Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act of 2015

Bill: 114-s-270
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]
Introduced: 2015-01-27
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Marriage and family status

Military personnel and dependents

Veterans' pensions and compensation
Latest action: action_date: 2015-05-13
text: Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 114-182.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-01-27
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act of 2015</strong></p> <p>Revises the definition of &quot;surviving spouse&quot; for purposes of veterans benefits provisions to eliminate the requirement that the person who was the spouse of a veteran at the time of the veteran's death be a person of the opposite sex. </p> <p>Considers an individual to be a &quot;spouse&quot; if the marriage of the individual is considered valid under the laws of any state.</p>

tv_txt: II 114th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 270 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES January 27, 2015 Mrs. Shaheen (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand , Mr. Blumenthal , Mr. Brown , Mr. Leahy , Mr. Markey , Mr. Coons , Mr. Wyden , Mr. Murphy , Mr. Durbin , Mr. Schatz , Mr. Whitehouse , Ms. Baldwin , Ms. Hirono , Mr. Franken , and Mr. Peters ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to revise the definition of spouse for purposes of veterans benefits in recognition of new State definitions of spouse, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act of 2015 . 2. Definition of spouse for purposes of veterans benefits to reflect new State definitions of spouse (a) Spouse defined Section 101 of title 38, United States Code, is amended— (1) in paragraph (3), by striking of the opposite sex ; and (2) by striking paragraph (31) and inserting the following new paragraph: (31) (A) An individual shall be considered a spouse if the marriage of the individual is considered valid under the laws of any State. (B) In this paragraph, the term State has the meaning given that term in paragraph (20), except that the term also includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. . (b) Marriage determination Section 103(c) of such title is amended by striking according to and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting in accordance with section 101(31) of this title. .