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. 
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 ‘‘Military Spouse Li-
censing Relief Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Thirty percent of military spouses work in 
skilled positions requiring a State-issued professional 
license or certification, and 30 percent of military 
spouses have a four-year degree or greater. 
(2) Prior to the COVID–19 pandemic, military 
spouses faced unemployment at nearly six times the 
nationwide unemployment rate. 
(3) To date, 49 of the 50 States have acknowl-
edged the challenges facing military spouses by tak-
ing various steps to address barriers to professional 
licensure. 
(4) The average military family loses more than 
$10,000 per year in wages and fees due to time-con-
suming and costly relicensing procedures unique to 
each State. 
SEC. 3. PORTABILITY OF PROFESSIONAL LICENSES OF 
MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES 
AND THEIR SPOUSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Servicemembers 
Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 4021 et seq.) is amended by 
inserting after section 705 (50 U.S.C. 4025) the following 
new section: 
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‘‘SEC. 705A. PORTABILITY OF PROFESSIONAL LICENSES OF 
SERVICEMEMBERS AND THEIR SPOUSES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which a service-
member has a professional license in good standing in a 
jurisdiction or the spouse of a servicemember has a profes-
sional license in good standing in a jurisdiction and such 
servicemember or spouse relocates his or her residency be-
cause of military orders for military service to a location 
that is not in such jurisdiction, the professional license or 
certification of such servicemember or spouse shall be con-
sidered valid at a similar scope of practice and in the dis-
cipline applied for in the jurisdiction of such new residency 
for the duration of such military orders if such service-
member or spouse— 
‘‘(1) provides a copy of such military orders to 
the licensing authority in the jurisdiction in which 
the new residency is located; 
‘‘(2) remains in good standing with the licens-
ing authority that issued the license; and 
‘‘(3) submits to the authority of the licensing 
authority in the new jurisdiction for the purposes of 
standards of practice, discipline, and fulfillment of 
any continuing education requirements. 
‘‘(b) INTERSTATE LICENSURE COMPACTS.—If a serv-
icemember or spouse of a servicemember is licensed and 
able to operate in multiple jurisdictions through an inter-
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state licensure compact, with respect to services provided 
in the jurisdiction of the interstate licensure compact by 
a licensee covered by such compact, the servicemember or 
spouse of a servicemember shall be subject to the require-
ments of the compact or the applicable provisions of law 
of the applicable State and not this section.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 
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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