BAH Calculation Improvement Act

Bill: 117-s-4564
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Warnock, Raphael G. [D-GA]
Introduced: 2022-07-20
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Latest action: action_date: 2022-07-20
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-07-20
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>BAH Calculation Improvement Act</strong></p> <p>This bill requires the Department of Defense to submit to Congress a report on the basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services that includes elements related to the calculation of such allowance.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4564 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 20, 2022 Mr. Warnock (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal , Ms. Cortez Masto , Mrs. Feinstein , Mr. Ossoff , Mr. Bennet , Mr. Tester , Ms. Klobuchar , Mr. Warner , Mr. Merkley , and Mr. Booker ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To direct the Secretary of Defense to report on the basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the BAH Calculation Improvement Act . 2. Report on basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services (a) In general Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services. (b) Elements The report required by subsection (a) shall contain the following elements: (1) The evaluation of the Secretary— (A) of the efficiency and accuracy of the current system used to calculate the basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services under section 403 of title 37, United States Code; (B) the appropriateness of using mean and median housing costs in such calculation; (C) of existing military housing areas, in relation to choices in, and availability of, housing for members of the uniformed services; and (D) of the suitability of the six standard housing profiles in relation to the average family sizes of members of the uniformed services, disaggregated by uniformed service, rank, and military housing area. (2) The recommendation of the Secretary— (A) regarding the feasibility of including information, furnished by Federal entities, regarding school districts, in calculating the basic allowance for housing; (B) whether to calculate the basic allowance for housing more frequently, including in response to a sudden change in the housing market; (C) whether to enter into an agreement with a commercial entity, to compile data and develop an algorithm, in order to calculate the basic allowance for housing; and (D) whether to publish the methods used by the Secretary to calculate the basic allowance for housing on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Defense.