Title: Reserve Component Benefits Parity Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Reserve Component Benefits Parity Act
This bill makes reserve component members who are deployed to support pre-planned operations of a combatant command eligible for: (1) pre-mobilization health care, (2) transitional health care, (3) consideration of active duty service to reduce the age for retired pay, (4) the high-deployment allowance for lengthy or numerous deployments and frequent mobilizations, (5) Post-9/11 educational assistance, and (6) non-reduction in pay while serving in the uniformed services or National Guard.
The bill makes reserve component members who are deployed in response to a major disaster or emergency eligible for Post-9/11 educational assistance.
The bill makes all such reserve component members eligible for extension of the time limitation during deployment with respect to training and rehabilitation assistance for veterans with service-connected disabilities.
This bill shall apply to any order issued on or after January 1, 2012, for a reserve component member to serve on active duty in support of a pre-planned operation of a combatant command or in response to a major disaster or emergency.


[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 667 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 667

 To amend titles 5, 10, 37, and 38, United States Code, to ensure that 
  an order to serve on active duty under section 12304a or 12304b of 
 title 10, United States Code, is treated the same as other orders to 
serve on active duty for determining the eligibility of members of the 
     uniformed services and veterans for certain benefits and for 
            calculating the deadlines for certain benefits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 15, 2017

 Mr. Franken (for himself, Mrs. Capito, Ms. Klobuchar, and Mr. Cornyn) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend titles 5, 10, 37, and 38, United States Code, to ensure that 
  an order to serve on active duty under section 12304a or 12304b of 
 title 10, United States Code, is treated the same as other orders to 
serve on active duty for determining the eligibility of members of the 
     uniformed services and veterans for certain benefits and for 
            calculating the deadlines for certain benefits.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Reserve Component 
Benefits Parity Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Eligibility of reserve component members for pre-mobilization 
                            health care.
Sec. 3. Eligibility of reserve component members for transitional 
                            health care.
Sec. 4. Consideration of service on active duty to reduce age for 
                            eligibility for retired pay for non-regular 
                            service.
Sec. 5. Eligibility of reserve component members for high-deployment 
                            allowance for lengthy or numerous 
                            deployments and frequent mobilizations.
Sec. 6. Eligibility of reserve component members for post-9/11 
                            educational assistance.
Sec. 7. Eligibility of reserve component members for nonreduction in 
                            pay while serving in the uniformed services 
                            or National Guard.
Sec. 8. Effect of order to serve on active duty on eligibility for or 
                            use of certain military benefits.
Sec. 9. Retroactive applicability of amendments.

SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF RESERVE COMPONENT MEMBERS FOR PRE-MOBILIZATION 
              HEALTH CARE.

    Section 1074(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``in support of a contingency operation under'' and inserting 
``under section 12304b of this title or''.

SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF RESERVE COMPONENT MEMBERS FOR TRANSITIONAL 
              HEALTH CARE.

    Section 1145(a)(2)(B) of title 10, United States Code, is amended 
by striking ``in support of a contingency operation'' and inserting 
``under section 12304b of this title or a provision of law referred to 
in section 101(a)(13)(B) of this title''.

SEC. 4. CONSIDERATION OF SERVICE ON ACTIVE DUTY TO REDUCE AGE FOR 
              ELIGIBILITY FOR RETIRED PAY FOR NON-REGULAR SERVICE.

    Section 12731(f)(2)(B)(i) of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended by striking ``under a provision of law referred to in section 
101(a)(13)(B) or under section 12301(d)'' and inserting ``under section 
12301(d) or 12304b of this title or a provision of law referred to in 
section 101(a)(13)(B)''.

SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY OF RESERVE COMPONENT MEMBERS FOR HIGH-DEPLOYMENT 
              ALLOWANCE FOR LENGTHY OR NUMEROUS DEPLOYMENTS AND 
              FREQUENT MOBILIZATIONS.

    Section 436(a)(2)(C)(ii) of title 37, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after ``under'' the first place it appears the 
following: ``section 12304b of title 10 or''.

SEC. 6. ELIGIBILITY OF RESERVE COMPONENT MEMBERS FOR POST-9/11 
              EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE.

    Section 3301(1)(B) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``or 12304'' and inserting ``12304, 12304a, or 12304b''.

SEC. 7. ELIGIBILITY OF RESERVE COMPONENT MEMBERS FOR NONREDUCTION IN 
              PAY WHILE SERVING IN THE UNIFORMED SERVICES OR NATIONAL 
              GUARD.

    Section 5538(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended in the 
matter preceding paragraph (1) by inserting after ``under'' the 
following: ``section 12304b of title 10 or''.

SEC. 8. EFFECT OF ORDER TO SERVE ON ACTIVE DUTY ON ELIGIBILITY FOR OR 
              USE OF CERTAIN MILITARY BENEFITS.

    (a) Exception to Voluntary Separation Pay Repayment Requirement for 
Members Who Return to Active Duty.--Section 1175a(j)(2) of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended by striking ``or 12304'' and inserting 
``12304, 12304a, or 12304b''.
    (b) Time Limitation for Training and Rehabilitation for Veterans 
With Service-Connected Disabilities.--Section 3103(f) of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended by striking ``or 12304'' and inserting 
``12304, 12304a, or 12304b''.

SEC. 9. RETROACTIVE APPLICABILITY OF AMENDMENTS.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to any 
order for a member of a reserve component to serve on active duty under 
section 12304a or 12304b of title 10, United States Code, issued on or 
after January 1, 2012.
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