[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3976 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3976

  To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the provision of 
 legal assistance to junior enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces and 
their dependents in connection with their personal civil legal affairs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 2015

 Mrs. Lawrence (for herself, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Jackson Lee, and 
    Ms. Kelly of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the provision of 
 legal assistance to junior enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces and 
their dependents in connection with their personal civil legal affairs.

    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 ``Enlisted Legal Assistance Act''.

SEC. 2. GUARANTEED PROVISION OF LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO JUNIOR ENLISTED 
              PERSONNEL OF THE ARMED FORCES AND THEIR DEPENDENTS.

    (a) Provision of Legal Assistance.--Section 1044 of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (e) as 
        subsections (b) through (f), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting before subsection (b), as so redesignated, 
        the following new subsection (a):
    ``(a) Utilizing such legal staff resources as may be necessary, the 
Secretary of the department concerned shall provide legal assistance in 
connection with their personal civil legal affairs to the following 
persons:
            ``(1) Members of the armed forces under the jurisdiction of 
        that Secretary in pay grades E-1 through E-5 who are on active 
        duty.
            ``(2) Dependents of members described in paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Survivors of a deceased member described in paragraph 
        (1) who were dependents of the member at the time of the death 
        of the member, except that the eligibility of such survivors 
        shall be determined pursuant to regulations prescribed by that 
        Secretary.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--(1) Section 1044 of title 10, United 
States Code, is further amended--
            (A) in paragraph (1) of subsection (b), as redesignated by 
        subsection (a)(1), by inserting ``not covered by subsection 
        (a)(1)'' after ``armed forces''; and
            (B) in subsection (d), as redesignated by subsection 
        (a)(1), by striking `` subsection (a)'' and inserting `` 
        subsection (b)''.
    (2) Section 1044e(d)(1) of title 10, United States Code, is amended 
by striking ``section 1044(d)(2)'' and inserting ``section 
1044(e)(2)''.
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