[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3434 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3434

To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide limited authority for 
  concurrent receipt of military retired pay and veterans' disability 
compensation in the case of certain disabled military retirees who are 
                          over the age of 65.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 11, 1998

  Mr. Evans (for himself and Mr. Bilirakis) introduced the following 
     bill; which was referred to the Committee on National Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide limited authority for 
  concurrent receipt of military retired pay and veterans' disability 
compensation in the case of certain disabled military retirees who are 
                          over the age of 65.

    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 ``Military Retirees Fairness Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. LIMITED AUTHORITY FOR CONCURRENT RECEIPT OF MILITARY RETIRED 
              PAY AND VETERANS' DISABILITY COMPENSATION BY CERTAIN 
              DISABLED MILITARY RETIREES.

    (a) In General.--(1) Chapter 71 of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 1413. Concurrent receipt of retired pay and veterans' disability 
              compensation
    ``(a) The prohibition on concurrent award of veterans' disability 
compensation and retired pay set forth in section 5304(a)(1) of title 
38 does not apply in the case of a person who has a service-connected 
disability if--
            ``(1) the person has completed at least 20 years of service 
        in the uniformed services that are creditable for purposes of 
        computing the amount of retired pay to which the person is 
        entitled;
            ``(2) the disability was incurred or aggravated in the 
        performance of duty as a member of a uniformed service, as 
        determined by the Secretary concerned; and
            ``(3) the person has attained the age of 65.
    ``(b) The amount of retired pay paid in accordance with subsection 
(a) concurrently with the payment of disability compensation to any 
person for any month shall be the following amount (which shall be in 
addition to any amount of retired pay to which that person is otherwise 
entitled under any other provision of law):
            ``(1) In the case of a person who has attained age 65 but 
        not age 70, 50 percent of the amount of disability compensation 
        payable to that person for that month.
            ``(2) In the case of a person who has attained age 70, 100 
        percent of the amount of disability compensation payable to 
        that person for that month.
    ``(c) Notwithstanding section 1463(a) of this title, retired pay 
paid for a fiscal year to a retired or former member of the Army, Navy, 
Air Force, or Marine Corps in accordance with subsection (a) 
concurrently with the payment of disability compensation to that 
individual shall be paid out of funds appropriated for the Department 
of Defense for that fiscal year.
    ``(d) In this section:
            ``(1) The terms `compensation' and `service-connected' have 
        the meanings given those terms in section 101 of title 38.
            ``(2) The term `retired pay' includes retainer pay, 
        emergency officers' retirement pay, and naval pension.''.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is 
amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``1413. Concurrent receipt of retired pay and veterans' disability 
                            compensation.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--Section 1413 of title 10, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a), shall take effect on October 1, 1998, and 
shall apply to months that begin on or after that date.
    (c) Prohibition of Retroactive Benefits.--No benefit may be paid to 
any person by reason of section 1413 of title 10, United States Code, 
as added by subsection (a), for any period before the effective date 
specified in subsection (b).
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