Bill Summary
This bill amends the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to allow spouses of servicemembers who incur a catastrophic injury or illness, or die while in military service, to terminate leases of premises and motor vehicles. This includes spouses of servicemembers who are on active duty, performing National Guard duty, active Guard and Reserve duty, or inactive-duty training. This bill is known as the "Gold Star Spouses and Spouses of Injured Servicemembers Leasing Relief Expansion Act of 2019" and aims to provide relief and support to spouses during difficult times.
Possible Impacts
1. The Gold Star Spouses and Spouses of Injured Servicemembers Leasing Relief Expansion Act of 2019 could provide relief for spouses of military service members who have been injured or died while in service. This could help alleviate financial burden and stress for these individuals and their families.
2. By allowing spouses to terminate leases of premises and motor vehicles, this legislation could potentially affect landlords and car dealerships who may lose tenants or customers as a result.
3. This bill could also impact the military and government agencies in terms of implementing and enforcing the changes to the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. This could involve allocating resources and manpower to handle requests and claims from spouses of injured or deceased service members.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1118 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1118
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to authorize spouses of
servicemembers who incur a catastrophic injury or illness or die while
in military service to terminate leases of premises and motor vehicles,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 10, 2019
Ms. Warren (for herself, Mr. Portman, Ms. Sinema, Mr. Tillis, and Mr.
Reed) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to authorize spouses of
servicemembers who incur a catastrophic injury or illness or die while
in military service to terminate leases of premises and motor vehicles,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Gold Star Spouses and Spouses of
Injured Servicemembers Leasing Relief Expansion Act of 2019''.
SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF LEASES OF PREMISES AND MOTOR VEHICLES OF
SERVICEMEMBERS WHO INCUR CATASTROPHIC INJURY OR ILLNESS
OR DIE WHILE IN MILITARY SERVICE.
(a) Catastrophic Injuries and Illnesses.--Subsection (a) of section
305 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 3955), as amended
by section 301 of the Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018
(Public Law 115-407), is further amended by adding at the end the
following new paragraph:
``(4) Catastrophic injury or illness of lessee.--The spouse
of the lessee on a lease described in subsection (b) may
terminate the lease during the one-year period beginning on the
date on which the lessee incurs a catastrophic injury or
illness (as that term is defined in section 439(g) of title 37,
United States Code), if the lessee incurs the catastrophic
injury or illness during a period of military service or while
performing full-time National Guard duty, active Guard and
Reserve duty, or inactive-duty training (as such terms are
defined in section 101(d) of title 10, United States Code).''.
(b) Deaths.--Paragraph (3) of such subsection is amended by
striking ``in subsection (b)(1)'' and inserting ``in subsection (b)''.
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