Military Survivor Benefits Improvement Act of 2002

Military Survivor Benefits Improvement Act of 2002 - Adjusts the basic Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity amount for surviving spouses, age 62 or over, of former military personnel to: (1) 35 percent of the retired pay of the decedent (current law), for months beginning on or before the enactment of this Act; (2) 40 percent of such pay, for months beginning after enactment of this Act until October 2005; (3) 45 percent of such pay for months beginning after September 2005 and before October 2012; and (4) 55 percent of such pay for months after September 2012.

Adjusts similarly the percentage amounts of SBP supplemental annuity authorized to be provided for such surviving spouses.

Directs the Secretary of Defense to ensure appropriate adjustments in the computation of retired pay reductions for such supplemental annuities.

[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5403 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5403

To amend title 10, United States Code, to increase the minimum Survivor 
Benefit Plan basic annuity for surviving spouses age 62 and older, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2002

  Mr. Jeff Miller of Florida (for himself, Mr. Weldon of Florida, Mr. 
 Petri, Mr. Shows, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. 
 Foley, Mr. Saxton, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Allen, Mr. Baca, 
     Mr. Baker, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Barr of Georgia, Ms. Berkley, Mr. 
 Bilirakis, Mr. Blagojevich, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Bonilla, Mr. Boswell, Ms. 
  Brown of Florida, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Cantor, Mrs. 
  Christensen, Mrs. Clayton, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Combest, Mr. Coyne, Mr. 
 Crenshaw, Mr. Davis of Florida, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Deal of 
 Georgia, Mr. Akin, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Baird, Mr. Baldacci, Mr. Barcia, 
 Mr. Bentsen, Mr. Berry, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Boehner, Mr. 
Bonior, Mr. Boyd, Mr. Brown of South Carolina, Mr. Bryant, Mr. Cannon, 
    Mr. Carson of Oklahoma, Mr. Clay, Mr. Clement, Mr. Collins, Mr. 
Cooksey, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Cunningham, Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, Mr. 
   Tom Davis of Virginia, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Deutsch, Mr. 
 Doyle, Ms. Dunn of Washington, Mr. Ehrlich, Mr. Engel, Mr. Fletcher, 
Mr. Forbes, Mr. Frost, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Goode, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Green of 
   Texas, Mr. Hall of Texas, Ms. Harman, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Hefley, Mr. 
Hoeffel, Mr. Holt, Mr. Horn, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Israel, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. 
 John, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Keller, Mr. Kerns, Mr. King, Mr. 
Kirk, Mr. LaHood, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Lewis of 
 Kentucky, Mr. Maloney of Connecticut, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Mr. 
  McCrery, Mr. McGovern, Mr. DeMint, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Duncan, Mr. 
    Edwards, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Filner, Mr. Frank, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. 
Gonzalez, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Graham, Mr. Grucci, Mr. Hansen, Ms. Hart, 
   Mr. Hayworth, Mr. Hilleary, Mr. Holden, Ms. Hooley of Oregon, Mr. 
  Isakson, Mr. Istook, Mr. Jenkins, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. 
  Jones of North Carolina, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kingston, Mr. 
 Kucinich, Mr. Lampson, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Lucas of 
  Kentucky, Mr. Mascara, Ms. McCarthy of Missouri, Mr. McDermott, Mr. 
  McInnis, Ms. McKinney, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Dan Miller of Florida, Mrs. 
   Mink of Hawaii, Mr. Moore, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Ose, Mr. Pastor, Ms. 
 Pelosi, Mr. Platts, Mr. Putnam, Mr. Rehberg, Mr. Rogers of Kentucky, 
 Mr. Ross, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schaffer, Mr. Schrock, 
  Mr. Skeen, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. 
Terry, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Turner, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Mr. Walden, Mr. 
   Waxman, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Ms. 
   Woolsey, Mr. Young of Alaska, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode 
Island, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Mica, Mr. Mollohan, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. 
  Olver, Mr. Otter, Mr. Paul, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota, Mr. Price of 
   North Carolina, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Rodriguez, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mrs. 
Roukema, Mr. Rush, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Souder, 
Mr. Spratt, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Taylor of North Carolina, Mrs. Thurman, Mr. 
Tierney, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Watts of Oklahoma, Mr. 
Whitfield, Mrs. Wilson of New Mexico, Mr. Wolf, and Mr. Wu) introduced 
   the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 10, United States Code, to increase the minimum Survivor 
Benefit Plan basic annuity for surviving spouses age 62 and older, 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 ``Military Survivor Benefits 
Improvement Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. COMPUTATION OF SURVIVOR BENEFITS.

