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President Obama Signs FY12 NDAA

On the last day of 2011, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA FY12) which governs Defense Department activities from procurement to military personnel policy. The legislation included several provisions championed by the National Military Family Association that benefit service members, retirees, their families, and survivors. Our Association had stressed continuing support for school districts educating large numbers of military children, support for the Yellow Ribbon program for the National Guard and Reserve, and tying increases to the TRICARE Prime Enrollment fees for working age retirees to cost of living increases, both in our testimony and in our recent letter to the conferees. We have also championed allowing pregnant military family members stationed at remote overseas assignments to travel to the United States for delivery. We were pleased to see provisions addressing these issues included in the final legislation.

Our Association is also very pleased by what was NOT included in the NDAA FY12. This final legislation did not include the amendment which called for consolidating the Commissary and Exchange systems, and the elimination of the 1.3 billion dollars in appropriated funds for the Commissary. Our Association worked tirelessly to defeat this amendment and all other efforts to consolidate the Commissary and Exchange. However, this success is shared by you. We asked you to tell us what the Commissary and Exchange meant to you, and you responded.

Highlights of the legislation of importance to military families include:

Pay and Compensation

• 1.6% increase in military pay
• Permits new authorities to provide separation pay and benefits to those who are voluntarily separated from active duty and temporary early retirement
• Changes hostile fire and imminent danger pay to be prorated to the number of days spent in the qualifying area rather than paid on a monthly basis.

Family Support

• Expands membership on the DoD Military Family Readiness Council to include more family members and more reserve component members
• Requires a report on the DoD autism pilot and demonstration projects
• Requires a review of the DoD spouse employment programs
• Enhances the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program to improve processes for determining best practices and to improve collaboration with State programs
• Requires the Secretary of Defense to prescribe a policy addressing dwell time and establish a system for tracking and recording the number of days each service member is deployed, prescribe policies and procedures for measuring the operations tempo and personnel tempo

Education of Military Children

• Authorizes $40 million in supplemental impact aid to school districts serving large numbers of military children and $5 million to those school districts who support a large number of disabled military children
• Provides a three-year extension for DoD to provide grants to local educational agencies serving military dependent students living in the U.S. who do not attend DoD schools

Health Care

• Does not prohibit the DoD to make changes to pharmacy copayments
• Authorizes DoD to exempt State licensure requirements for civilian health care professionals credentialed and privileged at a federal health care facility allowing them to practice regardless of where the provider or patient is located, which allows for the use of telehealth and telemental health
• Ties increases to the TRICARE Prime Enrollment fees for working age retirees to cost of living increases
• Requires person-to-person mental health assessments for individual deployed service members before and after deployment
• Authorizes mental health assessments to members of the inactive ready reserve (IRR)
• Authorizes that food and beverage be provided at no cost to certain military members and dependents supporting an in-patient, who are unable to purchase food and beverages because of the care they receive or because they are providing care to an infant
• Prohibits those retirees eligible for TRICARE for Life from enrolling in the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan after September 30, 2012

Survivor Issues

• Allows a service member to designate, on the record of emergency data, someone other than a blood relative as the person responsible for disposition of remains i.e. determining where the deceased service member might be buried

Other Issues

• Provides that a military chaplain who, as a matter of conscience or moral principle, does not wish to perform a marriage may not be required to do so.
• Authorizes DoD administration of the Troops-to-Teachers program
• Provides for enhancement of Suicide Prevention programs
• Provides for expansion of support programs and education on prevention of sexual assault in the military
• Calls for a report on the Space-Available Travel program and the capacity for expanding the program to include gray area reservists and un-remarried widows of active duty and reserve component members

We were disappointed that neither the elimination of the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) offset to the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity nor increases to the Supplemental Survivor Indemnity Allowance were addressed by this legislation.

The legislation also cuts approximately $1.7 billion from the President’s budget for military construction and family housing projects.

For a comprehensive overview of included provisions, visit the Senate Armed Services Committee webpage at www.armed-services.senate.gov/press/NDAA%20FY12%20Conference%20Press%20Release.pdf.

To access the legislation (H.R. 1540), visit www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540enr.pdf.

(Source: http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/press/NDAA%20FY12%20Conference%20Press%20Release.pdf)