[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3854 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3854

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 1, 2020

Ms. Warren (for herself and Mr. Portman) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 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 ``Leasing Relief for Dependents of 
Fallen Heroes and Injured Servicemembers Act of 2020''.

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--
                                    ``(I) in a case in which the lessee 
                                has a spouse, the spouse may terminate 
                                the lease;
                                    ``(II) in a case in which the 
                                lessee does not have a spouse but does 
                                have an adult dependent, the dependent 
                                may terminate the lease;
                                    ``(III) in a case in which the 
                                lessee does not have a spouse or an 
                                adult dependent, a person who has been 
                                granted a power of attorney by the 
                                lessee may terminate the lease; or
                                    ``(IV) in any other case, such 
                                other person as a court of competent 
                                jurisdiction may appoint to manage the 
                                affairs of the lessee may terminate the 
                                lease.
                    ``(B) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Catastrophic injury or illness.--The 
                        term `catastrophic injury or illness' has the 
                        meaning given that term in section 439(g) of 
                        title 37, United States Code.
                            ``(ii) Covered service.--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''.
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