Military Housing Oversight and Service Member Protection Act

Bill: 116-hr-2384
Sponsor: Rep. Haaland, Debra A. [D-NM-1]
Introduced: 2019-04-29 in the House
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Building construction
Business records
Congressional oversight
Department of Defense
Federal officials
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
Government information and archives
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Health care coverage and access
Health promotion and preventive care
Hospital care
Housing industry and standards
Landlord and tenant
Long-term, rehabilitative, and terminal care
Medical tests and diagnostic methods
Members of Congress
Military facilities and property
Military medicine
Military personnel and dependents
Public contracts and procurement
Residential rehabilitation and home repair
Veterans' medical care
Veterans' pensions and compensation

Summary:
action_date: 2019-04-29
text: 

Military Housing Oversight and Service Member Protection Act 

 
This bill addresses Department of Defense (DOD) oversight and service member-protections in DOD-sponsored private military housing. Among other things, the bill covers contracts, unit inspection, remedying substandard conditions, handling housing-related injuries, and prohibiting improper financial interests by public officials. 
 
Specifically, DOD must establish requirements for entering into and renewing contracts with private landlords and must make the financial details of such agreements public. 
 
DOD must employ certified independent housing inspectors to ensure that private military housing units are safe, clean, and adequate and meet federal, state, and local laws and standards of habitability. DOD must allow state and local housing inspectors to conduct no-notice inspections, including on military installations. 
 
DOD must require each landlord to provide access to the landlord's maintenance work order system. Service members may file a claim with DOD to withhold the basic allowance for housing if a landlord has not met maintenance guidelines or the unit is uninhabitable according to state and local law. 
 
Military treatment facilities must screen service members and family members for medical conditions resulting from unsafe private housing and landlords must pay medical bills associated with housing-related injuries. The Department of Veterans Affairs must provide similar care for veterans and their families. 
 
The bill prohibits members of defense-related congressional committees and certain military officers and high-level DOD employees from having a financial interest in private military housing. Violations are subject to civil penalties.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2019-05-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
action_date: 2019-05-02
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.
action_date: 2019-04-30
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Readiness.
action_date: 2019-04-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2019-04-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2019-04-29
text: Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2019-04-29
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2019-04-29
text: Introduced in House