Title: A bill to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide a guarantee of residency for registration of businesses of spouses of members of the uniformed services, to improve occupational license portability for military spouses through interstate compacts, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
This bill addresses the process of business registration by a spouse accompanying a service member deployed away from the state of residence.
The accompanying spouse shall not be deemed to have (1) lost a residence or domicile in the state, (2) acquired a residence or domicile in another state, or (3) become a resident in or of any other state. The spouse may elect to use the same residence as the member regardless of the date of marriage.
The bill authorizes the Department of Defense to enter into an agreement with the Council of State Governments to assist with funding for interstate compacts on licensed occupations in order to alleviate burdens associated with relicensing when members make a permanent change of duty station to another state.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1383 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1383

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide a guarantee of 
 residency for registration of businesses of spouses of members of the 
  uniformed services, to improve occupational license portability for 
 military spouses through interstate compacts, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 9, 2019

Mr. Cotton (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, and Ms. McSally) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide a guarantee of 
 residency for registration of businesses of spouses of members of the 
  uniformed services, to improve occupational license portability for 
 military spouses through interstate compacts, 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. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR REGISTRATION OF BUSINESSES OF 
              SPOUSES OF MEMBERS OF UNIFORMED SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--Title VI of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
(50 U.S.C. 4021 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new section:

``SEC. 707. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR BUSINESSES OF SPOUSES OF 
              SERVICEMEMBERS.

    ``For the purposes of registering a business--
            ``(1) a person who is absent from a State because the 
        person is accompanying the person's spouse who is absent from 
        that same State in compliance with military or naval orders 
        shall not, solely by reason of that absence--
                    ``(A) be deemed to have lost a residence or 
                domicile in that State, without regard to whether or 
                not the person intends to return to that State;
                    ``(B) be deemed to have acquired a residence or 
                domicile in any other State; or
                    ``(C) be deemed to have become a resident in or a 
                resident of any other State; and
            ``(2) the spouse of a servicemember may elect to use the 
        same residence as the servicemember regardless of the date on 
        which the marriage of the spouse and the servicemember 
        occurred.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 706 
the following new item:

``Sec. 707. Guarantee of residency for businesses of spouses of 
                            servicemembers.''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL LICENSE PORTABILITY FOR MILITARY 
              SPOUSES THROUGH INTERSTATE COMPACTS.

    Section 1784 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(h) Improvement of Occupational License Portability Through 
Interstate Compacts.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary of Defense may enter into 
        a cooperative agreement with the Council of State Governments 
        to assist with funding of the development of interstate 
        compacts on licensed occupations in order to alleviate the 
        burden associated with relicensing in such an occupation by 
        spouse of a members of the armed forces in connection with a 
        permanent change of duty station of members to another State.
            ``(2) Limitation.--The amount provided under paragraph (1) 
        as assistance for the development of any particular interstate 
        compact may not exceed $1,000,000.
            ``(3) Annual report.--Not later than February 28 each year, 
        the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services 
        of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on 
        interstate compacts described in paragraph (1) developed 
        through assistance provided under that paragraph. Each report 
        shall set forth the following:
                    ``(A) Any interstate compact developed during the 
                preceding calendar year, including the occupational 
                licenses covered by such compact and the States 
                agreeing to enter into such compact.
                    ``(B) Any interstate compact developed during a 
                prior calendar year into which one or more additional 
                States agreed to enter during the preceding calendar 
                year.
            ``(4) Expiration.--The authority to enter into a 
        cooperative agreement under paragraph (1), and to provide 
        assistance described in that paragraph pursuant to such 
        cooperative agreement, shall expire on September 30, 2024.''.
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