Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act

Bill: 116-hr-1030
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1]
Introduced: 2019-02-06
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Marriage and family status

Military personnel and dependents

Veterans' pensions and compensation
Latest action: action_date: 2019-10-22
text: Subcommittee Hearings Held.

Summaries:
action_date: 2019-02-06
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act</strong></p> <p>This bill amends the definition of <i>spouse</i> for purposes of veterans' benefits to require the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to recognize a marriage based on the law of the state where the marriage occurred.</p> <p>When a marriage occurs outside a state, the VA shall recognize it if the marriage is lawful in the place where it occurs and could have been entered into under the laws of any state.</p> <p>The bill also amends the definitions of <i>spouse</i> and <i>surviving</i> <i>spouse</i> to remove the requirement that the spouse be of the opposite sex.</p>

tv_txt: I 116th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1030 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 6, 2019 Ms. Titus (for herself, Mrs. Dingell , Mr. Fitzpatrick , Ms. Gabbard , Mr. Grijalva , Ms. Haaland , Mr. Higgins of New York , Ms. Kelly of Illinois , Mr. Lowenthal , Ms. McCollum , Mr. McGovern , Ms. Norton , Mr. Peters , Ms. Pingree , Mr. Rush , Ms. Schakowsky , Mr. Suozzi , Mrs. Watson Coleman , and Ms. Wilson of Florida ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to amend the definition of the term spouse to recognize new State definitions of such term for the purpose of the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act . 2. Definition of spouse for purposes of veteran benefits to reflect new State definitions of spouse (a) Definitions Section 101 of title 38, United States Code is amended— (1) in paragraph (3), by striking of the opposite sex ; and (2) in paragraph (31), by striking of the opposite sex who is a wife or husband and inserting in a marriage recognized under section 103 of this title . (b) Determination Subsection (c) of section 103 of such title is amended to read as follows: (c) (1) For the purposes of all laws administered by the Secretary, the Secretary shall recognize a marriage based on the law of the State where the marriage occurred. In the case of a marriage that occurred outside a State, the Secretary shall recognize the marriage if the marriage was lawful in the place where it occurred and could have been entered into under the laws of any State. Except in the case of a purported marriage deemed valid under subsection (a), the Secretary may not recognize more than one marriage for any person at the same time. (2) In this subsection, the term State has the meaning given that the term in section 101(20) of this title, except that such term also includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. .