[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 161 (Monday, November 2, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H12145-H12148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MILITARY SPOUSES RESIDENCY RELIEF ACT

  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (S. 475) 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.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 475

       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''.

[[Page H12146]]

     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.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Carson) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Senator Richard Burr of North 
Carolina for introducing Senate bill 475, the Military Spouses 
Residency Relief Act. The House version of this legislation was 
introduced by Mr. Carter of Texas.
  As many of my colleagues know, the sacrifices that military children 
and spouses have to make in order to stay as one united family are 
difficult. This is especially true at a time when our country is 
fighting to protect freedom at home and abroad.
  Senate bill 475 seeks to provide military spouses with the option to 
keep the same voting rights and tax conditions as afforded in their 
home States or to allow them to change to the new States where they 
will be reunited with a servicemember.
  A military spouse who often accompanies a servicemember from one duty 
station to another is required to pay income and personal property 
taxes of the State in which they currently reside. On the other hand, 
the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides our men and women in 
uniform the option of paying taxes to the States where they originated 
prior to military service or to pay taxes to the States in which they 
currently reside due to military service, lessening the need to hire 
accountants to review tax regulations of their home States, which can 
at times be multiple States. This will help keep their tax preparation 
simple and familiar, reducing the stress family members encounter when 
filing State taxes.
  Mr. Speaker, the intent of this legislation is very simple. We need 
to recognize that military families serve too. It is only fitting to 
provide military spouses with the ability to retain certain State 
residency benefits which are already afforded to our men and women in 
uniform under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.
  Again, I would like to thank my colleagues in the Senate for working 
on this legislation so we may provide relief for our military families. 
I urge all of my colleagues to join me in support of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.


                        Parliamentary Inquiries

  Mr. STEARNS. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman may state his parliamentary 
inquiry.
  Mr. STEARNS. I notice that the gentleman who is advocating on the 
Democrats' side is not a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, at 
least not to my knowledge.
  Under the rules of the House, is this appropriate that a Member who 
is not on the committee in which the bill has passed through and has 
jurisdiction is the advocate for the Democrats in this case?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Recognition for the motion is in the 
discretion of the Chair.
  Mr. STEARNS. So, if I understand the Speaker, the Chair, at his 
discretion, can decide who can be the spokesman for the bill even if 
the person is not on the committee?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair may exercise discretion in 
recognizing Members to offer such motions.
  Mr. STEARNS. A further parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman may state his parliamentary 
inquiry.
  Mr. STEARNS. Is this customary, or is this an unusual situation? I 
don't need a long dissertation, just a ``yes'' or ``no'' as to whether 
it is customary.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The discretion of the chair in recognizing 
Members is well settled.
  Mr. STEARNS. So what you are saying is you can do it, but you are not 
willing to answer the question as to whether this is customary or not, 
because I've been here 20 years, and I have not seen this in the 20 
years I have been here.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. It is customary that the chair use his 
discretion in recognizing Members to offer such motions.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might 
consume.
  I rise in support of S. 475, the Military Spouses Residency Relief 
Act.
  I want to thank the ranking member of the Senate Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs, Senator Burr, for sponsoring this legislation. I 
also want to recognize and thank Mr. John Carter of Texas for his 
support on this issue by introducing the companion House bill, H.R. 
1182. It has 206 bipartisan cosponsors, and I am proud to be one of 
those.

[[Page H12147]]

  Mr. Speaker, by its very nature, military service requires a 
significant sacrifice in terms of the quality of family life, 
especially of the spouses of servicemembers. Because servicemembers are 
routinely subject to transfer within and outside the continental United 
States, often with very short notice, spouses often find it difficult 
to obtain and/or to retain suitable employment.
  However, military spouses are not covered by the same residency 
protections that are available to the servicemembers under the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. As a result, State laws regarding 
taxation, voting and ownership of property are often applied 
differently to the spouse and the servicemember. The SCRA allows 
servicemembers to determine their permanent residencies or 
domiciliaries. By allowing this, SCRA protects servicemembers from 
State taxation, property ownership, and voting laws that are not in 
their permanent residencies or domiciliaries.
  Because the law is silent to spouses in these matters, they do not 
receive the same protection as servicemembers. Therefore, they can be 
subject to States which aggressively seek to impose residency related 
to income and property ownership laws, despite, my colleagues, the fact 
that they no longer reside in the States due to the spouses' military 
orders.
  S. 475 addresses this issue by giving military spouses a choice to 
use either their current addresses where they are stationed because of 
their spouses' military orders or their permanent addresses to 
determine their residencies or domiciliaries for voting in any 
municipal, State, or Federal election.
  Simply, the bill would allow spouses to determine their residencies 
in the same manner as servicemembers regarding taxation, voting, and 
ownership of property with respect to land-use rights on Federal owned 
or controlled land in the same manner as servicemembers under section 
508 of SCRA.
  My colleagues, this is a commonsense solution to give military 
spouses who have already sacrificed so much for the Nation the 
protection that servicemembers have when it comes to local residency 
laws related to taxation and voting.
  So, again, I want to compliment Senator Burr and also, for the 
companion bill in the House, Mr. Carter of Texas, for their sponsorship 
of this bill; and I urge my colleagues to support it.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1415

