An Act to amend title 38, United States Code, in order to provide special indemnity insurance for members of the Armed Forces serving in combat zones, and for other purposes
PL 89-214 (S.2127), enacted 09/29/1965

880 
PUBLIC LAW 89-214-SEPT. 29, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
Prohibition. 
Short title. 
of appropriations made iii this Act for the support of the Army 
Reserve Components to the extent necessary to implement such a 
realinement or reorganization; and the provisions in this Act establish-
ing strengths for the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard 
shall cease to be effective. 
SEC. 640. None of the funds provided in this Act shall be available 
for the expenses of the Special Training Enlistment Program 
(STEP). 
SEC. 641. This Act may be cited as tlie "Department of Defense 
Appropriation Act, 1966"'. 
Approved September 29, 1965. 
September 29, 1965 
[S. 2127] 
Armed Forces. 
Indemnity Insur-
ance. 
72 Stat. 1148. 
38 u s e 701 e( 
seq. 
Public Law 89-214 
AN ACT 
To amend title 38, United States Code, in order to provide special indemnity 
insurance for members of the Armed Forces serving in combat zones, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) chapter 
19 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by redesignating "Sub-
chapter III—General" thereof as "Subchapter IV—General" and 
by inserting immediately after subchapter II thereof the following 
new subchapter I I I : 
"Subchapter III—Servicemen's Group Life Insurance 
«§765. Definitions 
"For the purpose of this subchapter— 
"(1) The term 'active duty' means full-time duty as a commis-
sioned or warrant officer, or as an enlisted member of a uniformed 
service under a call or order to duty that does not specify a period 
of thirty days or less. 
"(2) The term 'member' means a person on active duty in the 
uniformed services in a commissioned, warrant, or enlisted rank 
or grade. 
"(3) The term 'uniformed services' means the Army, Navy, 
Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, 
and Environmental Science Services Administration. 
"§ 766. Eligible insurance companies 
"(a) The Administrator is authorized, without regard to section 
3709 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (41 U.S.C. 5), to purchase 
from one or more life insurance companies a policy or policies of group 
life insurance to provide the benefits specified in this subchapter. 
Each such life insurance company must (1) be licensed to issue life 
insurance in each of the fifty States of the United States and in the 
District of Columbia, and (2) as of the most recent December 31 for 
which information is available to the Administrator, have in effect at 
least 1 per centum of the total amount of group life insurance which 
all life insurance companies have in effect in the United States. 
"(b) The life insurance company or companies issuing such policy 
or policies shall establish an administrative office at a place and under 
a name designated by the Administrator. 
"(c) The Administrator shall arrange with the life insurance com-
pany or companies issuing any policy or policies under this subchapter 
to reinsure, under conditions approved by him, portions of the total 
79 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-214-SEPT. 29, 1965 
881 
amount of insurance under such policy or policies with such other life 
insurance companies (which meet qualifying criteria set forth by the 
Administrator) as may elect to participate in such reinsurance. 
"(d) The Administrator may at any time discontinue any policy 
or policies which he has purchased from any insurance company 
under this subchapter. 
"§ 767. Persons insured; amount 
"(a) Any policy of insurance purchased by the Administrator 
under section 766 of this title shall automatically insure any member 
of the uniformed services on active duty against death in the amount 
of $10,000 from the first day of such duty, or from the date certified 
by the Administrator to the Secretary concerned as the date Service-
men's Group Life Insurance under this subchapter takes effect, which-
ever date is the later date, unless such member elects in writing (1) 
not to be insured under this subchapter, or (2) to be insured in the 
amount of $5,000. 
"(b) If any member elects not to be insured under this subchapter 
or to be insured in the amount of $5,000, he may thereafter be insured 
under this subchapter or insured in the amount of $10,000 under this 
subchapter, as the case may be, upon written application, proof of 
good health, and compliance with such other terms and conditions 
as may be prescribed by the Administrator. 
"§ 768. Termination of coverage; conversion 
"Each policy purchased under this subchapter shall contain a pro-
vision, in terms approved by the Administrator, to the effect that any 
insurance thereunder on any member of the uniformed services shall 
cease (except in the case of members absent without leave) one hun-
dred and twenty days after his separation or release from active duty, 
and that during the period such insurance is in force the insured upon 
request to the administrative office established under subsection 766(b) 
of this title shall be furnished a list of life insurance companies par-
ticipating in the program established under this subchapter and upon 
written application (within such period) to the participating company 
selected by the insured and payment of the required premiums be 
granted insurance without a medical examination on a plan then cur-
rently written by such company which does not provide for the pay-
ment of any sum less than the*face value thereof or for the payment of 
an additional amount as premiums if the insured engages in the mili-
tary service of the United States, to replace the Servicemen's Group 
Life Insurance in effect on the insured's life under this subchapter. 
In addition to life insurance companies participating in the program 
established under this subchapter, such list shall include additional 
life insurance companies (not so participating) which meet qualifying 
criteria, terms, and conditions established by the Administrator and 
a^ee to sell insurance to members and former members in accordance 
with the provisions of the preceding sentence. In the case of any 
member who is absent without leave for a period of more than thirty-
one days, insurance under this subchapter shall cease as of the date 
such absence commenced. 
Any such member so absent without leave, 
upon return to duty, may again be insured under this subchapter, but 
only if he complies with the requirements set forth in section 767(b) 
of this section. 
"§769. Deductions; payment; investment; expenses 
"(a) During any period in which a member is insured under a 
policy of insurance purchased by the Administrator, under section 766 
of this title, there shall be deducted each month from his basic or other 
pay until separation or release from active duty an amount determined 
882 
PUBLIC LAW 89-214-SEPT. 29, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
by the Administrator (which shall be the same for all such members) 
as the share of the cost attributable to insuring such member under 
such policy, less any costs traceable to the extra hazard of active duty 
in the uniformed service. Any amount not deducted from the basic or 
other pay of a member insured under this subchapter while on active 
duty, if not otherwise paid, shall be deducted from the proceeds of 
any insurance thereafter payable. The initial monthly amount deter-
mined by the Administrator to be charged under this subsection for 
insurance under this subchapter may be continued from year to year, 
except that the Administrator may redetermine such monthly amount 
from time to time in accordance with experience. No refunds will be 
made to any member of any such amount properly deducted from his 
'basic or other pay to cover tne insurance granted under this subchapter. 
" (b) For each month for which any member is so insured, there shall 
be contributed from the appropriation made for his pay an amount 
determined by the Administrator and certified to the Secretary con-
cerned to be the cost of such insurance which is traceable to the extra 
hazard of active duty in the uniformed services. Such cost shall be 
determined by the Administrator on the basis of the excess mortality 
suffered by members and former members of the uniformed services 
insured under this subchapter above that incurred by the male civilian 
population of the United States of the same age as the median age of 
members of the uniformed services (disregarding a fraction of a year) 
as shown by the records of the uniformed services, the primary insurer 
or insurers, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 
together with the most current estimates of such mortality. 
The 
Administrator is authorized to make such adjustments regarding such 
contributions from pay appropriations as may be indicated from 
actual experience. 
"(c) An amount equal to the first amount due on any such insurance 
may be advanced from current appropriations for active-service pay 
to any such member, which amount shall constitute a lien upon any 
service or other pay accruing to the person from whom such advance 
was made and shall be collected therefrom if not otherwise paid. No 
disbursing or certifying officer shall be responsible for any loss incurred 
by reason of such advance. 
"(d) (1) The sums withheld from the basic or other pay of mem-
bers under subsection (a) of this section, and the sums contributed 
from appropriations under subsection (b) of this section, together 
with the income derived from any dividends or premium rate adjust-
ments received from insui*ers shall be deposited to the credit of a 
revolving fund established in the Treasury of the United States. 
All premium payments and extra hazard costs on any insurance policy 
or policies purchased under section 766 of this title and the adminis-
trative cost to the Veterans' Administration of insurance issued under 
this subchapter shall be paid from the revolving fund. 
" (2) The Administrator is authorized to set aside out of the revolv-
ing fund such amounts as may be required to meet the administrative 
costs to the Veterans' Administration of insurance issued under this 
subchapter and all current premium payments and extra hazard costs 
on any insurance policy or policies purchased under section 766 of 
this title. The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to invest in 
and to sell and retire special interest-bearing obligations of the United 
States for the account of the revolving fund. Such obligations issued 
for this purpose shall have maturities fixed with due regard for 
the needs of the fund and shall bear interest at a rate equal to the 
average market yield (computed by the Secretary of the Treasury on 
the basis of market quotations as of the end of the calendar month 
next preceding the date of issue) on all marketable interest-bearing 
79 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-214-SEPT. 29, 1965 
883 
obligations of the United States then forming a part of the public 
debt which are not due or callable until after the expiration of four 
years from the end of such calendar month; except that where such 
average market yield is not a multiple of one-eighth of 1 per centum, 
the rate of interest of such obligation shall be the multiple of one-eighth 
of 1 per centum nearest such market yield. 
"(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 782 of this title, 
72 stat. ues. 
the Administrator shall, from time to time, determine the administra-
tive costs to the Veterans' Administration which in his judgment are 
properly allocable to insurance issued under this subchapter and shall 
transfer such cost from the revolving fund to the appropriation 'Gen-
eral operating expenses, Veterans' Administration'. 
*
*
§ 770. Beneficiaries; payment of insurance 
"(a) Any amount of insurance under this subchapter in force on any 
member or former member on the date of his death shall be paid, 
upon the establishment of a valid claim therefor, to the person or per-
sons surviving at the date of his death, in the following order of 
precedence: 
"First, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries as the member or former 
member may have designated by a writing received in the uniformed 
services prior to such death; 
"Second, if there be no such beneficiary, to the widow or widower 
of such member or former mwnber; 
"Third, if none of the above, to the child or children of such mem-
ber or former member and descendants of deceased children by repre-
sentation ; 
"Fourth, if none of the above, to the parents of such member or 
former member or the survivor of them; 
"Fifth, if none of the above, to the duly appointed executor or 
administrator of the estate of such member or former member; 
"Sixth, if none of the above, to other next of kin of such member or 
former member entitled under the laws of domicile of such member or 
former member at the time of his death. 
"(b) If any person otherwise entitled to payment under this section 
does not make claim therefor within one year after the death of the 
member or former member, or if payment to such person within that 
period is prohibited by Federal statute or regulation, payment may be 
made in the order of precedence as if such person had predeceased the 
member or former member, and any such payment shall be a bar to 
recovery by any other person. 
"(c) If, within two years after the death of the member or former 
member, no claim for payment has been filed by any person entitled 
under the order of precedence set forth in this section, and neither the 
Administrator nor the administrative office established by the insur-
ance company or companies pursuant to section 766(b) of this title 
has received any notice that any such claim will be made, payment 
may be made to a claimant as may in the judgment of the Adminis-
trator be equitably entitled thereto, and such payment shall be a bar 
to recovery by any other person. 
If, within four years after the death 
of the member or former member, payment has not been made pur-
suant to this section and no claim for payment by any person entitled 
under this section is pending, the amount payable shall escheat to the 
credit of the revolving fund referred to in section 769(d). 
"(d) The member may elect settlement of insurance under this 
subchapter either in a lump sum or in thirty-six equal monthly install-
ments. If no such election is made by the member the beneficiary or 
beneficiaries may elect settlement either in a lump sum or in thirty-six 
equal monthly installments. If the member has elected settlement in 
PUBLIC LAW 89-214-SEPT. 29, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
a lump sum, the beneficiary or beneficiaries may elect settlement in 
thirty-six equal monthly installments. 
"§ 771. Basic tables of premiums; readjustment of rates 
"(a) Each policy or policies purchased under section 766 of this 
title shall include for the first policy year a schedule of basic premium 
rates by age which the Administrator shall have determined on a basis 
consistent with the lowest schedule of basic premium rates generally 
charged for new group life insurance policies issued to large employers, 
this schedule of basic premium rates by age to be applied, except as 
otherwise provided in this section, to the distribution by age of the 
amount of group life insurance under the policy at its date of issue to 
determine an average basic premium per $1,000 of insurance. 
Each 
policy so purchased shall also include provisions whereby the basic 
rates of premium determined for the first policy year shall be continued 
for subsequent policy years, except that they may be readjusted for 
any subsequent year, based on the experience under the policy, such 
readjustment to be made by the insurance company or companies 
issuing the policy on a basis determined by the Administrator in 
advance of such year to be consistent with the general practice of life 
insurance companies under policies of group life insurance issued to 
Jarge employers. 
"(b) The total premiums for the policy or policies shall be the 
sum of the amounts computed according to the provisions of subsec-
tion (a) above and the estimated costs traceable to the extra hazard 
of active dut^ in the uniformed services as determined by the Admin-
istrator, subject to the provision that such estimated costs traceable 
to the extra hazard shall be retroactively readjusted annually in 
accordance with section 769(b). 
"(c) Each policy so purchased shall include a provision that, in 
the event the Administrator determines that ascertaining the actual 
age distribution of the amounts of group life insurance in force at 
the date of issue of the policy or at the end of the first or any subse-
quent year of insurance thereunder would not be possible except at 
a disproportionately high expense, the Administrator may approve 
the determination of a tentative average group life premium, for 
the first or any subsequent policy year, in lieu of using the actual 
age distribution. Such tentative average premium rate shall be rede-
termined by the Administrator during any policy year upon request 
by the insurance company or companies issuing the policy, if experi-
ence indicates that the assumptions made in determining the tentative 
average premium rate for that policy year were incorrect. 
"(d) Each policy so purchased shall contain a provision stipulating 
the maximum expense and risk charges for the first policy year, 
which charges shall have been determined by the Administrator on 
a basis consistent with the general level of such charges made by 
life insurance companies under policies of group life insurance issued 
to large employers. 
Such maximum charges shall be continued from 
year to year, except that the Administrator may redetermine such 
maximum charges for any year either by agreement with the insurance 
company or companies issuing the policy or upon written notice given 
by the Administrator to such companies at least one year in advance 
of the beginning of the year for which such redetermined maximum 
charges will be effective. 
" (e) Each such policy shall provide for an accounting to the Admin-
istrator not later than ninety days after the end of each policy year, 
which shall set forth, in a form approved by the Administrator, (1) 
the amounts of premiums actually accrued under the policy from its 
date of issue to the end of such policy year, (2) the total of all mor-
79 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-214-SEPT. 29, 1965 
885 
tality and other claim charges incurred for that period, and (3) the 
amounts of the insurers' expense and risk charge for that period. 
Any 
excess of the total of item (1) over the sum of items (2) and (3) shall 
be held by the insurance company or companies issuing the policy as a 
special contingency reserve to be used by such insurance company or 
companies for charges under such policy only, such reserve to bear 
interest at a rate to be determined in advance of each policy year by 
the insurance company or companies issuing the policy, which rate 
shall be approved by the Administrator as being consistent with the 
rates generally used by such company or companies for similar funds 
held under other group life insurance policies. If and when the 
Administrator determines that such special contingency reserve has 
attained an amount estimated by the Administrator to make satis-
factory provision for adverse fluctuations in future charges under the 
policy, any further excess shall be deposited to the credit of the revolv-
ing fund established under section 766 of this title. If and when such 
policy is discontinued, and if after all charges have been made, there 
is any positive balance remaining in such special contingency reserve, 
such balance shall be deposited to the credit of the revolvmg fund, 
subject to the right of the insurance company or companies issuing 
the policy to make such deposit in equal monthly installments over a 
period of not more than two year's. 
"§ 772. Benefit certificates 
"The Administrator shall arrange to have each member insured 
under a policy purchased under section 766 of this title receive a cer-
tificate setting forth the benefits to which the member is entitled there-
under, to whom such benefit shall be payable, to whom claims should 
be submitted, and summarizing the provisions of the policy principally 
affecting the member. 
Such certificate shall be in lieu of the certificate 
which the insurance company or companies would otherwise be required 
to issue. 
"§773. Forfeiture 
"Any person guilty of mutiny, treason, spying, or desertion, or who, 
because of conscientious objections, refuses to perform service in the 
Armed Forces of the United States or refuses to wear the uniform of 
such force, shall forfeit all rights to Servicemen's Group Life Insur-
ance under this subchapter. 
No such insurance shall be payable for 
death inflicted as a lawful punishment for crime or for military or 
naval offense, except when inflicted by an enemy of the United States. 
"§ 774. Advisory Council on Servicemen's Group Life Insurance 
"There is hereby established an Advisory Council on Servicemen's 
Group Life Insurance consisting of the Secretary of the Treasury as 
Chairman, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, the 
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the Director of the 
Bureau of the Budget, each of whom shall serve without additional 
compensation. 
The Council shall meet once a year, or oftener at the 
call of the Administrator, and shall review the operations under this 
subchapter and advise the Administrator on matters of policy relating 
to his activities thereunder. 
"§ 775. Jurisdiction of District Courts 
"The district courts of the United States shall have original juris-
diction of any civil action or claim against the United States founded 
upon this subchapter. 
"§ 776, Effective date 
"The insurance provided for in this subchapter and the deductions 
and contributions for that purpose shall take effect on the date desig-
886 
PUBLIC LAW 89-214-SEPT. 29, 1965 
[79 STAT. 
nated by the Administrator and certified by him to each Secretary 
concerned." 
72 Stat. 1115. 
(b) Section 211(a) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting "775," immediately before "784". 
SEC. 2. The analysis of chapter 19 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended (1) by redesignating "•SUBCHAPTER III—GENERAL" as "SUBCHAP-
TER IV—GENERAL'" and (2) by inserting after 
"760. Waiver of premium payment on due date." 
the following: 
"SUBCHAPTER III—SERVICEMEN'S GROUP LIFE INSURANCE 
"Sec. 
"765. Definitions. 
"766. Eligible insurance companies. 
"767. Persons insured; amount. 
"768. Termination of coverage; conversion. 
"769. Deductions; payment; investment; expenses. 
"770. Beneficiaries; payment of insurance. 
"771. Basic tables of premiums; readjustment of rates. 
"772. Benefit certificates. 
"773. 
Forfeiture. 
"774. Advisory Council on Servicemen's Group Life Insurance. 
"775. Jurisdiction of District Courts. 
"776. Effective date." 
SEC. 3. (a) In the case of each veteran who died or dies— 
(1) as a direct result of actions of hostile forces; 
(2) as a direct result of an accident involving a military or 
naval aircraft or an aircraft under charter to the Department of 
Defense, Army, Navy, or Air Force; 
(3) as a direct result of the extra hazard of military or naval 
service, as such hazard may be determined by the Administrator; 
or 
(4) while performing service for which incentive pay for haz-
ardous duty or special pay is authorized by section 301,304, or 310 
^tll^'^^T'' 
of title 37, United States Code; 
while in the active military, naval, or air service during the period 
from January 1, 1957, to the date immediately preceding the date on 
which the Servicemen's Group Life Insurance program is placed in 
Ante, p. 885. 
cffcct pursuaut to sectiou 776 of title 38, United States Code, both 
dates inclusive, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall pay a 
death gratuity to the widow or widower, child or children, or parent 
or parents of such veteran, as provided in subsection (b), in an 
amount not exceeding $5,000, determined as provided in subsection 
(c), but only if (A) application is made for such death gratuity within 
one year after the date of enactment of this Act and (B) the person 
or persons receiving a death graituity under this section waive all 
future rights to death compensation and dependency and indemnity 
compensation, under title 38, United States Code, on account of the 
death of such veteran. 
(b) The death gratuity authorized by this section shall be paid to 
the following classes of persons and in the order named— 
(1) to the widow or widower of the veteran, if living; 
(2) if no widow or widower, to the child or children of the 
veteran, if living, in equal shares; 
(3) if no widow, widower, or child, to the parent or parents of 
the veteran who last bore that relationship, if living, in equal 
shares. 
(c) (1) The death gratuity authorized by this section shall be $5,000 
reduced by the aggregate amount of (A) United States Government 
Life Insurance and National Service Life Insurance paid or payable 
77 Stat. 215; 
Ante, p. 547. 
79 STAT. ] 
PUBLIC LAW 89-215-SEPT. 29, 1965 
887 
on account of the death of such veteran and (B) any death compensa-
tion or dependency and indemnity compensation received on account 
of the death of such veteran by the person or persons who receive such 
death gratuity. 
(2) In any case where two or more persons are eligible for a death 
gratuity under this section on account of the death of the same veteran 
but one or more of such persons do not waive future death compensa-
tion or dependency and indemnity compensation payable under title 
38, the Administrator shall pay his or their share of such death 
gratuity to the person or persons waiving such compensation. How-
ever, the death compensation or dependency and indemnity compen-
sation payable to any other person shall not be increased solely as the 
result of an election and waiver under this section. 
(3) The right of any person to payment of a death gratuity under 
this section shall be conditioned upon his being alive to receive such 
payment. No person shall have a vested right to any such payment 
and any payment not made during the person's lifetime shall be paid 
to the person or persons within the permitted class next entitled to 
priority, as provided in subsection (b). 
(d) Any terms used in this section which are defined in section 101 
or 102(b) of title 38, United States Code, shall, for the purposes of 
Definitions. 
this section, have the meanings given to them by such section 101 or ^'V^sVaT^iioe. 
102(b), except that (1) the term "veteran", as used in this section, 
includes a person who dies while in the active military, naval, or air 
service and (2) the term "child" shall not be limited with respect to 
age or marital status. 
(e) Appropriations made to the Veterans' Administration for 
"Compensation and Pensions" shall be available for the payment of 
death gratuities under this section. 
Approved September 29, 1965. 
Public Law 89-215 
AN A C T 
September 29, 1965 
To extend to thirty days the time for tiling petitions for removal of civil actions 
[H. R. 3989] 
from State to Federal courts. 
State courts. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemJ)led^ That subsection (b) 
^.^^ 
of section 1446 of title 28, United States Code, is amended to read as removal petitions. 
f o l l o w s : 
63 Stat. 10 1. 
"(b) The petitison for removal of a civil action or proceeding 
shall be filed within thirty days after the receipt by the defendant, 
through service or otherwise, of a copy of the initial pleading setting 
forth the claim for relief upon which such action or proceeding is 
based, or within thirty days after the service of summons upon the 
defendant if such initial pleading has then been filed in court and 
is not required to be served on the defendant, whichever period is 
shorter. 
"If the case Stated by the initial pleading is not removable, a peti-
tion for removal may be filed within thirty days after receipt by the 
defendant, through service or otherwise, of a copy of an amended 
pleading, motion, order or other paper from whach it may first be 
ascertained that the case is one which is or has become removable." 
Approved September 29, 1965.