Title: Surviving Spouse Contracting Preference Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Surviving Spouse Contracting Preference Act
This bill treats a small business owned by the surviving spouse of member of the Armed Forces killed in the line of duty as a small business concern owned and controlled by a service-disabled veteran for purposes of contracting goals and preferences of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The company shall be so considered beginning on the date on which the member of the Armed Forces dies and ending on the earlier of the date on which the surviving spouse: (1) remarries, or (2) relinquishes ownership in such business.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 971 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 971

To amend title 38, United States Code, to treat small businesses, owned 
by surviving spouses of members of the Armed Forces killed in the line 
 of duty, as small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans 
for purposes of contracting goals and preferences of the Department of 
               Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 7, 2017

   Ms. Meng introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to treat small businesses, owned 
by surviving spouses of members of the Armed Forces killed in the line 
 of duty, as small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans 
for purposes of contracting goals and preferences of the Department of 
               Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Surviving Spouse Contracting 
Preference Act''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF BUSINESSES OWNED BY SURVIVING SPOUSES OF MEMBERS 
              OF THE ARMED FORCES FOR PURPOSES OF DEPARTMENT OF 
              VETERANS AFFAIRS CONTRACTING GOALS AND PREFERENCES.

    (a) In General.--Section 8127 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (h) through (k) as 
        subsections (i) through (l), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the following new 
        subsection (h):
    ``(h) Treatment of Businesses After Death of Member.--(1) If a 
member of the Armed Forces is killed in the line of duty in the active 
military, naval, or air service, the surviving spouse of such member 
who acquires ownership rights in a small business concern shall, for 
the period described in paragraph (2), be treated as the surviving 
spouse of a service-disabled veteran described in section 3(q)(2)(C)(i) 
of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(q)(2)(C)(i)).
    ``(2) The period referred to in paragraph (1) is the period 
beginning on the date on which the member of the Armed Forces dies and 
ending on the earliest of the following dates:
            ``(A) The date on which the surviving spouse of the member 
        remarries.
            ``(B) The date on which the surviving spouse relinquishes 
        such ownership interest in the small business concern.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Subsection (h) of section 8127 of such title, 
as added by subsection (a), shall take effect on the date of the 
enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to the deaths of 
members of the Armed Forces occurring on or after such date.
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