[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 475 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.475

                      One Hundred Eleventh Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
             the sixth day of January, two thousand and nine


                                 An Act


 
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to guarantee the equity of 
 spouses of military personnel with regard to matters of residency, 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 ``Military Spouses Residency Relief 
Act''.
SEC. 2. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR SPOUSES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL FOR 
VOTING PURPOSES.
    (a) In General.--Section 705 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
(50 U.S.C. App. 595) is amended--
        (1) by striking ``For'' and inserting the following:
    ``(a) In General.--For'';
        (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Spouses.--For the purposes of voting for any Federal office 
(as defined in section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 
(2 U.S.C. 431)) or a State or local office, a person who is absent from 
a State because the person is accompanying the person's spouse who is 
absent from that same State in compliance with military or naval orders 
shall not, solely by reason of that absence--
        ``(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or domicile in that 
    State, without regard to whether or not the person intends to 
    return to that State;
        ``(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or domicile in any 
    other State; or
        ``(3) be deemed to have become a resident in or a resident of 
    any other State.''; and
        (3) in the section heading, by inserting ``and spouses of 
    military personnel'' before the period at the end.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 501) is amended by striking the item relating 
to section 705 and inserting the following new item:

``Sec. 705. Guarantee of residency for military personnel and spouses of 
          military personnel.''.

    (c) Application.--Subsection (b) of section 705 of such Act (50 
U.S.C. App. 595), as added by subsection (a) of this section, shall 
apply with respect to absences from States described in such subsection 
(b) on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, regardless of 
the date of the military or naval order concerned.
SEC. 3. DETERMINATION FOR TAX PURPOSES OF RESIDENCE OF SPOUSES OF 
MILITARY PERSONNEL.
    (a) In General.--Section 511 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
(50 U.S.C. App. 571) is amended--
        (1) in subsection (a)--
            (A) by striking ``A servicemember'' and inserting the 
        following:
        ``(1) In general.--A servicemember''; and
            (B) by adding at the end the following:
        ``(2) Spouses.--A spouse of a servicemember shall neither lose 
    nor acquire a residence or domicile for purposes of taxation with 
    respect to the person, personal property, or income of the spouse 
    by reason of being absent or present in any tax jurisdiction of the 
    United States solely to be with the servicemember in compliance 
    with the servicemember's military orders if the residence or 
    domicile, as the case may be, is the same for the servicemember and 
    the spouse.'';
        (2) by redesignating subsections (c), (d), (e), and (f) as 
    subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g), respectively;
        (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new 
    subsection:
    ``(c) Income of a Military Spouse.--Income for services performed 
by the spouse of a servicemember shall not be deemed to be income for 
services performed or from sources within a tax jurisdiction of the 
United States if the spouse is not a resident or domiciliary of the 
jurisdiction in which the income is earned because the spouse is in the 
jurisdiction solely to be with the servicemember serving in compliance 
with military orders.''; and
        (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated by paragraph (2)--
            (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``or the spouse of a 
        servicemember'' after ``The personal property of a 
        servicemember''; and
            (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ``or the spouse's'' 
        after ``servicemember's''.
    (b) Application.--Subsections (a)(2) and (c) of section 511 of such 
Act (50 U.S.C. App. 571), as added by subsection (a) of this section, 
and the amendments made to such section 511 by subsection (a)(4) of 
this section, shall apply with respect to any return of State or local 
income tax filed for any taxable year beginning with the taxable year 
that includes the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. SUSPENSION OF LAND RIGHTS RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT FOR SPOUSES OF 
MILITARY PERSONNEL.
    (a) In General.--Section 508 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
(50 U.S.C. App. 568) is amended in subsection (b) by inserting ``or the 
spouse of such servicemember'' after ``a servicemember in military 
service''.
    (b) Application.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply 
with respect to servicemembers in military service (as defined in 
section 101 of such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 511)) on or after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.