I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1182 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to guarantee the equity of 

spouses of military personnel with regard to matters of residency, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2009 

Mr. CARTER (for himself, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. EDWARDS of Texas, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. 

HOLT, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, 

Mr. DENT, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. COBLE, and Ms. GRANGER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to guarantee 

the equity of spouses of military personnel with regard 

to matters of residency, 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 Spouses Resi5 dency Relief Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR SPOUSES OF MILI2 TARY PERSONNEL FOR VOTING PURPOSES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 705 of the 

4 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 595) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘For’’ and inserting the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For’’; 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub10 section: 

11 ‘‘(b) SPOUSES.—For the purposes of voting for any 

12 Federal office (as defined in section 301 of the Federal 

13 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431)) or a State 

14 or local office, a person who is absent from a State be15 cause the person is accompanying the person’s spouse who 

16 is absent from that same State in compliance with military 

17 or naval orders shall not, solely by reason of that ab18 sence— 

19 ‘‘(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or 

20 domicile in that State, without regard to whether or 

21 not the person intends to return to that State; 

22 ‘‘(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or 

23 domicile in any other State; or 

24 ‘‘(3) be deemed to have become a resident in or 

25 a resident of any other State.’’; and 


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1 (3) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘AND

2 SPOUSES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL’’ before the 

3 period at the end. 

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

5 in section 1(b) of such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 501) is 

6 amended by striking the item relating to section 705 and 

7 inserting the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 705. Guarantee of residency for military personnel and spouses of military personnel.’’. 

8 (c) APPLICATION.—Subsection (b) of section 705 of 

9 such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 595), as added by subsection 

10 (a) of this section, shall apply with respect to absences 

11 from States described in such subsection (b) on or after 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act, regardless of the 

13 date of the military or naval order concerned. 

14 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION FOR TAX PURPOSES OF RESI15 DENCE OF SPOUSES OF MILITARY PER16 SONNEL. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 511 of the 

18 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 571) is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘A servicemember’’ and in22 serting the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A servicemember’’; and 

24 (B) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(2) SPOUSES.—A spouse of a servicemember 

2 shall neither lose nor acquire a residence or domicile 

3 for purposes of taxation with respect to the person, 

4 personal property, or income of the spouse by reason 

5 of being absent or present in any tax jurisdiction of 

6 the United States solely to be with the servicemem7 ber in compliance with the servicemember’s military 

8 orders if the residence or domicile, as the case may 

9 be, is the same for the servicemember and the 

10 spouse.’’; 

11 (2) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e), 

12 and (f) as subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g), respec13 tively; 

14 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol15 lowing new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(c) INCOME OF A MILITARY SPOUSE.—Income for 

17 services performed by the spouse of a servicemember shall 

18 not be deemed to be income for services performed or from 

19 sources within a tax jurisdiction of the United States if 

20 the spouse is not a resident or domiciliary of the jurisdic21 tion in which the income is earned because the spouse is 

22 in the jurisdiction solely to be with the servicemember 

23 serving in compliance with military orders.’’; and 

24 (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para25 graph (2)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘or the 

2 spouse of a servicemember’’ after ‘‘The personal 

3 property of a servicemember’’; and 

4 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘or the 

5 spouse’s’’ after ‘‘servicemember’s’’. 

6 (b) APPLICATION.—Subsections (a)(2) and (c) of sec7 tion 511 of such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 571), as added by 

8 subsection (a) of this section, and the amendments made 

9 to such section 511 by subsection (a)(4) of this section, 

10 shall apply with respect to any return of State or local 

11 income tax filed for any taxable year beginning with the 

12 taxable year that includes the date of the enactment of 

13 this Act. 

14 SEC. 4. SUSPENSION OF LAND RIGHTS RESIDENCY RE15 QUIREMENT FOR SPOUSES OF MILITARY 

16 PERSONNEL. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 508 of the 

18 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 568) is 

19 amended in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘or the spouse of 

20 such servicemember’’ after ‘‘a servicemember in military 

21 service’’. 

22 (b) APPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub23 section (a) shall apply with respect to servicemembers in 

24 military service (as defined in section 101 of such Act (50 


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1 U.S.C. App. 511)) on or after the date of the enactment 

2 of this Act. 

Æ 


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