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Vet-turned-lawmaker pushes legal safeguards

An Iraq war veteran elected to Congress last fall wants to put some teeth into the financial and legal protections for deployed and mobilized service members.

Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., introduced what he calls the 21st Century Servicemembers Protection Act to expand the right to cancel or suspend service contracts when deploying or mobilizing. The bill also would call for landlords, lenders and businesses who do not obey the law to be penalized up to $10,000 in damages that would be paid to the service member.

“When American troops sign up to serve, they expect months away from their loved ones and the constant threat of attack,” said Murphy, a former Army judge advocate who deployed in 2003 to Iraq as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. “What they don’t expect are late fees and increased interest rates while they put their lives on the line to protect our nation.

“Protecting their credit is the least we can do to try and ease the burden,” he said.

Aides to the freshman congressman said Murphy was aware of some of the problems facing troops when he was on active duty, but the push to introduce a bill came when he was contacted by another Army lawyer, whom aides did not identify, who said landlords and lenders don’t seem very concerned about obeying current law.

Even after being contacted by military legal service officers, some landlords and financial institutions were reluctant to cancel contracts, cap interest rates and waive termination and late fees, the Army officer said, according to Murphy’s aides.

Army lawyers also mentioned difficulty faced by soldiers trying to cancel or suspend cell phones, auto insurance and home security contracts while deployed, which Murphy is trying address by updating the law.

His bill, HR 3298, which has 22 co-sponsors, would expand current rights to cancel housing and auto leases when deployed or receiving permanent-change-of-station orders. His bill specifically would apply to cell phone service, cable or satellite television service, Internet service, automobile insurance, water, electricity, oil, gas, telephone and other utilities.

A chief co-sponsor is Rep. Timothy Walz, D-Minn., a retired Army National Guard command sergeant major. In a letter to members of the House asking for support for the bill, Murphy and Walz, who note they have a combined 34 years of military service, said: “As we continue to send a new generation of service members into harm’s way, the time has come to update and modernize SCRA [the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act] for the financial obligations faced by today’s troops.”

Under the proposal, a service member or dependent would have the option of terminating or suspending a service contract if the member receives orders for a permanent change of station to or from a location outside the continental U.S. or receives orders for a deployment of 90 days or more.

This would be in addition to cancellation rights under current law, which allow residential leases to be canceled when a service member is deployed for 90 days or more and for vehicle leases to be canceled when someone is deployed for 180 days or more.

Under the bill, a company could not impose an early termination charge and would have to refund any fees paid in advance.

However, canceling a contract doesn’t mean a service member or his dependent would not have to pay any balance for service provided before the cancellation takes effect. In cases of fees paid in advance, a company would have 30 days from the effective date of termination to provide a refund.

Murphy’s bill also increases the potential penalty for companies that do not provide interest rate reduction to those eligible under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which mandates a 6 percent rate cap on loans taken out before entry into active service when someone comes onto active duty.

Under the bill, a member could receive up to $10,000 in damages and have attorney’s fees covered when a creditor willfully or negligently violates the law.