F:\RWC\VA04\SCRA_01.XML H.L.C. 1 4 subsection (b)(2) of such section is amended by 2 striking "military orders for" and all that follows 3 through "or to deploy" and inserting "military orders "(i) for a change of permanent station "(I) from a location in the continental United States to a location outside the continental United States; or "(II) from a location in a State outside the continental United States to any location outside that State; or "(ii) to deploy". (2) DEFINITIONS. Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(i) DEFINITIONS.— "(1) MILITARY ORDERS.-The term 'military orders', with respect to a servicemember, means official military orders, or any notification, certification, or verification from the servicemember's com manding officer, with respect to the servicemember's 23 current or future military duty status. F:\V8\060904\060904.089 F:\RWC\VA04\SCRA_01.XML H.L.C. 1 2 3 4 5 "(2) CONUS.-The term 'continental United States' means the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia.". (c) COVERAGE OF INDIVIDUAL DEPLOYMENTS.— 5 Subsection (b) of such section is further amended in para6 graph (1)(B) and paragraph (2)(B)(ii) (as designated by 7 subsection (b) of this section) by inserting “, or as an indi8 vidual in support of a military operation," after "deploy 9 with a military unit". 10 SEC. 6. PREVENTION OF DOUBLE TAXATION OF CERTAIN 11 12 SERVICEMEMBERS. Section 511(c) of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 13 (50 U.S.C. App. 571(e)) is amended by adding at the end 14 the following new paragraph: 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 “(5) USE, EXCISE, OR SIMILAR TAXES.-A tax jurisdiction may not impose a use, excise, or similar tax on the personal property of a nonresident servicemember when the laws of the tax jurisdiction fail to provide a credit against such taxes for sales, use, exercise, or similar taxes previously paid on the same property to another tax jurisdiction.". FAV810609041060904.089 Statement for the Record Honorable Lane Evans, Ranking Democratic Member Good morning Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing to discuss and examine the many rights and responsibilities under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), as well as the legislative measures before us today aimed at enhancing these laws. I am especially pleased that we are focusing on the public sector's compliance and enforcement efforts with respect to both USERRA and SCRA. We have an obligation to do all we can to ensure servicemembers and their families' peace of mind so they can fulfill their important duties protecting the Nation. Mr. Chairman, the issues before us today are very timely and of the utmost importance. I look forward to working with you and all the Members of the Committee to maintain oversight over the administration of these laws and to make any necessary enhancements or improvements to these protective acts that our servicemembers and their families have earned. Before we begin I want to welcome all the witnesses and thank you for your testimony today, especially my friends and colleagues, the Honorable James McGovern of Massachusetts and the Honorable Louise Slaughter of New York. I also look forward to hearing the personal testimony of Mrs. Tammy Kimmel, Mr. Jason Burris, and Mrs. Judith Hanover Kaplan regarding these matters. Additionally, I am pleased that a number of federal executive agencies will testify before us, including, the Office of Personnel Management, the Departments of Defense, Labor, Justice, and the Office of Special Counsel, as well as representatives from the National Committee on the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve and the National Association of Counties. I look forward to hearing from Colonel Robert Norton of the Military Officers Association of America, Ms. Kathleen Moakler of the National Military Family Association and Margot Saunders, Esq., of the National Consumer Law Center. Finally, I want to recognize and welcome the Honorable Pat Quinn, Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, my home state. I very much appreciate all of the witnesses' testimony and efforts; your insight and experience assist the Committee in developing and establishing policy on these very important matters. As we all know, the men and women who make up the Armed forces of this country are under tremendous strain. We are involved in conflicts, peace-keeping missions, security and training details around the globe, and of course many of our servicemen and women are engaged in hostile conditions in Afghanistan, Iraq and throughout the middle-east theater. Not since World War II has the Nation's military –– active duty and Reserve forces – undergone such an extensive and massive mobilization effort. 2 Additionally, our military forces are participating in the largest troop rotation since World War II. According to the Department of Defense, since September 11, 2001, approximately 388,000 reserve forces have been mobilized, some of these National Guard or Reserve members have been called up more than once, and some of our servicemembers have been activated for nearly 24 months due to extensions of their orders or prevented due to "stop loss” from leaving military service at their expected time. Needless to say, our armed forces are serving under stressful conditions and they and their families are making great sacrifices. Accordingly, laws – federal, state and local - concerning reemployment rights and legal and financial protections for our servicemembers play an integral part in their ability to serve the country. Indeed, if these laws are effectively administered and vigorously enforced, they not only provide comfort to our servicemembers and their families but they can also assist the Pentagon in its recruitment and retention efforts. With respect to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, I am specifically interested in examining the federal executive agencies' efforts to administer and enforce servicemembers' reemployment rights. The federal government should be a responsible employer and lead by example when it comes to complying with USERRA. Another issue of concern I have is that even today, it appears that too many employers are ignorant of their responsibilities under USERRA. I was pleased to join Congressmen James McGovern and Jeb Bradley in their efforts to educate the public about this law by cosponsoring H.R. 4477. Additionally, I am very interested in the progress the Labor Department has made with respect to publishing USERRA regulations. I am sure any guidance the federal government could provide on this subject would be appreciated by employers, especially the smaller and mid-size business entities that do not have the resources to retain legal counsel on all matters. I look forward to the witnesses' testimony on the draft bill to extend servicemembers' option of continuing their employer based health care coverage from 18 to 24 months. This measure appears to be the right thing to do for purposes of continuity and family convenience, especially with the increased incidents of longer activation periods and "stop loss" orders. Mr. Chairman, I am also very pleased that we are revisiting the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The draft bill addresses a number of concerns, which have been brought to the Committee's attention. I hope that with the guidance we are receiving today, we will be able to finalize a bill for introduction. In particular, the bill would specifically define the term judgment; require that waivers of protections made by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act be written in at least 12 point type in a separate writing from the obligation to which it applies; specify that the act applies to either a plaintiff or defendant; clarify that dependents of servicemembers have the same right as the servicemember to terminate a lease when the servicemember is deployed or receives a permanent change of station; and prevent multiple taxation of certain servicemembers. I note that the National Consumer Law Center has recommended a number of additional changes to the bill and hope that we will be able to include these very good suggestions in the introduced bill. I am a cosponsor of Mrs. Slaughter's bill, H.R. 3779, which will preserve the residence of our children when their custodial parent is called to serve the Nation. We are asking more than enough of our Nation's children when their parent is called away from home. We should not require them to experience the trauma of moving to a new school and having to acquire new friends because of arbitrary residency determinations. The Congress has preserved the residency of servicemembers when they are called to service by providing for various tax and voting requirements. The school children of veterans deserve no less. Mr. Chairman, we were successful last year in passing a comprehensive restatement of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act and I look forward to working with you again to make any necessary improvements to that act as we monitor its implementation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 3 |