Retired Pay Restoration Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 208 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 JANUARY 24, 2019 Mr. TESTER (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. COONS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Ms. SINEMA) 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. 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 20:14 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S208.IS S208 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 208 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Retired Pay Restora- 2 tion Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENT OF BOTH RETIRED PAY 4 AND VETERANS’ DISABILITY COMPENSATION 5 FOR CERTAIN MILITARY RETIREES WITH 6 COMPENSABLE SERVICE-CONNECTED DIS- 7 ABILITIES. 8 (a) EXTENSION OF CONCURRENT RECEIPT AUTHOR- 9 ITY TO RETIREES WITH SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABIL- 10 ITIES RATED LESS THAN 50 PERCENT.—Section 1414 of 11 title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking para- 12 graph (2) of subsection (a). 13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 14 (1) The heading of section 1414 of such title is 15 amended to read as follows: 16 ‘‘§ 1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also 17 eligible for veterans’ disability compensa- 18 tion: concurrent payment of retired pay 19 and disability compensation’’. 20 (2) The item relating to such section in the 21 table of sections at the beginning of chapter 71 of 22 such title is amended to read as follows: 23 ‘‘1414. Members eligible for retired pay who are also eligible for veterans’ dis- ability compensation: concurrent payment of retired pay and disability compensation.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S208.IS S208 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 208 IS (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2020, 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 ‘‘retiree’)’’ and inserting ‘‘a 14 qualified retiree’’; and 15 (B) by adding at the end the following new 16 paragraph: 17 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED RETIREES.—For purposes 18 of this section, a qualified retiree, with respect 19 to any month, is a member or former member 20 of the uniformed services who— 21 ‘‘(A) is entitled to retired pay (other 22 than by reason of section 12731b of this 23 title); and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S208.IS S208 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 208 IS ‘‘(B) is also entitled for that month to 1 veterans’ disability compensation.’’. 2 (2) DISABILITY RETIREES.—Paragraph (2) of 3 subsection (b) of section 1414 of such title is 4 amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR RETIREES WITH 6 FEWER THAN 20 YEARS OF SERVICE.—The retired 7 pay of a qualified retiree who is retired under chap- 8 ter 61 of this title with fewer than 20 years of cred- 9 itable service is subject to reduction by the lesser 10 of— 11 ‘‘(A) the amount of the reduction under 12 sections 5304 and 5305 of title 38; or 13 ‘‘(B) the amount (if any) by which the 14 amount of the member’s retired pay under such 15 chapter exceeds the amount equal to 21⁄2 per- 16 cent of the member’s years of creditable service 17 multiplied by the member’s retired pay base 18 under section 1406(b)(1) or 1407 of this title, 19 whichever is applicable to the member.’’. 20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 21 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2020, and shall 22 apply to payments for months beginning on or after that 23 date. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S208.IS S208 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS