zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
SCRA Rights Protection Act of 2014 - Amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to allow the use of arbitration to resolve a controversy that arises under a contract with a servicemember (or with a servicemember and spouse jointly) that provides for arbitration, only if all parties to the controversy consent in writing to arbitration after the controversy arises.

Allows a servicemember's waiver of any of such Act's rights and protections to be effective only if it is made after a specific dispute has arisen and the dispute is identified in the waiver.

Allows a representative of members of an aggrieved class, or a member of such class, to bring a private civil action for a violation of any rights or protections under such Act.

Date: 2014-02-06
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Mental Health Review Board Improvement Act - Requires any medical advisory opinion issued to a civilian board for the correction of a military record, with respect to a current or former member of the Armed Forces diagnosed while serving in the Armed Forces as experiencing a mental health disorder, to include the opinion of a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist if the request for the correction of the records concerned relates to a mental health disorder.

Requires any physician on a board for review of a discharge or dismissal of certain former members of the Armed Forces, who after deployment were diagnosed as experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury, or as having a mental health disorder, to have training on mental health issues connected with PTSD or traumatic brain injury (as applicable), or special training on mental health disorders.

Date: 2014-04-07
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Medical Evaluation Parity for Servicemembers Act of 2014 or the MEPS Act - Directs the Secretary of the military department concerned to: (1) provide an individual with a mental health assessment before such individual enlists, or is commissioned as an officer, in the Armed Forces; and (2) use assessment results as a baseline for any subsequent mental health examination. Prohibits such Secretary from considering the results of such assessment in determining the assignment or promotion of a member of the Armed Forces.

Requires the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to submit to Congress and the Secretary of Defense (DOD) a report on preliminary mental health assessments of members, including recommendations regarding: (1) establishing such an assessment to bring mental health screenings to parity with physical screenings of members; and (2) the composition of the assessment, best practices, and how to track assessment changes relating to traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions.

Requires the Secretary concerned to provide a comprehensive physical examination and a mental health screening to each member who, after a period of active duty of more than 180 days, is undergoing separation from the Armed Forces and is not otherwise provided such examination or screening in connection with such separation from either DOD or the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Directs the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress an assessment of DOD's capacity to provide each member who is undergoing separation an electronic copy of the member's service treatment record at the time of separation.

Date: 2014-04-09
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Directs the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission to carry out an anonymous survey of random members of the Armed Forces regarding their preferences in military pay and benefits, with respect to: (1) the relative value that they place on specified forms of compensation (including basic pay, allowances for housing and subsistence, bonuses, various healthcare benefits, and retirement pay); (2) how they value different levels of pay or benefits, including the impact of copayments or deductibles; and (3) how information collected varies by age, grade, dependent status, and other factors.

Directs the Commission to submit to the Secretary of Defense (DOD) and Congress and make available to the public a report on the analysis and raw data of the survey.

Amends the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2013 to require the Commission to make its recommendations for changes to the military compensation and retirement systems only after examining the analysis and raw data collected pursuant to such survey.

Date: 2014-05-06
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD), at least once each year, to: (1) provide a person-to-person mental health assessment for each member of the Armed Forces on active duty and for each member of the Ready Reserve of an Armed Force for the purpose of identifying mental health conditions to determine which members are in need of additional care, treatment, or other services; and (2) submit to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees a report on such assessments, including on the number of members referred for care and services based on mental health conditions detected.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) convene an interagency working group to review and recommend collaborative approaches to improving the provision of mental health services to members of the National Guard and the Reserves; (2) report the findings and recommendations of the working group to specified congressional committees; and (3) report to the Armed Services Committees on an evaluation of specific tools, processes, and best practices to improve the identification of, and treatment by the Armed Forces of, mental health conditions and traumatic brain injury among members of the Armed Forces.

Date: 2014-05-07
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Revises the conditions for payment of expenses to military personnel to obtain professional credentials to include those for federal occupational licenses.

Adds as conditions for such payment that the credentials be necessary to meet: (1) readiness requirements or professional occupational development goals of the particular armed force or the member's self-development needs; and (2) certain International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission accreditation standards, with exceptions for a credentialing agency that agrees to seek to obtain compliance certification within three years.

Authorizes the payment of the expenses from amounts available for tuition assistance for members under the jurisdiction of the appropriate Secretary.

Defines "expenses" as those for classroom instruction, hands-on training (and associated materials), manuals, study guides and materials, textbooks, and processing, test, and related fees.

Date: 2014-05-15
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Department of Defense Suicide Tracking Act of 2014 - Requires the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to submit to Congress a policy for the development of a standard method for collecting, reporting, and assessing suicide data and suicide-attempt data involving members of the Armed Forces, including reserve components, and their dependents.

Date: 2014-05-20
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Opportunities for Mothers Act or the MOM Act - Requires military personnel who give birth to a child to be given 42 days of convalescent leave for use in connection with that birth.

Allows military personnel up to 42 additional days of leave in connection with the birth of such child upon the expiration of the convalescent leave, but:

 makes them ineligible for basic pay for any day on which such additional leave is used, although they are to be considered to be on active duty for all other purposes; and their commanding officer may recall them from such leave when necessary to maintain unit readiness.

Date: 2014-05-20
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Servicemember Employment Protection Act of 2014 - Makes unenforceable any clause of an agreement between an employer and employee requiring arbitration of a dispute arising under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Provides an exception when both parties voluntarily agree to arbitration. Requires any issue as to whether such requirement applies to an arbitration clause to be determined by federal law and the validity or enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate to be determined by a court rather than an arbitrator.

Protects, under USERRA, an individual who is absent from employment in order to receive medical or dental treatment for an injury or illness incurred or aggravated in the line of duty.

Authorizes the suspension, termination, or debarment of federal contractors for repeated failures or refusals to comply with USERRA protections.

Date: 2014-05-22
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Foreclosure Relief and Extension for Servicemembers Act of 2014 - Amends the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 to make permanent the extended one-year period after a servicemember's military service during which: (1) a court may stay proceedings to enforce an obligation on real or personal property owned by the servicemember prior to such military service; and (2) the sale, foreclosure, or seizure of such property is invalid without a court order or agreement. (Currently, the extended one-year period is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2014, and return to a nine-month period under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.)

Date: 2014-05-22
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military SAFE Standards Act - Requires sexual assault forensic examiners (SAFEs) for the Armed Forces to be members of the Armed Forces and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense (DOD) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who are physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, physician assistants, or registered nurses. Permits an independent duty corpsman or equivalent to be assigned as a SAFE if the assignment of such a physician, assistant, or nurse is impracticable.

Directs the DOD and DHS Secretaries to: (1) assign at least one SAFE at each military medical treatment facility in the United States and overseas; or (2) enter into agreements with facilities with appropriate resources for the provision of sexual assault forensic examinations for the Armed Forces. Requires at least one SAFE to be assigned to each naval vessel.

Requires the Secretary concerned to establish a SAFE certification program that includes training in sexual assault forensic examinations.

Date: 2014-07-30
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Operation United Assistance Tax Exclusion Act of 2014 - Provides for a tax exclusion of compensation paid to a member of the Armed Forces serving in Operation United Assistance in the Ebola virus disease outbreak area (i.e. Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and any other region designated as experiencing a widespread Ebola virus disease outbreak). Requires that such service member undergo a program of not less than 21 days of controlled monitoring upon return from the outbreak area.

Date: 2014-11-20
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Taxation
Military Justice Improvement Act of 2014 - Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to direct the Secretaries of Defense (DOD) and Homeland Security (DHS) to require the Secretaries of the military departments to modify the process for determining whether to try by court-martial a member accused of: (1) certain UCMJ offenses for which the maximum punishment includes confinement for more than one year; or (2) a conspiracy, solicitation, or attempt to commit such offenses.

 Requires courts-martial determinations for such offenses to be made by a commissioned officer available for detail as trial counsel who is outside the chain of command of the member subject to the charges. (Currently, courts-martial decisions are made by commanding officers of accused members.)

Excludes from the revised procedures that require counsel outside the chain of command to make such courts-martial determinations certain UCMJ offenses relating specifically to military service, including absence without leave, insubordination, and aiding the enemy.

Prohibits an outside counsel's determination not to proceed to trial by general or special court-martial from altering the authority of commanding officers to: (1) refer noncapital offenses to summary courts-martial with limits on the punishments that may be imposed; or (2) impose non-judicial admonitions, reprimands, or disciplinary punishment for minor offenses.

Requires military chiefs of staff to establish offices to convene general and special courts-martial. Prohibits officers in the chain of command of an accused or a victim from detailing members to serve on a resulting trial by court-martial.

Date: 2014-12-02
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Justice Improvement Act of 2014 - Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) to direct the Secretaries of Defense (DOD) and Homeland Security (DHS) to require the Secretaries of the military departments to modify the process for determining whether to try by court-martial a member accused of: (1) certain UCMJ offenses for which the maximum punishment includes confinement for more than one year; (2) a conspiracy, solicitation, or attempt to commit such offenses; or (3) retaliation or obstruction of justice offenses regardless of the maximum authorized punishment.

Requires courts-martial determinations for such offenses to be made by a commissioned officer available for detail as trial counsel who is outside the chain of command of the member subject to the charges. (Currently, courts-martial decisions are made by commanding officers of accused members.)

Excludes from the revised procedures that require counsel outside the chain of command to make such courts-martial determinations certain UCMJ offenses relating specifically to military service, including absence without leave, insubordination, and aiding the enemy.

Prohibits an outside counsel's determination not to proceed to trial by general or special court-martial from altering the authority of commanding officers to: (1) refer noncapital offenses to summary courts-martial with limits on the punishments that may be imposed; or (2) impose non-judicial admonitions, reprimands, or disciplinary punishment for minor offenses.

Requires military chiefs of staff to establish offices to convene general and special courts-martial. Prohibits officers in the chain of command of an accused or a victim from detailing members to serve on a resulting trial by court-martial.

Codifies as an offense under the UCMJ a person's retaliation against a person subject to his or her orders for reporting a criminal offense. Establishes an offense for obstruction of justice.

  

Date: 2014-12-09
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Foreclosure Relief and Extension for Servicemembers Act of 2014 - Amends the Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012 to extend through calendar year 2015 the one-year period after a service member's military service during which: (1) a court may stay proceedings to enforce an obligation on real or personal property owned by the service member before such military service; and (2) any sale, foreclosure, or seizure of such property shall be invalid without a court order or waiver agreement signed by the service member. Revives, effective January 1, 2016 (currently, January 1, 2015), the old nine-month period in place of the one-year period granted by such Act.

Date: 2014-12-11
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to submit to the congressional defense committees by September 30, 2015, a report on the sexual assault prevention activities of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Armed Forces.

Requires such report to include:

 an assessment of DOD's sexual assault prevention strategy; an assessment of the actions taken by each of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps to implement its sexual assault prevention strategy; a comprehensive description of the current sexual assault prevention activities of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps and those planned for the next 12 months; a comprehensive description of the current and planned sexual assault prevention activities at joint installations and the collaborative efforts of the military departments involved; a comparative assessment of the sexual assault prevention activities of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, including the extent to which any differences arise from unique qualities of a particular Armed Force or the efforts of an Armed Force to pursue an innovative approach; an assessment of the procedures and mechanisms used by each Armed Force to ensure that its sexual assault prevention strategy and training are effective in achieving intended objectives; and an assessment of the report required to be submitted by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the President by December 1, 2014, on efforts of DOD and the Armed Forces to improve the prevention of and response to sexual assault in the Armed Forces.

Date: 4/8/2014
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Operation United Assistance Tax Exclusion Act of 2015

Provides for a tax exclusion of compensation paid to a member of the Armed Forces serving in Operation United Assistance in the Ebola virus disease outbreak area (i.e., Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and any other region designated as experiencing a widespread Ebola virus disease outbreak). Requires that such service member undergo a program of at least 21 days of controlled monitoring upon return from the outbreak area.

Date: 2015-02-03
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Taxation
Helping Military Children Succeed in Schools Act

Amends the school improvement program under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states to include in their annual state report cards, by the 2015-2016 school year, information on: (1) the number of their military-connected students, and (2) how those students performed in comparison to all their other students on the assessments of student progress toward state academic achievement standards.

Date: 2015-02-10
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Education
Military Spouse Job Continuity Act of 2015

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces (military spouse) who moves with such member to another state under a permanent change of station order a tax credit for up to $500 of qualified relicensing costs incurred by such spouse. Defines "qualified relicensing costs" as costs for a state license or certification to engage in the profession that such military spouse engaged in while residing in the former state.

Date: 2015-02-26
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Taxation
Supply Our Soldiers Act of 2015

Directs the Department of Defense to provide for a program under which postal benefits are provided to a member of the Armed Forces who is on active duty and who is either: (1) serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, or another hostile fire area designated as eligible for hazardous duty pay; or (2) hospitalized at a military medical facility as a result of such service. Requires the postal benefits to be in the form of coupons, vouchers, or other evidence of credit to use for postal-free mailings.

Makes the benefits program applicable during FY2016-FY2021.

Date: 2015-02-26
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Prohibits uniformed service agencies or the Department of Defense (DOD) from altering the amount of the locality-based travel and transportation per diem allowances or reimbursements to which certain uniformed service members or civilian DOD employees are entitled based on the duration of temporary duty assignments or official travel in a locality.

Nullifies the DOD policy implemented on November 1, 2014, regarding reductions in per diem allowances based on the duration of temporary duty assignments or civilian travel.

Date: 2015-03-02
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Preserve and Protect God in Military Oaths Act of 2015

Prohibits any change from being made, except by Act of or authorization by Congress, to the military oaths required for: (1) original appointment as a regular commissioned officer, regular warrant officer, or reserve officer; (2) enlistment in the Armed Forces or National Guard; or (3) admission to a U.S. military service academy.

Date: 2015-03-18
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Medical Evaluation Parity for Servicemembers Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of the military department concerned to: (1) provide an individual with a mental health screening before such individual enlists or is commissioned as an officer in the Armed Forces, and (2) use such results as a baseline for any subsequent mental health examinations.

Prohibits the Secretary from considering the results of such screening in determining the promotion of a member of the Armed Forces.

Directs the Secretary to treat a screening in the same manner as medical records with respect to laws and regulations relating to the privacy of information.

Requires the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health to submit to Congress and the Department of Defense (DOD) a report on preliminary mental health screenings of members of the Armed Forces, including recommendations regarding: (1) establishing preliminary mental health screenings to establish parity with physical screenings; and (2) the composition of the mental health screening, evidenced-based best practices, and how to track changes relating to traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions.

Directs DOD and the Government Accountability Office to report on the efficacy of preliminary mental health screenings. Requires DOD to report on the efficacy of the mental health components of the physical examinations to members of the Armed Forces who are separated from active duty.

Date: 2015-03-19
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Amends the Military Selective Service Act to require the President to resume the induction of persons subject to registration in the Selective Service System for training and service in the Armed Forces (thereby reinstating the draft) upon the enactment of an authorization on the use of military force or a declaration of war.

 Subjects female citizens and residents of the United States to Selective Service registration requirements.

Date: 2015-03-19
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Credit Reporting Act for Military Families or the CRAM

Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act with respect to an item of adverse information about an active duty military consumer.

Redefines "active duty military consumer" as one who is assigned to service away from the usual duty station for a period of not less than 90 days.

Declares that, if the action or inaction that gave rise to the item occurred while the consumer was an active duty military consumer, then: (1) the consumer may provide appropriate proof, including official orders, to a consumer reporting agency that the consumer was an active duty military consumer at the time the action or inaction occurred; and (2) any consumer report made by the agency including that item of information shall clearly and conspicuously disclose that the consumer was an active duty military consumer when the action or inaction that gave rise to the item occurred.

Requires a consumer reporting agency to notify promptly an active duty military consumer whenever it receives an item of adverse information about him or her, along with a description of the item and the method by which the consumer can dispute the validity of the item.

Requires an agency also to use any separate contact information an active duty military consumer has given it for all communications while the individual is an active duty military consumer.

Declares the sense of Congress that any person making use of a consumer report containing an item of adverse information that occurred while the consumer was an active duty military consumer should take that fact into account when evaluating the consumer's creditworthiness.

Requires a consumer reporting agency, with respect to an item of information under dispute by an active duty military consumer, to include in the consumer's file that he or she was an active duty military consumer at the time the action or inaction that gave rise to the disputed item occurred.

Date: 2015-03-19
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Finance and financial sector
Keith Nolan Air Force Deaf Demonstration Act of 2015

Requires the Secretary of the Air Force to carry out a demonstration program to assess the feasibility and advisability of permitting individuals with auditory impairments (including deafness) access as officers of the Air Force.

Authorizes between 15 and 20 individuals who are deaf or have a range of other auditory impairments, who otherwise meet all essential qualifications for accession as an officer of the Air Force, and who have not previously served as officers to participate in such program.

Requires selected participants to undergo the Basic Officer Training course or the Commissioned Officer Training course at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, at the election of the Secretary. Requires the Secretary to designate a special advisor to act as a resource for participants, as well as a liaison between participants and those providing the officer training.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Family Leave Act of 2015

Entitles an employed family member of a member of the Armed Forces who receives notification of a call or order to active duty in support of a contingency operation, or who is deployed in connection with a contingency operation, to two workweeks of leave per year for each family member who is so called or deployed. Allows such leave to: (1) be taken intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule; and (2) consist of paid or unpaid leave, as the employer considers appropriate.

Allows an employer to require certification of entitlement to such leave within a leave request.

Provides employment and benefits protection for employees upon their return from such leave. Prohibits an employer from interfering with or otherwise denying the exercise of such leave rights.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend through 2015 the tax credit for differential wage payments to employees who are active duty members of the uniformed services.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Taxation
Legal Justice for Servicemembers Act of 2015

This bill revises whistle blower protections for members of the Armed Forces.

Prohibited personnel actions shall include:

 a superior's failure to respond to retaliatory action or harassment taken against a subordinate; and action that could be understood as an attempt to dissuade a service member from making or preparing a communication, or participating in any other activity. A service member may opt out of a military branch investigation in favor of an investigation by the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (DODIG).

An investigating Inspector General (IG) may impose a 90-day stay of a personnel action, which may be extended by the military department concerned to complete an investigation, in order to prevent undue hardship to a service member if reasonable grounds exist to believe that a prohibited personnel action has occurred.

Periodic notice must be given to service members on the progress of IG investigations.

IG recommendations for disposition of complaints must include recommendations for disciplinary actions against the person who committed the prohibited personnel action, against a superior who knew or should have known but failed to address the action, or both.

An investigating IG shall submit a substantiated investigation to the appropriate military corrections board unless the service member requests otherwise.

Service members may request a corrections board hearing under specified circumstances.

DODIG shall prescribe uniform standards for: (1) investigation of allegations of prohibited personnel actions, and (2) staff training.

The investigative evidentiary burden of proof shall be "clear and convincing evidence."

Provisions are revised for improvements to authorities and procedures for correction of military records, including permitting a claimant to seek judicial review of a board's determination in an appropriate U.S. court.

The Inspector General Act of 1978 is amended to include the Inspectors General of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the National Guard Bureau, and the Coast Guard in the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Surviving Spouses' Benefit Improvement Act of 2015 

 This bill increases monthly rates for veterans' dependency and indemnity compensation payable to surviving spouses through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Benefits under any other law (other than duplication of benefits) shall not be reduced or offset because the surviving spouse is eligible for dependency and indemnity compensation.

 Six months after enactment of this Act, the VA shall pay to an individual who is eligible for dependency and indemnity compensation predicated on the death of a veteran before January 1, 1993, monthly dependency and indemnity compensation that is the greater of the amount in effect either before or after enactment of this Act.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Wounded Warrior Tax Equity Act of 2015

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to prevent any suspension of the tax collection period after assessment for taxpayers who are members of the Armed Forces due to a continuous hospitalization for combat zone injuries or the next 180 days after such hospitalization.

Date: 2015-05-22
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Taxation
Fallen Heroes Family Assistance Act

The Secretary of the military department concerned is required to provide transportation for the next of kin to attend the transfer ceremony of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces who dies overseas in the line of duty in a combat or humanitarian relief operation or in combat zone designated by the Secretary of Defense.

Date: 2015-06-04
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans' Survivors Claims Processing Automation Act of 2015

 This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to pay burial and funeral expenses, accrued benefits, dependency and indemnity compensation, and non-service connected disability or death pension amounts to a survivor of a veteran who has not filed a formal claim if the VA determines that the record contains sufficient evidence to establish the survivor's entitlement to such benefits.

Date: 2015-06-09
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Servicemember Student Loan Affordability Act

Amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to extend the 6% interest rate limitation on debt entered into during a servicemember's military service to any debt entered into to consolidate or refinance one or more student loans incurred before such service.

Date: 2015-06-10
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Recruiter Right to Carry Act of 2015

This bill states that, notwithstanding any Department of Defense policy or federal, state, or local law to the contrary, a member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty at an Armed Forces recruitment office has the right to carry a personal or service-issue firearm at the office.

Date: 2015-07-21
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Securing Military Personnel Response Firearm Initiative Act or SEMPER FI Act

This bill directs the Secretary concerned to authorize an eligible member of the Armed Forces assigned to an Armed Forces recruitment center to carry a service-issue sidearm as a personal- or force-protection measure while on duty at the recruiting center, notwithstanding any federal, state, or local law or Department of Defense policy to the contrary.

In lieu of authorizing eligible members of the Armed Forces to carry a service-issue sidearm, or in addition, the Secretary concerned may implement additional security measures for Armed Forces recruitment centers, including improved structural security measures.

This Act shall not be interpreted to grant any member of the Armed Forces the authority to conduct civilian law enforcement functions within U.S. territory.

Date: 2015-07-21
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Armed Forces Career Center Protection Act

This bill directs each of the military departments, and the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating, to provide for the installation of reinforced bullet-proof glass and entry doors at Armed Forces recruitment centers, including leased recruitment facilities, as an additional security measure.

Date: 2015-07-28
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Half-Staff for Homeland Heroes Act

This bill requires that the U.S. flag be flown at half-staff in honor of a member of the Armed Forces who dies from an injury incurred or aggravated while serving on active duty in the United States.

Date: 2015-11-03
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
US Navy SEAL SCPO Tyrone Snowden Woods Ceremony Invitee Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of State to:

 prescribe a policy by which a member of a diplomatic mission may designate those next-of-kin who will be invited to, and be entitled to attend, any memorial service held to honor the member in the event of his or her death in service to the United States; and publicize such policy and make the appropriate forms available to each member of a diplomatic mission.

Date: 2015-11-03
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: International affairs
Enlisted Legal Assistance Act

This bill requires the Secretary of the department concerned to provide personal civil legal assistance to:

 an active duty member of the Armed Forces in pay grades E-1 through E-5 and his or her dependents; and a survivor who was a dependent of the member at the time of the member's death, except that survivor eligibility shall be determined pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned.

