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S 410

Relates to certain jury awards in employment discrimination actions

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Leroy Comrie and 10 co-sponsors

Removes remarriage barriers to survivor benefits: restores DIC, SBP, and TRICARE eligibility for surviving spouses who remarry and later become unmarried.

REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
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WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · S 410

Summary — S. 410 (Love Lives On Act of 2025)

Note: The materials provided contain conflicting entries (including a Massachusetts S.410 on school climate science and an initial title referencing jury awards). The operative federal text included here is the “Love Lives On Act of 2025” (introduced Feb 5, 2025) which amends Titles 10 and 38, U.S. Code, to change surviving-spouse benefits and eligibility. This summary focuses on that federal bill text.

Purpose

The Love Lives On Act of 2025 amends federal veterans’ law to remove or relax certain remarriage-based bars to survivor benefits — restoring or preserving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuities, and TRICARE dependent status for certain surviving spouses who remarry (or remarry and later become unmarried).

Key provisions

  • Change to 38 U.S.C. §103(d) (DIC remarriage rule)

    • Adds an explicit rule that a surviving spouse’s remarriage does NOT bar furnishing benefits under 38 U.S.C. §1311 (death compensation) or §1562 (DIC) to the surviving spouse. (A new clause (iii) is added to paragraph (2)(B).)
    • Cleans up/renumbers certain subparagraphs in paragraph (5).

  • Change to 10 U.S.C. §1450(b)(2) (SBP annuity treatment)

    • Adds a rule (new 10 U.S.C. §1450(b)(2)(B)) that the Secretary may not terminate SBP annuity payments to surviving spouses described in 10 U.S.C. §1448(d)(1) solely because they remarry.
    • For surviving spouses who remarried before age 55 and before enactment, the Secretary must resume payment:
    • generally beginning the month one year after enactment; or
    • immediately (first full month after enactment) if the surviving spouse had previously elected to transfer payment to surviving child(ren) under the former §1448(d)(2)(B) as in effect on Dec 31, 2019.

  • Change to 10 U.S.C. §1072(2) (TRICARE dependent definition)

    • Expands the definition of “dependent” under TRICARE to include “a remarried widow or widower whose subsequent marriage has ended due to death, divorce, or annulment.” (Inserted as new subparagraph (J).)

Who is affected

  • Surviving spouses of veterans and service members (including survivors of members who died on active duty).
  • Survivors who remarried (including those who remarried before age 55 and before enactment).
  • Formerly ineligible remarried survivors who later become unmarried (by death, divorce, or annulment) — now eligible for TRICARE as dependents.
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense (administrative implementation and payment resumption).

Procedural status (as provided)

  • Introduced in the U.S. Senate: Feb 5, 2025 (sponsor: Sen. Jerry Moran, with many cosponsors).
  • Referred to Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs; hearings held (committee action dates listed: Mar 11, 2025; hearing scheduled Sept 16, 2025 in provided materials).
  • Senate passage noted in materials (Passed Senate: June 11, 2025).
  • Administrative steps: referrals and committee reports noted in provided timeline.

Potential impact and considerations

  • Expands and restores benefits for surviving spouses who previously lost DIC, SBP annuities, or TRICARE access due solely to remarriage — likely increasing federal benefit outlays (no dollar amounts provided in the text).
  • Provides relief for spouses who remarried before age 55 and were disenrolled; includes a phased resumption rule with a one-year delay for many but immediate resumption in certain transferred-payment cases.
  • Administrative implementation will require revisions to VA and DoD procedures and outreach to affected survivors to resume or enroll benefits.
  • The bill is narrowly targeted to survivor benefit eligibility rather than broader veteran benefits.

If you want, I can:
- Draft a short lay-language fact sheet for surviving spouses,
- Produce a fiscal estimate checklist (what agencies would need to estimate), or
- Compare this bill to current law and past remedial measures for remarried survivors.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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