MANDATORY PARTICIPATION OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES IN THE TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

SEC. 221. MANDATORY PARTICIPATION OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES IN THE TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. (a) In General.—Subsection (c) of section 1144 of title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: “(c) Participation. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall require the participation in the program carried out under this section of the members eligible for assistance under the program. “(2) The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security may, under regulations such Secretaries shall prescribe, waive the participation requirement of paragraph (1) with respect to— “(A) such groups or classifications of members as the Secretaries determine, after consultation with the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, for whom participation is not and would not be of assistance to such members based on the Secretaries’ articulable justification that there is extraordinarily high reason to believe the exempted members are unlikely to face major readjustment, health care, employment, or other challenges associated with transition to civilian life; and “(B) individual members possessing specialized skills who, due to unavoidable circumstances, are needed to support a unit’s imminent deployment.” . (b) Required Use of Employment Assistance, Job Training Assistance, and Other Transitional Services in Preseparation Counseling.—Section 1142(a)(2) of such title is amended by striking “may” and inserting “shall”. (c) [10 U.S.C. 1142 note] Effective Date.—The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.