subsequent special selection board under this section.”. (d) Applicability to Deceased Persons.— subsection (e) of such section is amended to read as follows: “(e) Deceased Persons.— If a person whose name is being considered for referral to a special selection board under this section dies before the completion of proceedings under this section with respect to that person, this section shall be applied to that person posthumously.”. (e) Recodification of Administrative Matters.— Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following: “(f) Convening of Boards.— A board convened under this section— “(1) shall be convened under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense; “(2) shall be composed in accordance with section 612 of this title or, in the case of board to consider a warrant officer or former warrant officer, in accordance with section 573 of this title and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the military department concerned; and “(3) shall be subject to the provisions of section 613 of this title. “(g) Promotion Board Defined.— In this section, the term ‘promotion board’ means a selection board convened by the Secretary of a military department under section 573(a) or 611(a) of this title.”. (f) Ratification of Codified Practice.— The consideration by a special selection board convened under section 628 of title 10, United States Code, before the date of the enactment of this Act of a person who, at the time of consideration, was a retired 112 STAT. 2003officer or former officer of the Armed Forces (including a deceased retired or former officer) is hereby ratified.