Date: 2015-11-05
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
SCRA Rights Protection Act of 2015

This bill amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) to allow the use of arbitration to resolve a controversy that arises under a contract with a servicemember (or with a servicemember and spouse jointly) that provides for arbitration, only if all parties to the controversy consent in writing to arbitration after the controversy arises.

A servicemember's waiver of any SCRA rights and protections shall be effective only if it is made after a specific dispute has arisen and is identified in the waiver.

A representative of members of an aggrieved class, or a member of the class, may bring a private civil action for a violation of any SCRA rights or protections.

Date: 2015-12-02
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Military Family Stability Act of 2015

This bill allows a member of the Armed Forces undergoing a permanent change of station and the member's spouse to elect jointly that the spouse may relocate to the new location at the time during the covered relocation period as the member and spouse jointly select.

The following families shall be eligible:

 the spouse is employed, or enrolled in a degree-, certificate-, or license-granting program, at the beginning of the covered relocation period; the member and spouse have one or more children in school; the spouse or children are covered under the Exceptional Family Member Program; the member and spouse are caring for an immediate family member with a chronic or long-term illness; or the member is undergoing a permanent change of station as an individual augmentee or other deployment arrangement. Families with other needs may receive exceptions granted by military commanders on a case-by-case basis.

A member undergoing a permanent change of station who has one or more specified dependents and is no longer married to the individual who is or was the parent of such dependents at the beginning of the covered period of relocation may elect that such dependents relocate to the new location as follows:

 by the member alone if the former spouse is dead or has no custodial rights, or by the member and the former spouse jointly in all other circumstances. A member may not make:

 more than three elections; or any election unless the member's period of obligated service, or the time remaining under the member's enlistment contract, at the time of election is at least 24 months. The bill prescribes related housing and housing allowance requirements.

Transportation allowances authorized for personal property of a member and spouse may be allocated as the member and spouse select.

The Department of Defense shall establish a single application approval process for coverage under this Act which shall apply uniformly among the Armed Forces.

Date: 2015-12-09
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to extend the limitation period for claiming a credit or refund for taxpayers who receive tax-exempt combat pay from 3 years from the date the return was filed, or 2 years from the date the tax was paid, to 15 years from either of such dates.

Date: 2015-12-15
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Taxation
Arm All Pilots Act of 2015

This bill revises requirements for the federal flight deck officer program.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall designate additional training facilities for:

 firearms training and recurrent training for federal flight deck officers, and initial firearm training and certification of pilots seeking to be deputized as federal flight deck officers. DHS (formerly, the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security of the Department of Transportation) shall:

 require officers, but no less than once every six months, to requalify to carry firearms on domestic flights; and permit officers to requalify at certified private or government-owned gun ranges. DHS may require certain limitations on initial and recurrent training for such officers.

The bill revises the authority of federal flight deck officers to carry firearms on domestic and foreign flights.

DHS may not establish medical or physical standards for a pilot to become a federal flight deck officer inconsistent with or more stringent than Federal Aviation Administration requirements for issuance of a first- or second-class airman medical certificate.

A pilot deputized as a federal flight deck officer may move from inactive to active status after completing one recurrent training program.

DHS shall allow officers to be screened through the Transportation Security Administration's Known Crew Member program when entering an airport sterile area.

Each air carrier certifying to DHS that it has a pilot deputized as a federal flight deck officer on all its flights shall receive a refund of up to 10% of security service fees collected from passengers on flights operated by that air carrier.

DHS shall revise certain federal regulations to classify information about deputized pilots as sensitive security information.

Date: 2015-12-18
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Transportation and public works
Rural Guard Act of 2016

This bill authorizes the removal, on a case by case basis, of the $300 cap on travel expense reimbursements to certain members of the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve who: (1) live in a rural area in the same state as the inactive duty training location; and (2) are required to travel to the inactive training location using a boat or aircraft due to limited or nonexistent vehicular routes, or from a permanent residence more than 75 miles from that location.

