To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide a guarantee of residency for registration of businesses of spouses of members of the uniformed services, to improve occupational license portability for military spouses through interstate compacts, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2618 To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide a guarantee of residency for registration of businesses of spouses of members of the uniformed services, to improve occupational license portability for military spouses through interstate compacts, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 9, 2019 Mr. BANKS (for himself, Mrs. DAVIS of California, and Mr. CHABOT) intro- duced 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 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com- mittee concerned A BILL To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide a guarantee of residency for registration of businesses of spouses of members of the uniformed services, to improve occupational license portability for military spouses through interstate compacts, and for other pur- poses. 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 00:47 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2618 IH SECTION 1. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR REGISTRA- 1 TION OF BUSINESSES OF SPOUSES OF MEM- 2 BERS OF UNIFORMED SERVICES. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VI of the Servicemembers 4 Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 4021 et seq.) is amended by 5 adding at the end the following new section: 6 ‘‘SEC. 707. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR BUSINESSES OF 7 SPOUSES OF SERVICEMEMBERS. 8 ‘‘For the purposes of registering a business— 9 ‘‘(1) a person who is absent from a State be- 10 cause the person is accompanying the person’s 11 spouse who is absent from that same State in com- 12 pliance with military or naval orders shall not, solely 13 by reason of that absence— 14 ‘‘(A) be deemed to have lost a residence or 15 domicile in that State, without regard to wheth- 16 er or not the person intends to return to that 17 State; 18 ‘‘(B) be deemed to have acquired a resi- 19 dence or domicile in any other State; or 20 ‘‘(C) be deemed to have become a resident 21 in or a resident of any other State; and 22 ‘‘(2) the spouse of a servicemember may elect 23 to use the same residence as the servicemember re- 24 gardless of the date on which the marriage of the 25 spouse and the servicemember occurred.’’. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:47 May 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2618 IH (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 1 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 2 the item relating to section 706 the following new item: 3 ‘‘Sec. 707. Guarantee of residency for businesses of spouses of servicemem- bers.’’. SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL LICENSE PORT- 4 ABILITY FOR MILITARY SPOUSES THROUGH 5 INTERSTATE COMPACTS. 6 Section 1784 of title 10, United States Code, is 7 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 8 section: 9 ‘‘(h) IMPROVEMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL LICENSE 10 PORTABILITY THROUGH INTERSTATE COMPACTS.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 12 may enter into a cooperative agreement with the 13 Council of State Governments to assist with funding 14 of the development of interstate compacts on li- 15 censed occupations in order to alleviate the burden 16 associated with relicensing in such an occupation by 17 the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces in con- 18 nection with a permanent change of duty station of 19 members to another State. 20 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The amount provided under 21 paragraph (1) as assistance for the development of 22 any particular interstate compact may not exceed 23 $1,000,000. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2618 IH ‘‘(3) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than Feb- 1 ruary 28 of each year, the Secretary shall submit to 2 the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate 3 and the House of Representatives a report on inter- 4 state compacts described in paragraph (1) developed 5 through assistance provided under that paragraph. 6 Each report shall set forth the following: 7 ‘‘(A) Any interstate compact developed 8 during the preceding calendar year, including 9 the occupational licenses covered by such com- 10 pact and the States agreeing to enter into such 11 compact. 12 ‘‘(B) Any interstate compact developed 13 during a prior calendar year into which one or 14 more additional States agreed to enter during 15 the preceding calendar year. 16 ‘‘(4) EXPIRATION.—The authority to enter into 17 a cooperative agreement under paragraph (1), and 18 to provide assistance described in that paragraph 19 pursuant to such cooperative agreement, shall expire 20 on September 30, 2024.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 May 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2618.IH H2618 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with BILLS