Retired Pay Restoration Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 303 To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit additional retired members of the Armed Forces 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. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 8, 2019 Mr. BILIRAKIS (for himself and Ms. GABBARD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi- sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to permit additional retired members of the Armed Forces who have a service- connected disability to receive both disability compensa- tion 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 compensa- tion. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H303.IH H303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 303 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retired Pay Restora- 2 tion Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 5 (1) For more than 100 years before 1999, all 6 disabled military retirees were required to fund their 7 own veterans’ disability compensation by forfeiting 8 one dollar of earned retired pay for each dollar re- 9 ceived in veterans’ disability compensation. 10 (2) Since 1999, Congress has enacted legisla- 11 tion to progressively expand eligibility criteria for re- 12 lief of the retired pay disability offset and reduce the 13 burden of financial sacrifice on disabled military re- 14 tirees. 15 (3) Absent adequate funding to eliminate the 16 sacrifice for all disabled retirees, Congress has given 17 initial priority to easing financial inequities for the 18 most severely disabled and for combat-disabled retir- 19 ees. 20 (4) In the interest of maximizing eligibility 21 within cost constraints, Congress effectively has au- 22 thorized full concurrent receipt for all qualifying re- 23 tirees with 100-percent disability ratings and all 24 qualifying retirees with combat-related disability rat- 25 ings, while phasing out the disability offset to retired 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H303.IH H303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 303 IH pay over 10 years for retired members with noncom- 1 bat-related, service-connected disability ratings of 50 2 percent to 90 percent. 3 (5) In pursuing these good-faith efforts, Con- 4 gress acknowledges the regrettable necessity of cre- 5 ating new thresholds of eligibility that understand- 6 ably are disappointing to disabled retirees who fall 7 short of meeting those new thresholds. 8 (6) Congress is not content with the status quo. 9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 10 gress that military retired pay earned by service and sac- 11 rifice in defending the United States should not be re- 12 duced because a military retiree is also eligible for vet- 13 erans’ disability compensation awarded for service-con- 14 nected disability. 15 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENT OF BOTH RETIRED PAY 16 AND VETERANS’ DISABILITY COMPENSATION 17 FOR CERTAIN ADDITIONAL MILITARY RETIR- 18 EES WITH COMPENSABLE SERVICE-CON- 19 NECTED DISABILITIES. 20 (a) EXTENSION OF CONCURRENT RECEIPT AUTHOR- 21 ITY TO RETIREES WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABIL- 22 ITIES RATED LESS THAN 50 PERCENT.—Section 1414(a) 23 of title 10, United States Code, is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H303.IH H303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 303 IH (1) by striking ‘‘COMPENSATION’’ in the sub- 1 section heading and all that follows through ‘‘Sub- 2 ject’’ and inserting ‘‘COMPENSATION.—Subject’’; 3 and 4 (2) by striking paragraph (2). 5 (b) AMENDMENTS TO REFLECT CONCLUSION OF 6 PHASE-IN OF CONCURRENT RECEIPT OF RETIRED PAY 7 AND VETERANS’ DISABILITY COMPENSATION.—Section 8 1414 of title 10, United States Code, is further amend- 9 ed— 10 (1) in subsection (a), as amended by subsection 11 (a) of this section, by striking the final sentence; 12 (2) by striking subsection (c) and redesignating 13 subsections (d) and (e) as subsections (c) and (d), 14 respectively; and 15 (3) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by 16 striking paragraphs (3) and (4). 17 (c) SPECIFICATION OF QUALIFIED RETIREES FOR 18 CONCURRENT RECEIPT PURPOSES.—Section 1414 of title 19 10, United States Code, is further amended— 20 (1) in subsection (a), as amended by sub- 21 sections (a) and (b)— 22 (A) by striking ‘‘a member or’’ and all that 23 follows through ‘‘is entitled’’ and inserting ‘‘an 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H303.IH H303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 303 IH individual who is a qualified retiree for any 1 month is entitled’’; and 2 (B) by inserting ‘‘retired pay and veterans’ 3 disability compensation’’ after ‘‘both’’; 4 (2) in subsection (b)— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘SPECIAL RULES’’ in the 6 subsection heading and all that follows through 7 ‘‘is subject to’’ and inserting ‘‘SPECIAL RULES 8 FOR CHAPTER 61 DISABILITY RETIREES.—In 9 the case of a qualified retiree who is retired 10 under chapter 61 of this title, the retired pay 11 of the member is subject to’’; and 12 (B) by striking paragraph (2); and 13 (3) in subsection (d), as redesignated and 14 amended by subsection (b), by adding at the end the 15 following new paragraph: 16 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED RETIREE.—The term ‘qualified 17 retiree’ means a member or former member of the 18 uniformed services who, with respect to any 19 month— 20 ‘‘(A) is entitled to retired pay, other than 21 in the case of a member retired under chapter 22 61 of this title with less than 20 years of serv- 23 ice creditable under section 1405 of this title 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H303.IH H303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 303 IH and less than 20 years of service computed 1 under section 12732 of this title; and 2 ‘‘(B) is entitled to veterans’ disability com- 3 pensation.’’. 4 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 5 (1) SECTION HEADING.—The heading of section 6 1414 of title 10, United States Code, is amended to 7 read as follows: 8 ‘‘§ 1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also 9 eligible for veterans’ disability compensa- 10 tion: Concurrent payment of retired pay 11 and disability compensation’’. 12 (2) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The item relating to 13 such section in the table of sections at the beginning 14 of chapter 71 of title 10, United States Code, is 15 amended to read as follows: 16 ‘‘1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also eligible for veterans’ dis- ability compensation: Concurrent payment of retired pay and disability compensation.’’. (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1413a(f) of 17 title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Sub- 18 section (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subsection (c)’’. 19 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 20 this section shall take effect as of January 1, 2020, and 21 shall apply to payments for months beginning on or after 22 that date. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:21 Jan 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H303.IH H303 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS