In a House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs markup meeting before the Congressional recess, Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) spoke in support of legislation that would allow veterans to more easily kick out squatters from their homes.
00:00I now call up H.R. 2334 to preempt any squatter's rights established by the state law regarding real property owned by a member of the Uniformed Services.
00:15The clerk shall report.
00:17H.R. 2334.
00:19The text was circulated in advance pursuant to committee rules and without objection the first reading is dispensed with and the bill is now open for amendments at any point.
00:28I now recognize myself for the purposes of offering an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
00:33The clerk shall report the amendment in the nature of a substitute.
00:37I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment in the nature of a substitute is dispensed with and I ask it be considered base text for purposes of this markup.
00:46Without objection, so ordered.
00:48I now recognize myself for five minutes to speak in support of the amendment in the nature of a substitute.
00:53The ANS would add a short title to the bill and revise the language to clarify congressional intent.
01:00Under current law, the service members' Civil Relief Act does not protect a service member who returns home from military orders and finds individuals residing in their home illegally from assistance due to the state squatter protection laws.
01:21To remove these individuals, service members must fight their state government and typically pay costly fees to get trespassers out of the homes they own.
01:34This bill would close this loophole by ensuring that the state squatter laws do not allow squatters to occupy service members' homes while they are away on active duty.
01:46Additionally, it would ensure our nation's service members have the right to quickly, easily affect trespassers instead of going through an expensive, time-consuming process.
02:00I want to thank my friend and colleague, Representative Mass, for bringing this very important issue to the committee on behalf of our service members.
02:10Do any members wish to comment on the amendment in the nature of a substitute for H.R. 2334?
02:16Seeing none, are there any amendments to the amendment in the nature of a substitute for H.R. 2334?
02:26Mr. Chairman, I have a...
02:27I recognize that I'm ranking to a member to Takano for the purpose of offering a substitute amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute.
02:34Mr. Chairman, I have a substitute amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2334 at the desk.
02:40The clerk shall report the amendment.
02:42Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with without objection so ordered.
02:47I now recognize Ranking Member Takano for five minutes to speak in support of his amendment.
02:53Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
02:55Look, no service member who deploys should have to worry about squatters adversely possessing or claiming ownership of their property while they're away serving our country.
03:05On that point, we are agreed.
03:07Adverse possession, really, but I just want to caution us.
03:13Adverse possession is a nuanced legal issue governed by state and local real property law,
03:20which requires us to carefully amend the Service Members Civil Relief Act or SCRA to preempt those laws and address this issue for deployed service members.
03:34While specific elements that must be proven for an individual to adversely possess a property vary by state,
03:45all locales share the requirement that the individual must inhabit the property for a specified period of time,
03:54which varies between four and 20 years.
03:58Now, my amendment to the amendment and nature of a substitute fixes a fundamental defect to the underlying text
04:04and would apply the legal concept of tolling to adverse possession cases for service members.
04:12In essence, tolling stops the clock and is used when a party is unable to act due to circumstances beyond their control.
04:22So, my amendment, quote-unquote, stops the clock during service members' entire period of service for individuals who may try to claim ownership of the service member's property.
04:34So, let me give you an example.
04:35It's kind of complicated to hear how that works.
04:38Let's say that we're in Kentucky.
04:41My friend is Kentucky, yes.
04:43We're going to use Kentucky as an example today.
04:45Let's say we're in Kentucky, maybe Lexington, where adverse possession requires 15 years of continuous possession.
04:53Let's say that a service member stationed at Fort Knox receives five years and during those five years leaves their primary residence in Louisville.
05:03We're talking about Louisville, not Lexington.
05:06It leaves their primary residence in Louisville vacant while they live on base.
05:10All right, so it's been vacant.
05:11If an individual moves into the service member's property and tries to claim ownership, my amendment would stop the clock.
05:20And those five years of service would not count toward the 15 years of possession that individual would need to claim ownership of the property under Kentucky law.
05:30The 15-year clock would not begin until the service member's period of service is over.
05:35However, courts in multiple states have interpreted SCRA's existing tolling provision to, quote-unquote, stop the clock for adverse possession during service members' periods of service.
05:47But my amendment would eliminate any potential ambiguity and clarify that SCRA does just that.
05:56I had major concerns that the amendment in the nature of its substitute would not withstand the low-per-bright scrutiny because it was so vague.
06:05My amendment provides legal clarity to that vagueness.
06:09However, I remain concerned that our efforts on this legislation will not provide the urgent relief that service members desire and deserve when they return home from deployments to find trespassers or squatters on their property.
06:22The nerve.
06:23The nerve.
06:23Think about that.
06:24Service members will still have to engage in local law enforcement to bring trespassing charges to remove squatters from their property or start eviction proceedings if they have a holdover tenant who has overstayed their lease.
06:38My amendment adds a requirement that VA use its existing SCRA websites and resources to educate veterans on how to secure their property while deployed, how to be a landlord, and how to protect their rights.
06:51I look forward to continue working with the majority to strengthen this language before it heads to the floor for consideration.
06:59I urge my colleagues to therefore vote yes on my substitute amendment to the amendment in nature of a substitute.
07:05And with that, I yield back.
07:07The gentleman yields back, and I recognize myself in support of the amendment.
07:12The ranking member's amendment would modify the language and current statute instead of making a new section.
07:17The amendment would also require VA to provide information to service members about their rights under this section.
07:23While I applaud the ranking member for promoting transparency, I'm concerned about why he chose VA instead of Department of Justice.
07:31Currently, the DOJ is the only enforcer of FCRA violations.
07:38Additionally, the service members goes to the DOJ, not to VA, if he or she believes their rights have been violated.
07:47During the 117th Congress, the ranking member and I worked together to provide several FCRA protections to service members.
07:56It was the DOJ, not the VA, who provided information to the service members and the states.
08:03What the bill does now is like having GI Bill information being sent out by the Department of Labor.
08:11It does not make sense, and I understand the ranking member staff has already made a commitment to working with the majority.
08:18Before this bill goes to the floor to make sure the agencies, who is the subject of this matter, are the experts, is the one sending the information to the service member.
08:30To not let perfect be the enemy of the good with the ranking member's language, I will support it with the intent that more work is still needed in this language.
08:40And I urge my colleagues to support the amendment as well, and the underlying bill, and I yield back.
08:46And would any other member wish to comment on the Takano amendment?
08:51Hearing none.
08:52The question now occurs on agreeing to the Takano substitute amendment and the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2334.
08:59All those in favor say aye.
09:01Aye.
09:02Aye.
09:03In the opinion of the chair, any opposed, say no.
09:05In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
09:11A recorded, no.
09:13The motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
09:16The question now occurs on agreeing to the amendment in the nature of a substitute on H.R. 2334 as amended.
09:22All those in favor say aye.
09:24Aye.
09:24Those opposed, no.
09:25In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended is agreed to.
09:33The motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
09:36I now recognize Representative Takano for a motion.
09:41Mr. Chairman, I move that H.R. 2334 as amended be reported favorably to the house.
09:48The question is favorably reporting the H.R. 2334 as amended to the house.
09:52All those in favor say aye.
09:54Aye.
09:54Aye.
09:54The opposed say no.
09:57In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it.
09:59The motion is agreed to and H.R. 2334 as amended is reported favorably to the house.
10:08The motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
10:12Mr. Chairman, pursuant to H.R. rule 11 clause 2, I give notice of intent to file minority, supplemental, additional, or dissenting views on H.R. 2334 as amended.
10:26I'm very pleased that we came to an agreement that we both dislike squatters and trespassers.
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