[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 991 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 991

   To amend title 10, United States Code, to recognize the dependent 
children of members of the Armed Forces who are serving on active duty 
   or who have served on active duty through the presentation of an 
                         official lapel button.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2015

 Mr. Latta (for himself, Mr. McKinley, and Mr. Wittman) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 10, United States Code, to recognize the dependent 
children of members of the Armed Forces who are serving on active duty 
   or who have served on active duty through the presentation of an 
                         official lapel button.

    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 ``Children of Military Service Members 
Commemorative Lapel Pin Act''.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE RECOGNITION OF DEPENDENT CHILDREN OF 
              MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) Establishment and Presentation of Lapel Button.--Chapter 57 of 
title 10, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 
1126 the following new section:
``Sec. 1126a. Children of military service members commemorative lapel 
              button: eligibility and presentation
    ``(a) Design and Eligibility.--A lapel button, to be known as the 
children of military service members commemorative lapel button, shall 
be designed, as approved by the Secretary of Defense, to identify and 
recognize an eligible child dependent of a member of the armed forces 
who serves on active duty for a period of more than 30 days.
    ``(b) Application and Presentation.--The Secretary of Defense shall 
establish an application process by which a member referred to in 
subsection (a) can request a children of military service members 
commemorative lapel button for the member's eligible child dependents. 
Upon processing of the application and payment of the fee required by 
subsection (c), the Secretary concerned shall present a children of 
military service members commemorative lapel button to eligible child 
dependents of a member.
    ``(c) Cost.--Presentation of a children of military service members 
commemorative lapel button is conditioned upon the payment of an amount 
sufficient to cover the cost of manufacture and distribution of the 
lapel button.
    ``(d) Limitation on Number of Buttons.--(1) Not more than one 
children of military service members commemorative lapel button may be 
presented to an eligible child dependent of a member, regardless of the 
number of times the member serves on active duty.
    ``(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if a person is an eligible 
child dependent of more than one member, the eligible child dependent 
may receive a children of military service members commemorative lapel 
button on behalf of each member of whom the person is a dependent.
    ``(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if a children of military 
service members commemorative lapel button presented under this section 
has been lost, destroyed, or rendered unfit for use without fault or 
neglect on the part of the eligible child dependent to whom it was 
furnished, the Secretary concerned may replace the lapel button upon 
application and payment of an amount sufficient to cover the cost of 
manufacture and presentation.
    ``(e) Eligible Child Dependent Defined.--The term `eligible child 
dependent' means a dependent of a member of the armed forces described 
in subparagraph (D) or (I) of section 1072(2) of this title.
    ``(f) Regulations.--The Secretary of Defense shall issue such 
regulations as may be necessary to carry out this section. The 
Secretary shall ensure that the regulations are uniform for each armed 
force to the extent practicable.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
1126 the following new item:

``1126a. Children of military service members commemorative lapel 
                            button: eligibility and presentation.''.
    (c) Sense of Congress on Expedited Implementation.--It is the sense 
of Congress that the Secretary of Defense should take appropriate 
actions to expedite--
            (1) the design and manufacture of the children of military 
        service members commemorative lapel button authorized by 
        section 1126a of title 10, United States Code, as added by 
        subsection (a); and
            (2) the establishment and implementation of mechanisms to 
        facilitate the issuance of the children of military service 
        members commemorative lapel button.
    (d) Retroactive Availability of Children of Military Service 
Members Commemorative Lapel Button.--
            (1) Availability.--The Secretary of Defense shall make the 
        children of military service members commemorative lapel button 
        authorized by section 1126a of title 10, United States Code, as 
        added by subsection (a), available to any person who can prove 
        to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the person satisfied, 
        at any time before the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
        definition contained in subsection (e) of such section 1126a of 
        eligible child dependent of a member of the Armed Forces who 
        served on active duty for a period of more than 30 days.
            (2) Application process.--The Secretary of Defense shall 
        provide a mechanism by which a person eligible under paragraph 
        (1), or a person acting on behalf of the person, may apply to 
        the Secretary of Defense for a children of military service 
        members commemorative lapel button.
            (3) Notification of certain members.--The Secretary of 
        Defense shall notify members of the Armed Forces who served on 
        active duty for a period of more than 30 days since September 
        11, 2001, of the availability of the children of military 
        service members commemorative lapel button under this 
        subsection. To the extent practicable, such notice shall be 
        provided not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act.
            (4) Deadline for application.--Applications for a children 
        of military service members commemorative lapel button under 
        this subsection must be submitted to the Secretary of Defense 
        not later than one year after the date on which the Secretary 
        first announces, in the Federal Register and by such other 
        means as the Secretary considers appropriate, the availability 
        of the lapel button.
            (5) Costs, limitations, and exceptions.--Subsections (c) 
        and (d) of section 1126a of title 10, United States Code, shall 
        apply with respect to the presentation of a children of 
        military service members commemorative lapel button under this 
        subsection.
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