[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2227 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2227


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 27, 2020

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to clarify the authority 
 of servicemembers who incur a catastrophic injury or illness 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. CLARIFICATION OF 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.--Paragraph (4) of section 
305(a) of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 3955(a)), as 
added by section 545 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92), is amended to read as follows:
            ``(4) Catastrophic injury or illness of lessee.--
                    ``(A) Termination.--If the lessee on a lease 
                described in subsection (b) incurs a catastrophic 
                injury or illness during a period of military service 
                or while performing covered service, during the one-
                year period beginning on the date on which the lessee 
                incurs such injury or illness--
                            ``(i) the lessee may terminate the lease; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) in the case of a lessee who lacks 
                        the mental capacity to contract or to manage 
                        his or her own affairs (including disbursement 
                        of funds without limitation) due to such injury 
                        or illness, the spouse or dependent of the 
                        lessee may terminate the lease.
                    ``(B) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) The term `catastrophic injury or 
                        illness' has the meaning given that term in 
                        section 439(g) of title 37, United States Code.
                            ``(ii) The term `covered service' means 
                        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 section is amended by striking 
``The spouse of the lessee'' and inserting ``The spouse or dependent of 
the lessee''.

            Passed the House of Representatives February 25, 2020.

            Attest:

                                             CHERYL L. JOHNSON,

                                                                 Clerk.