  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers.
  I reserve the balance of my time
  Mr. STEARNS. It's my honor to yield as much time as he may consume to 
the author of the companion bill, which is H.R. 1182, the sponsor, Mr. 
John Carter of Texas.
  Mr. CARTER. Mr. Speaker, this is an exciting day for me. I was the 
author of this bill. I have been dealing with the gentlewomen who 
brought this to my attention a long time ago, and it's coming to 
fruition today, and I am pleased and honored.
  I am the author of the identical companion bill, H.R. 1182. I 
represent Fort Hood, Texas, which is a pretty good-sized military base 
in the United States, the largest. I rise in support of these military 
spouses for this Military Spouses Residency Relief Act.
  First, I want to thank everyone who has worked on this bill and 
worked hard to bring it to this point. Senator Burr and Senator 
Feinstein over on the Senate side took up this cause and shepherded it 
and got it through the Senate, and this past-due reform is now before 
us today. I would also like to thank Chairman Filner for supporting our 
military spouses and requesting the bill be taken up today.
  We greatly appreciate all the VSOs who lent their support, including 
the Military Officers Association of America, the Air Force Sergeants 
Association, AMVETS, the VFW, and the Military Spouse Business 
Association. Above all, I would like to thank all the military spouses 
who have encouraged me and who encourage their Representatives and 
Senators to support this bill.
  Finally, I would like to extend a very special thanks to Rebecca 
Poynter and Joanna Williamson, two entrepreneurial spouses who brought 
this issue to me and devoted so much of their time working with all the 
Members that are involved to get this bill passed. This is their baby, 
and they should be recognized.
  This small measure will provide invaluable relief to numerous 
military spouses who regularly uproot their entire lives to accommodate 
our Armed Forces. When I first heard this story, I was shocked that 
there was such a difference between husband and wife, the two spouses, 
as it relates to the benefits we give them in the military.
  The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act provides for basic civil relief 
to our men and women of the armed services in exchange for their 
voluntary service. These range from relief from adjudication while 
deployed in combat to maintaining a single State of domicile, 
regardless of where their military orders may send them.
  This State of domicile provides an important stability for our 
soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors. Though their orders may send 
them to numerous places or numerous States, they are able to simplify 
their State income tax requirements, maintain their property titles, 
and continue to vote for their Member of Congress or their elected 
official back home. Without SCRA protections, the servicemembers would 
have to deal with all those every time they move to military 
installations located in different States.
  But spouses do have to deal with those every time they move to 
different States, and the spouses deal with these stresses even while 
faced with the challenge of moving, finding schools for children, 
balancing some unsupported relocation costs and the loss of a spouse's 
earnings as they leave the job to join the servicemember.
  This bill would amend the SCRA to allow military spouses to claim the 
same domicile as the servicemember for the purpose of State income and 
property taxes, as well as voter registration. Spouses could elect to 
stand united with their spouse, not only in support of our country, but 
in sharing the same State as the home base. This reform would prevent a 
military family from suddenly losing up to 10 percent of their income 
if they are called upon to relocate to a different State. This is a 
significant loss of income that occurs as a direct result of 
governmental orders.
  S. 475 would also provide the impetus for military spouses to put 
their names on deeds and titles, which would build and strengthen their 
own credit and further ensure their legal protection.
  This Veterans Day, which is coming up the 11th of this month, next 
week, I will ask each and every one of us to not only remember our 
servicemembers current and past, but take a moment to remember the 
military spouses who have sacrificed for and supported our soldiers.
  Keeping that in mind, I ask my colleagues to grant this valuable 
relief to our military families and to support the passage of the 
Military Spouses Residency Relief Act.
  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. STEARNS. We have no further speakers.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on S. 475.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to 
unanimously support S. 475.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Carson) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, S. 475.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

[[Page H12148]]



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