Retired Pay Restoration Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1147 To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit certain retired members of the uniformed services who have a service-connected disability to receive both disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for their disability and either retired pay by reason of their years of military service or Combat-Related Special Compensation, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 15, 2021 Mr. TESTER (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BROWN, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. CASEY, Mr. COONS, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. ROSEN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. SMITH, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit certain retired members of the uniformed services who have a service-connected disability to receive both disability com- pensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs for their disability and either retired pay by reason of their years of military service or Combat-Related Special Com- pensation, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\S1147.IS S1147 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1147 IS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retired Pay Restora- 4 tion Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENT OF BOTH RETIRED PAY 6 AND VETERANS’ DISABILITY COMPENSATION 7 FOR CERTAIN MILITARY RETIREES WITH 8 COMPENSABLE SERVICE-CONNECTED DIS- 9 ABILITIES. 10 (a) EXTENSION OF CONCURRENT RECEIPT AUTHOR- 11 ITY TO RETIREES WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABIL- 12 ITIES RATED LESS THAN 50 PERCENT.—Section 1414 of 13 title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking para- 14 graph (2) of subsection (a). 15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 16 (1) The heading of section 1414 of such title is 17 amended to read as follows: 18 ‘‘§ 1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also 19 eligible for veterans’ disability compensa- 20 tion: concurrent payment of retired pay 21 and disability compensation’’. 22 (2) The item relating to such section in the 23 table of sections at the beginning of chapter 71 of 24 such title is amended to read as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1147.IS S1147 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1147 IS ‘‘1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also eligible for veterans’ dis- ability compensation: concurrent payment of retired pay and disability compensation.’’. (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2022, and shall 2 apply to payments for months beginning on or after that 3 date. 4 SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF SERVICE ELIGIBILITY FOR COM- 5 BAT-RELATED SPECIAL COMPENSATION AND 6 CONCURRENT RECEIPT. 7 (a) AMENDMENTS TO STANDARDIZE SIMILAR PROVI- 8 SIONS.— 9 (1) QUALIFIED RETIREES.—Subsection (a) of 10 section 1414 of title 10, United States Code, as 11 amended by section 2(a), is amended— 12 (A) by striking ‘‘a member or’’ and all that 13 follows through ‘‘paid both for that month’’ and 14 inserting ‘‘a qualified retiree is entitled to be 15 paid both retired pay and veterans’ disability 16 compensation for a month’’; and 17 (B) by adding at the end the following new 18 paragraph: 19 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED RETIREES.—For purposes 20 of this section, a qualified retiree, with respect 21 to any month, is a member or former member 22 of the uniformed services who— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1147.IS S1147 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1147 IS ‘‘(A) is entitled to retired pay (other 1 than by reason of section 12731b of this 2 title); and 3 ‘‘(B) is also entitled for that month to 4 veterans’ disability compensation.’’. 5 (2) DISABILITY RETIREES.—Paragraph (2) of 6 subsection (b) of section 1414 of such title is 7 amended to read as follows: 8 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR RETIREES WITH 9 FEWER THAN 20 YEARS OF SERVICE.—The retired 10 pay of a qualified retiree who is retired under chap- 11 ter 61 of this title with fewer than 20 years of cred- 12 itable service is subject to reduction by the lesser 13 of— 14 ‘‘(A) the amount of the reduction under 15 sections 5304 and 5305 of title 38; or 16 ‘‘(B) the amount (if any) by which the 17 amount of the member’s retired pay under such 18 chapter exceeds the amount equal to 21⁄2 per- 19 cent of the member’s years of creditable service 20 multiplied by the member’s retired pay base 21 under section 1406(b)(1) or 1407 of this title, 22 whichever is applicable to the member.’’. 23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 24 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2022, and shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1147.IS S1147 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1147 IS apply to payments for months beginning on or after that 1 date. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:00 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1147.IS S1147 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS