I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2650 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide for the portability 

of professional licenses of members of the uniformed services and their 

spouses, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2021 

Mr. GARCIA of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide 

for the portability of professional licenses of members 

of the uniformed services and their spouses, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Spouse Li5 censing Relief Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Thirty percent of military spouses work in 

2 skilled positions requiring a State-issued professional 

3 license or certification, and 30 percent of military 

4 spouses have a four-year degree or greater. 

5 (2) Prior to the COVID–19 pandemic, military 

6 spouses faced unemployment at nearly six times the 

7 nationwide unemployment rate. 

8 (3) To date, 49 of the 50 States have acknowl9 edged the challenges facing military spouses by tak10 ing various steps to address barriers to professional 

11 licensure. 

12 (4) The average military family loses more than 

13 $10,000 per year in wages and fees due to time-con14 suming and costly relicensing procedures unique to 

15 each State. 

16 SEC. 3. PORTABILITY OF PROFESSIONAL LICENSES OF 

17 MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES 

18 AND THEIR SPOUSES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Servicemembers 

20 Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 4021 et seq.) is amended by 

21 inserting after section 705 (50 U.S.C. 4025) the following 

22 new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 705A. PORTABILITY OF PROFESSIONAL LICENSES OF 

2 SERVICEMEMBERS AND THEIR SPOUSES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which a service4 member has a professional license in good standing in a 

5 jurisdiction or the spouse of a servicemember has a profes6 sional license in good standing in a jurisdiction and such 

7 servicemember or spouse relocates his or her residency be8 cause of military orders for military service to a location 

9 that is not in such jurisdiction, the professional license or 

10 certification of such servicemember or spouse shall be con11 sidered valid at a similar scope of practice and in the dis12 cipline applied for in the jurisdiction of such new residency 

13 for the duration of such military orders if such service14 member or spouse— 

15 ‘‘(1) provides a copy of such military orders to 

16 the licensing authority in the jurisdiction in which 

17 the new residency is located; 

18 ‘‘(2) remains in good standing with the licens19 ing authority that issued the license; and 

20 ‘‘(3) submits to the authority of the licensing 

21 authority in the new jurisdiction for the purposes of 

22 standards of practice, discipline, and fulfillment of 

23 any continuing education requirements. 

24 ‘‘(b) INTERSTATE LICENSURE COMPACTS.—If a serv25 icemember or spouse of a servicemember is licensed and 

26 able to operate in multiple jurisdictions through an interVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:13 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2650.IH H2650

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1 state licensure compact, with respect to services provided 

2 in the jurisdiction of the interstate licensure compact by 

3 a licensee covered by such compact, the servicemember or 

4 spouse of a servicemember shall be subject to the require5 ments of the compact or the applicable provisions of law 

6 of the applicable State and not this section.’’. 

7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

8 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 

9 the item relating to section 705 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 705A. Portability of professional licenses of servicemembers and their 

spouses.’’. 

Æ 


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