II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 571

To amend title 10, United States Code, to terminate entitlement of pay

and allowances for members of the Armed Forces who are sentenced

to confinement and a punitive discharge or dismissal, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 16, 1995

Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. KOHL, Mr. BRADLEY, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. ROTH, Mr. HARKIN,

Mr. REID, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. SIMON,

and Mr. ROBB) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To amend title 10, United States Code, to terminate entitlement of pay and allowances for members of the Armed

Forces who are sentenced to confinement and a punitive

discharge or dismissal, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. PAY AND ALLOWANCES OF MEMBERS SEN2 TENCED BY A COURT-MARTIAL TO CONFINE3 MENT AND PUNITIVE DISCHARGE OR DIS4 MISSAL.

5 (a) TERMINATION OF ENTITLEMENT.—(1) Chapter

6 47 of title 10, United States Code (the Uniform Code of

7 Military Justice), is amended by adding at the end of sub8 chapter VIII the following new section:

9 ‘‘§ 858b. Art. 58b. Sentences to confinement and puni10 tive discharge or dismissal: termination

11 of pay and allowances

12 ‘‘(a) TERMINATION OF ENTITLEMENT.—A member

13 of the armed forces sentenced by a court-martial to con14 finement and to a punishment named in subsection (c) is

15 not entitled to pay and allowances for any period after

16 the sentence is adjudged by the court-martial.

17 ‘‘(b) RESTORATION OF ENTITLEMENT.—If, in the

18 case of a member sentenced as described in subsection (a),

19 none of the punishments named in subsection (c) are in20 cluded in the sentence as finally approved, or the sentence

21 to such a punishment is set aside or disapproved, then,

22 effective upon such final approval or upon the setting

23 aside or disapproval of such punishment, as the case may

24 be, the termination of entitlement of the member to pay

25 and allowances under subsection (a) by reason of the sen26 tence adjudged in such case ceases to apply to the member
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1 and the member is entitled to the pay and allowances that,

2 under subsection (a), were not paid to the member by rea3 son of that termination of entitlement.

4 ‘‘(c) COVERED PUNISHMENTS.—The punishments re5 ferred to in subsections (a) and (b) are as follows:

6 ‘‘(A) Dishonorable discharge.

7 ‘‘(B) Bad-conduct discharge.

8 ‘‘(C) Dismissal.’’.

9 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of sub10 chapter VIII of chapter 47 of such title is amended by

11 inserting after the item relating to section 858a (article

12 58a) the following:

‘‘858b. 58b. Sentences to confinement and punitive discharge or dismissal: termination of pay and allowances.’’.

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) Section 857 of

14 title 10, United States Code (article 57 of the Uniform

15 Code of Military Justice), is amended by striking out ‘‘(a)

16 No’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘(a) Except as provided

17 in section 858b of this title (article 58b), no’’.

18 (2)(A) Section 804 of title 37, United States Code,

19 is repealed.

20 (B) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter

21 15 of such title is amended by striking out the item relat22 ing to section 804.
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1 SEC. 2. TRANSITIONAL COMPENSATION FOR SPOUSES, DE2 PENDENT CHILDREN, AND FORMER SPOUSES

3 OF MEMBERS SENTENCED TO CONFINEMENT

4 AND PUNITIVE DISCHARGE OR DISMISSAL.

5 (a) AUTHORITY TO PAY COMPENSATION.—Chapter

6 53 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting

7 after section 1059 the following new section:

8 ‘‘§ 1059a. Members sentenced to confinement and pu9 nitive discharge or dismissal: transitional

10 compensation for spouses, dependent

11 children, and former spouses

12 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY TO PAY COMPENSATION.—The Sec13 retary of the executive department concerned may estab14 lish a program to pay transitional compensation in accord15 ance with this section to any spouse, dependent child, or

16 former spouse of a member of the armed forces during

17 any period in which the member’s entitlement to pay and

18 allowances is terminated under section 858b of this title

19 (article 58b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice).

20 ‘‘(b) NEED REQUIRED.—(1) A person may be paid

21 transitional compensation under this section only if the

22 person demonstrates a need to receive such compensation,

23 as determined under regulations prescribed pursuant to

24 subsection (f).

25 ‘‘(2) Section 1059(g)(1) of this title shall apply to

26 eligibility for transitional compensation under this section.
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1 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION.—(1) The amount

2 of the transitional compensation payable to a person under

3 a program established pursuant to this section shall be

4 determined under regulations prescribed pursuant to sub5 section (f).

6 ‘‘(2) The total amount of the transitional compensa7 tion paid under this section in the case of a member may

8 not exceed the total amount of the pay and allowances

9 which, except for section 858b of this title (article 58b

10 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), such member

11 would be entitled to receive during the one-year period be12 ginning on the date of the termination of such member’s

13 entitlement to pay and allowances under such section.

14 ‘‘(d) RECIPIENTS OF PAYMENTS.—Transitional com15 pensation payable to a person under this section shall be

16 paid directly to that person or to the legal guardian of

17 the person, if any.

18 ‘‘(e) COORDINATION OF BENEFITS.—Transitional

19 compensation in the case of a member of the armed forces

20 may not be paid under this section to a person who is

21 entitled to transitional compensation under section 1059

22 or 1408(h) of this title by reason of being a spouse, de23 pendent child, or former spouse of such member.

24 ‘‘(f) EMERGENCY TRANSITIONAL ASSISTANCE.—

25 Under a program established pursuant to this section, the
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1 Secretary of the executive department concerned may pay

2 emergency transitional assistance to a person referred to

3 in subsection (a) for not more than 45 days while the per4 son’s application for transitional assistance under the pro5 gram is pending approval. Subsections (b) and (d) do not

6 apply to payment of emergency transitional assistance.

7 ‘‘(g) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of the executive

8 department concerned shall prescribe regulations for car9 rying out any program established by the Secretary under

10 this section.

11 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

12 ‘‘(1) The term ‘Secretary of the executive de13 partment concerned’ means—

14 ‘‘(A) the Secretary of Defense, with respect

15 to the armed forces, other than the Coast

16 Guard when it is not operating as a service in

17 the Navy; and

18 ‘‘(B) the Secretary of Transportation, with

19 respect to the Coast Guard when it is not oper20 ating as a service in the Navy.

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘dependent child’ has the mean22 ing given that term in section 1059(l) of this title.’’.

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

24 at the beginning of chapter 53 of title 10, United States
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1 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to

2 section 1059 the following:

‘‘1059a. Members sentenced to confinement and punitive discharge or dismissal:

transitional compensation for spouses, dependent children, and

former spouses.’’.

3 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY.

4 (a) PROSPECTIVE APPLICABILITY.—Subject to sub5 section (b), the amendments made by this Act shall take

6 effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and shall

7 apply with respect to pay and allowances for periods after

8 such date.

9 (b) SAVINGS PROVISION.—(1) If it is held unconstitu10 tional to apply section 858b of title 10, United States

11 Code (article 58b of the Uniform Code of Military Jus12 tice), as added by section 1(a), with respect to an act pun13 ishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice that

14 was committed before the date of the enactment of this

15 Act, then—

16 (A) with respect to acts punishable under the

17 Uniform Code of Military Justice that were commit18 ted before that date, the amendments made by this

19 Act shall be deemed not to have been made; and

20 (B) the amendments made by this Act shall

21 apply with respect to acts punishable under the Uni22 form Code of Military Justice that are committed on

23 or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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1 (2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘‘Uni2 form Code of Military Justice’’ means the provisions of

3 chapter 47 of title 10, United States Code.

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