Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 115-407.
Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018
This bill updates various Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits and programs in areas including education, transition assistance, and civil relief.
The bill makes a number of changes to educational benefits. Among the changes, the bill adjusts assistance limits for veterans participating in a VA vocational rehabilitation program who are called to active reserve duty in certain instances. The bill also requires the VA to electronically provide documentation verifying the amount of their housing stipend to recipients of Post-9/11 educational assistance and requires the VA to disapprove courses of education at educational institutions that have certain payment policies in place.
Additionally, the bill requires the VA to make prompt payments of educational assistance funding and to provide information on whether a postsecondary education institution requires a covered individual to take certain actions to stay enrolled pending a receipt of educational assistance. Finally, the bill updates the basic housing allowance amounts for veterans enrolled in high technology programs pursuant to the VA pilot program.
The bill makes changes regarding memorial affairs for veterans, including requiring the VA to furnish, when requested, headstones or markers for the unmarked graves of any eligible individuals (including those whose remains are unavailable) buried in a veterans cemetery owned by a tribal organization or on land owned by or held in trust for a tribal organization.
The bill amends several sections of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, including to allow (1) a surviving spouse of a deceased servicemember who died while in military service to terminate a lease without penalty within one year of the servicemember's death; (2) the spouse of a servicemember to elect to use the same residence as the servicemember for the purposes of taxation and voting; and (3) a servicemember to terminate a commercial mobile, telephone exchange, internet access or programming service contract after the service member receives military orders to a location that does not support such contracts.
The summary continues for 7 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on December 31, 2018. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on December 31, 2018: Became Public Law No: 115-407.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced it on December 19, 2017, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenatePassed
- HousePassed
- PresidentSigned into law