    (a) Increased Basic Annuity.--(1) Subsection (a)(1)(B)(i) of 
section 1451 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking 
``35 percent of the base amount.'' and inserting ``the product of the 
base amount and the percent applicable for the month. The percent 
applicable for a month is 35 percent for months beginning on or before 
the date of the enactment of the Military Survivor Benefits Improvement 
Act of 2002, 40 percent for months beginning after such date and before 
October 2005, 45 percent for months after September 2005 and before 
October 2012, and 55 percent for months after September 2012.''.
    (2) Subsection (a)(2)(B)(i)(I) of such section is amended by 
striking ``35 percent'' and inserting ``the percent specified under 
subsection (a)(1)(B)(i) as being applicable for the month''.
    (3) Subsection (c)(1)(B)(i) of such section is amended--
            (A) by striking ``35 percent'' and inserting ``the 
        applicable percent''; and
            (B) by adding at the end the following: ``The percent 
        applicable for a month under the preceding sentence is the 
        percent specified under subsection (a)(1)(B)(i) as being 
        applicable for that month.''.
    (4) The heading for subsection (d)(2)(A) of such section is amended 
to read as follows: ``Computation of annuity.--''.
    (b) Adjusted Supplemental Annuity.--Section 1457(b) of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``5, 10, 15, or 20 percent'' and inserting 
        ``the applicable percent''; and
            (2) by inserting after the first sentence the following: 
        ``The percent used for the computation shall be an even 
        multiple of 5 percent and, whatever the percent specified in 
        the election, may not exceed 20 percent for months beginning on 
        or before the date of the enactment of the Military Survivor 
        Benefits Improvement Act of 2002, 15 percent for months 
        beginning after that date and before October 2005, and 10 
        percent for months after September 2005 and before October 
        2012. For months after September 2012, the percent used for the 
        computation shall be zero.''.
    (c) Recomputation of Annuities.--(1) Effective on the first day of 
each month referred to in paragraph (2)--
            (A) each annuity under section 1450 of title 10, United 
        States Code, that commenced before that month, is computed 
        under a provision of section 1451 of that title amended by 
        subsection (a), and is payable for that month shall be 
        recomputed so as to be equal to the amount that would be in 
        effect if the percent applicable for that month under that 
        provision, as so amended, had been used for the initial 
        computation of the annuity; and
            (B) each supplemental survivor annuity under section 1457 
        of such title that commenced before that month and is payable 
        for that month shall be recomputed so as to be equal to the 
        amount that would be in effect if the percent applicable for 
        that month under that section, as amended by this section, had 
        been used for the initial computation of the supplemental 
        survivor annuity.
    (2) The requirements for recomputation of annuities under paragraph 
(1) apply with respect to the following months:
            (A) The first month that begins after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
            (B) October 2005.
            (C) October 2012.
    (d) Recomputation of Retired Pay Reductions for Supplemental 
Survivor Annuities.--(1) Effective on the first day of each month 
referred to in paragraph (2), the Secretary of Defense shall take such 
actions as are required by the amendments made by subsection (b) and 
the provisions of subsection (c)(1)(B) to ensure that the reductions in 
retired pay under section 1460 of title 10, United States Code, are 
adjusted to achieve the objectives set forth in subsection (b) of that 
section. Such adjustments shall be applied to retired pay reductions 
applicable to every person who has elected to provide a supplemental 
spouse annuity under the provisions of section 1457 of title 10, United 
States Code, regardless of the date of such election.
    (2) The requirements for recomputation of retired pay reductions 
under paragraph (1) apply with respect to the following months:
            (A) The first month that begins after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
            (B) October 2005.
            (C) October 2012.
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