In amplifying the voice of Reservists in the halls of Congress and the Pentagon, ROA members determine the issues that most affect the Reserve Component today and develop an annual legislative agenda. Below is the agenda for 2012.
Recapitalize the Total
Force to include adequate funding for equipment and training for the National
Guard and Reserve.
Assure that the Reserve and
National Guard continue in a key national defense role, both at home and
abroad.
Provide adequate resources
and authorities to support the current recruiting and retention requirements of
the Reserve and National Guard. Support warriors, families, and survivors.
Issues
to Fund, Equip, and Train the Reserve Component:
Seek Joint Professional
Military Education qualification credit for distant learning or blended
military courses.
Regenerate the Reserve
Component with field-compatible equipment.
Fully fund Military Pay
Appropriation to guarantee a minimum of 48 drills and two weeks of training per
year.
Sustain authorization and
appropriation to National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account.
Optimize funding for
additional training, preparation, and operational support.
Issues to Assist Recruiting and Retention:
Retention
Policy Changes:
Permit service beyond the
current Reserve Officers Personnel Management Act limitations.
Support incentives for
affiliation, reenlistment, retention, and continuation in the Reserve
Component.
Advocate against cuts in
Reserve Component; support Reserve commissioning programs.
Pay and Compensation:
Reimburse a Reserve
Component member for expenses incurred in connection with round-trip travel in
excess of 50 miles to an inactive training location, including mileage
traveled, lodging, and subsistence.
Obtain professional pay for
Reserve Component medical professionals, consistent with the Active Component
member’s pay.
Eliminate the 1/30th rule
for Aviation Career Incentive Pay, Career Enlisted Flyers Incentive Pay, Diving
Special Duty Pay, and Hazardous Duty Incentive Pay.
Simplify the Reserve duty
order system without compromising drill compensation.
Mobilization:
Oversee service sections’
policies to reimburse mobilized reservists on Temporary Duty orders with
lengths over 179 days.
Make permanent differential
pay for deployed federal employees.
Education:
Include Title 14 duty in
eligibility for the Post–9/11 GI Bill.
Exempt earned benefit from
GI Bill from being considered income in need-based aid calculations.
Increase Montgomery GI
Bill–Selected Reserve (MGIB–SR) to 47 percent of MGIB–Active.
Include four-year
reenlistment contracts to qualify for MGIB–SR.
Employer
Support:
Continue to enact tax credits for health care and differential pay
expenses for deployed Reserve Component employees.
Provide tax credits to offset costs for temporary replacements of
deployed Reserve Component employees.
Support permanent tax credits to employers who hire service members who supported contingency operations.
Employee Support:
Permit delays or exemptions while mobilized of regularly scheduled
mandatory continuing education and licensing/certification/promotion
exams.
Seek a credentialing process to recognize military skills.
Expand ROA's Service Members Law Center services. The Law Center advises on Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) and challenges of deployed Active and Reserve service members.
Health Care:
Improve continuity of health care for all drilling reservists and
their families by:
Implementins DoD-paid stipend toward employer's health care for dependents.
Seeking a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit to evaluate the Tricare Retired Reserve premium rates.
Permitting active members in the Individual Ready Reserve to buy into Ricare Reserve Select' vary levels of subsidy for different levels of readiness.
Improve post-deployment mental health evaluations of returning Reserve Component members.
Fund restorative dental care prior to mobilization.
Extend military coverage to 180 days for restorative dental care following deployment.
Spouse
Support:
Expand eligibility of surviving spouses
to receive Survivor Benefit Plan–Dependency Indemnity Clause payments with
no offset.
Provide employment protection and provide family leave for spouses
and family caregivers of mobilized Guard and Reserve for a period of time prior
to or following the deployment of the military member.
Deferred Benefits and
Retirement:
Extend current early retirement legislation retroactively to Sept.
11, 2001.
Permit mobilized retirees to earn additional retirement points
with less than two years of activated service, and codify retirement
credit for serving members over age 60.
Modify the U.S. Code that requires
repayment of separation bonuses if an individual receives a Uniformed Service
retirement annuity.
Continue to protect and sustain existing retirement benefits for
currently retired.
Uniformed Services
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act/ Servicemembers Civil Relief Act:
Improve SCRA to protect deployed
members from creditors who willfully violate SCRA.
Fix USERRA/SCRA to protect health
care coverage of returning service members and family for pre-existing
conditions, and guarantee continuation of prior group or individual
insurance.
Encourage federal agencies to abide by USERRA/SCRA standards.
Ensure USERRA isn't superseded by binding arbitration agreements between employers and Reserve Component members.
Make the states' employers waive 11th Amendment immunity with respect to USERRA claims, as a condition of receipt of federal assistance.
Make the award of attorney fees mandatory rather than discretionary.
Veterans
Affairs:
Calculate years of service for
disability retired pay under section 12732 of U.S.Code Title 10 for
Reserve Component members wounded or injured in combat.
Extend veterans preference to those Reserve Component members who have completed 20 years in good
standing.
Make permanent Reserve Component Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) Home Loan Guarantees expiring in October 2012.
Eliminate the 3/4 percent fee
differential between Active Component and Reserve Component
programs on VA home loans.
Support burial eligibility for
deceased gray-area retirees at Arlington National Cemetery.
Continue to seek timely and comprehensive implementation of
concurrent receipt for disabled receiving retired pay and VA disability compensation.
Voting:
Ensure that every deployed service member has an opportunity to
vote by:
Working with the Federal Voting Assistance Program.
Supporting electronic voting.
Ensure that every military absentee ballot is counted.
Service-Specific Issues: The directors of Army, Naval Services, and
Air Force directors provide service-specific legislative agendas. They can be
contacted by calling 1-800-809-9448.
ROA resolutions,
position papers, and white papers supporting these initiatives are available at
www.roa.org/advocate. Contact CAPT Marshall Hanson, director of
legislation and military policy, at mhanson@roa.org or 800-809-9448 ext
713.
