Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1030 To amend title 38, United States Code, to amend the definition of the term ‘‘spouse’’ to recognize new State definitions of such term for the purpose of the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Ms. TITUS (for herself, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. KELLY of Illi- nois, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SUOZZI, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to amend the defini- tion of the term ‘‘spouse’’ to recognize new State defini- tions of such term for the purpose of the laws adminis- tered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veteran Spouses Equal 4 Treatment Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1030.IH H1030 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1030 IH SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SPOUSE FOR PURPOSES OF VET- 1 ERAN BENEFITS TO REFLECT NEW STATE 2 DEFINITIONS OF SPOUSE. 3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 101 of title 38, United 4 States Code is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘of the oppo- 6 site sex’’; and 7 (2) in paragraph (31), by striking ‘‘of the oppo- 8 site sex who is a wife or husband’’ and inserting ‘‘in 9 a marriage recognized under section 103 of this 10 title’’. 11 (b) DETERMINATION.—Subsection (c) of section 103 12 of such title is amended to read as follows: 13 ‘‘(c)(1) For the purposes of all laws administered by 14 the Secretary, the Secretary shall recognize a marriage 15 based on the law of the State where the marriage oc- 16 curred. In the case of a marriage that occurred outside 17 a State, the Secretary shall recognize the marriage if the 18 marriage was lawful in the place where it occurred and 19 could have been entered into under the laws of any State. 20 Except in the case of a purported marriage deemed valid 21 under subsection (a), the Secretary may not recognize 22 more than one marriage for any person at the same time. 23 ‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘State’ has the 24 meaning given that the term in section 101(20) of this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1030.IH H1030 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1030 IH title, except that such term also includes the Common- 1 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Feb 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1030.IH H1030 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS