I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4161 
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to require the consent of 
parties to contracts for the use of arbitration to resolve controversies 
arising under the contracts and subject to provisions of such Act and 
to preserve the rights of servicemembers to bring class actions under 
such Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 2, 2015 
Mr. JONES (for himself, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. MASSIE, and Ms. GABBARD) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Vet-
erans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to require 
the consent of parties to contracts for the use of arbitra-
tion to resolve controversies arising under the contracts 
and subject to provisions of such Act and to preserve 
the rights of servicemembers to bring class actions under 
such Act, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SCRA Rights Protec-
tion Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. ELECTION OF ARBITRATION TO RESOLVE CON-
TROVERSIES 
UNDER 
SERVICEMEMBERS 
CIVIL RELIEF ACT. 
(a) 
IN
GENERAL.—Section 
102 
of 
the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 512) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(d) WRITTEN CONSENT REQUIRED FOR ARBITRA-
TION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when-
ever a contract with a servicemember, or a servicemember 
and the servicemember’s spouse jointly, provides for the 
use of arbitration to resolve a controversy subject to a pro-
vision of this Act and arising out of or relating to such 
contract, arbitration may be used to settle such con-
troversy only if, after such controversy arises, all parties 
to such controversy consent in writing to use arbitration 
to settle such controversy.’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (d) of such section, 
as added by subsection (a), shall apply with respect to con-
tracts entered into, amended, altered, modified, renewed, 
or extended after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON WAIVER OF RIGHTS AND PROTEC-
TIONS UNDER SERVICEMEMBERS CIVIL RE-
LIEF ACT. 
(a) 
IN
GENERAL.—Section 
107(a) 
of 
the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 517(a)) 
is amended— 
(1) in the second sentence, by inserting ‘‘and if 
it is made after a specific dispute has arisen and the 
dispute is identified in the waiver’’ after ‘‘to which 
it applies’’; and 
(2) in the third sentence, by inserting ‘‘and if 
it is made after a specific dispute has arisen and the 
dispute is identified in the waiver’’ after ‘‘period of 
military service’’. 
(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-
section (a) shall apply with respect to waivers made on 
or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. PRESERVATION OF RIGHT TO BRING CLASS ACTION 
UNDER 
SERVICEMEMBERS 
CIVIL 
RELIEF 
ACT. 
(a) 
IN
GENERAL.—Section 
802(a) 
of 
the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 597a(a)) 
is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
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(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(3) be a representative party on behalf of 
members of a class or be a member of a class, in 
accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Proce-
dure, notwithstanding any previous agreement to the 
contrary.’’. 
(b) CONSTRUCTION.—The amendments made by sub-
section (a) shall not be construed to imply that a person 
aggrieved by a violation of such Act did not have a right 
to bring a civil action as a representative party on behalf 
of members of a class or be a member of a class in a 
civil action before the date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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