McSally, a member of the Armed Services Committee who is up for reelection in 2020, is expected to introduce the proposal as soon as Wednesday with the goal of getting most, if not all, of it included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a defense policy bill that passes every year.

"Our intent is to include as much as possible in the mark up of the defense bill next week," McSally told reporters at a lunch hosted by Winning for Women, an outside group aimed at supporting female GOP candidates. "We've had very positive conservations so far."

McSally's legislation, according to a one-page summary, focuses on changes in four categories: prevention and training, victim support, investigation and prosecution.

"What we're trying to do is team up the JAGs [judge advocate generals] and the investigators early on in the process. …It needs to not be informal," McSally told an all-female group of reporters.

She said that her focus as she put together a proposal was on what is "the best possible investigation, with the best possible support to the victim, with the due process that the accused deserves as well?"

"That was not an easy decision, but I believe it was the right thing to do at the time so that I could help lead on this issue and people could maybe better understand where I was coming from," McSally recounted in Arizona in March

McSally added on Tuesday that the level of discussion about sexual assault in the military had improved.

Sen.(R-Ariz.) said on Tuesday that she will introduce legislation to address how the military handles sexual assault claims, including making sexual harassment a stand-alone offense under the military's criminal justice system."When I went off to basic training … it wasn't something that was openly discussed," McSally said, "even though this scourge was happening in our society and our military."