Date: 2016-02-01
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Draft America's Daughters Act of 2016

This bill amends the Military Selective Service Act to extend the registration and conscription requirements of the Selective Service System to all U.S. citizens and residents between the ages of 18 and 26. (Currently such provisions apply only to men.)

Date: 2016-02-04
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill extends through FY2018 (at $400 per month) the special survivor indemnity allowance for a surviving or former spouse of a deceased member of the Armed Forces whose annuity under the survivor benefit program is offset by the amount of dependency and indemnity compensation received from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Date: 2016-02-08
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill extends through FY2022 (at increasing monthly amounts for each fiscal year) the special survivor indemnity allowance for a surviving or former spouse of a deceased member of the Armed Forces whose annuity under the survivor benefit program is offset by the amount of dependency and indemnity compensation received from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Date: 2016-02-10
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill repeals the Military Selective Service Act.

No person may be denied a right, privilege, benefit, or employment position under federal law on the grounds that the person failed to present himself for and submit to registration under the Military Selective Service Act before its repeal by this bill.

Date: 2016-02-10
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Disabled Veterans Student Loan Protection Act of 2016

This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to modify the federal student loan discharge process for a veteran who has a total and permanent disability.

Specifically, it directs the Department of Education (ED) to establish a system to automatically transmit, from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Department of Defense (DOD), an applicable determination of unemployability or assignment of a service-connected disability rating of 100%.

ED must accept, as sufficient documentation of a borrower's total and permanent disability, a determination of unemployability by the VA or an assignment of a service-connected disability rating of 100% by the VA or DOD that is transmitted in accordance with such system.

Date: 2016-03-23
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Education
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay additional compensation in the form of two $10,000 lump-sum payments to a veteran who is paid disability compensation for: (1) the anatomical loss of one or more creative organs, or (2) the permanent or static loss of use of one or more creative organs. (Creative organs are those involved in reproduction.)

Date: 2016-04-11
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Stepping up for American Workers and Troops Act

This bill directs the the Department of Defense (DOD), in the case of athletic footwear needed by members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps upon their initial entry into the Armed Forces, to: (1) furnish such footwear directly instead of providing a cash allowance to the service members to purchase such footwear, and (2) comply with American source requirements in procuring such footwear.

A cash allowance may be provided for the purchase of footwear that is medically required to meet a service member's unique physiological needs that cannot be met with footwear furnished by DOD.

Date: 2016-04-13
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Prevent Retaliation and Open up Transparency to Expand Care for Troops Act of 2016 or the PROTECT Act

This bill amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice to establish the offense of retaliation. Retaliation provisions require that any person subject to the code who, with the intent to retaliate against any person for reporting or planning to report a criminal offense, or with the intent to discourage any person from reporting a criminal offense, wrongfully takes or threatens to take an adverse personnel action against any person, or wrongfully withholds or threatens to withhold a favorable personnel action with respect to any person, shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

The Department of Defense (DOD) shall prescribe uniform standards for conduct of each of the following functions at all stages of the military justice system, including pretrial, trial, post-trial, and appellate processes:

 collection and analysis of data concerning substantive offenses and procedural matters in a manner that facilitates case management and decision making and enhances the quality of periodic reviews; case processing and management; timely and accurate production and distribution of trial records; and facilitation of access to docket information, filings, and records. Each military department shall ensure that any individual investigating an allegation of retaliation against a person who has made a protected communication must have training in the definition and characteristics of retaliation. If the investigation involves alleged retaliation in response to a communication regarding rape, sexual assault, or other sexual misconduct, the training shall include specific instruction regarding such violations.

It is the sense of Congress that DOD should ensure that its medical and mental health providers are adequately trained to meet the needs of male survivors of military sexual trauma.

Date: 2016-04-18
Topic: Defense (Personnel Issues)
Subject: Armed forces and national security