The Major Richard Star Act amends title 10, U.S. Code, to permit disability retirees whose disabilities are combat-related to receive both their military retired pay (Chapter 61 disability retirement) and veterans’ disability compensation concurrently, explicitly removing the application of reductions under 38 U.S.C. §§ 5304 and 5305 for those beneficiaries. The bill revises the Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) provision and rewrites the concurrent-receipt rule for Chapter 61 retirees, plus makes several technical and conforming edits to chapter 71.
This change removes a legal barrier that has prevented certain disability retirees from collecting full retired pay and VA compensation together. For affected retirees it increases monthly income; for DoD, VA, and Treasury it creates an immediate implementation and budgeting task.
The bill takes effect at the start of the first month after enactment and applies to payments beginning that month onward.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill amends 10 U.S.C. §1413a(b)(3) and §1414 to require that when a Chapter 61 disability retiree is entitled to VA disability compensation for a combat-related disability, the retiree be paid both retired pay and VA compensation without regard to reductions under 38 U.S.C. 5304 and 5305. It also removes obsolete phase-in language and makes technical conforming edits within chapter 71.
Who It Affects
Directly affects military disability retirees under chapter 61 who have been rated for combat-related disabilities, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Treasury. Veterans service organizations and benefits counselors will also need to advise clients about changed entitlement and payment timing.
Why It Matters
This is a targeted expansion of concurrent receipt that narrows the preconditions veterans had to meet to avoid offsets, effectively transferring ongoing payment responsibility and budgetary cost to DoD/Treasury for a subgroup of disabled retirees. It matters to payroll systems, benefit verification processes, and federal budget forecasts.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Major Richard Star Act changes existing federal law so that a member or former member of the uniformed services who retired for disability under chapter 61 and who also receives VA disability compensation for a combat-related disability is entitled to be paid both retired pay and VA compensation for the same month, and the retired pay cannot be reduced under the two statutory provisions in title 38 that formerly produced offsets. The bill accomplishes this by editing the Combat-Related Special Compensation provision and by rewriting the special-rule subsection that governs Chapter 61 disability retirees.
Concretely, the bill inserts an explicit clause into 10 U.S.C. §1413a(b)(3) that the retiree’s retired pay “is not subject to reduction under sections 5304 and 5305 of title 38,” and it replaces the text of §1414(b) with a short, categorical entitlement for Chapter 61 disability retirees who have a combat-related VA rating. Those edits remove references to offsets in the specific circumstances covered by the bill and make the entitlement straightforward: if you are a Chapter 61 retiree and you are entitled to VA compensation for a combat-related disability, you get both payments for that month.The bill also cleans up chapter 71 by striking now-obsolete phase-in language in §1414, redesignating subsections, updating the section heading and the chapter’s table of sections, and making minor conforming changes elsewhere in §1413a.
Finally, it sets a limited effective date rule: the amendments take effect the first day of the first month after enactment and apply to payments for months beginning on or after that date. That means the bill is forward-looking; it does not, by its text, mandate retroactive payments to months before the effective month.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill amends 10 U.S.C. §1413a(b)(3) to state explicitly that the retired pay of a retiree with a combat-related disability is not subject to reduction under 38 U.S.C. §§ 5304 and 5305.
It rewrites 10 U.S.C. §1414(b) to create a categorical concurrent-receipt entitlement for Chapter 61 disability retirees who are also entitled to VA compensation for combat-related disabilities.
The legislation removes obsolete phase-in provisions and deletes specific paragraphs in §1414 that previously handled staged eligibility, consolidating the rule into a permanent entitlement.
Conforming edits include updating the §1414 section heading, the chapter 71 table of sections, and a cross-reference in §1413a(f) to reflect redesignated subsections.
Effective date language: the changes take effect on the first day of the first month after enactment and apply only to payments for months beginning on or after that date (no broader retroactivity is provided).
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Short title: Major Richard Star Act
Provides the Act’s short title. This is the formal naming provision; it has no operational effect on benefits or implementation but is how the statute will be cited in future references.
Amend CRSC clause (10 U.S.C. §1413a(b)(3))
Modifies the Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC) provision to add an explicit statement that the retiree’s Chapter 61 retired pay is not subject to reduction under 38 U.S.C. §§ 5304 and 5305. Practically, this blocks the statutory mechanism that produced an offset between VA compensation and retired pay in the specific CRSC context referenced, clarifying that eligible retirees will keep their full retired pay while also collecting VA compensation for combat-related disabilities.
Rewrite concurrent-receipt rule for Chapter 61 retirees (10 U.S.C. §1414(b))
Replaces the previous, more complex language with a concise special rule: a Chapter 61 disability retiree who is also entitled to VA disability compensation for a combat-related disability is entitled to be paid both for that month without regard to the statutory reductions in title 38. This creates a clear entitlement standard that will require DoD and VA payroll systems to treat such retirees as eligible for concurrent payments.
Technical and conforming amendments
Removes phase-in language from §1414(a)(1), strikes a subsection and redesignates others, eliminates now-obsolete paragraphs, updates the section heading, fixes the chapter table of sections, and corrects a cross-reference in §1413a(f). These edits tidy statutory text so chapter 71 cleanly reflects the new permanent entitlement and avoids internal inconsistencies that could complicate implementation or litigation.
Effective date and application to payments
Sets the effective date as the first day of the first month beginning after enactment and states the changes apply to payments for months beginning on or after that date. The provision confines the bill’s financial effect to future payments starting with that month, which limits the scope of any required back-pay or recoupment actions.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Chapter 61 disability retirees with combat-related VA ratings — they become eligible to receive full retired pay and VA disability compensation concurrently, increasing monthly income for covered retirees.
- Veterans Service Organizations and benefits advocates — will be able to secure a definable entitlement for a narrower class of retirees and advise clients about immediate cash-flow changes and eligibility.
- Family members and dependents of eligible retirees — to the extent household income rises, families face improved financial stability and potentially fewer means-tested benefit pressures.
Who Bears the Cost
- Department of Defense/Treasury — paying concurrent benefits increases federal outlays for military retired pay and related payments for the class of combat-related disability retirees.
- Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and VA payroll/benefits systems — must update eligibility logic, coordinate data exchange, correct existing offsets, and handle administrative appeals or corrections.
- Budget offices and appropriations stakeholders — the change creates a recurring entitlement that will require scoring and appropriation planning, potentially displacing other priorities or requiring offsetting savings.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is balancing targeted fairness to combat-injured disability retirees—allowing them to keep both retired pay and VA compensation—against the fiscal and administrative costs of a new ongoing entitlement: the policy corrects an equity concern for a defined group but forces agencies and budgets to absorb immediate payment, verification, and reconciliation burdens that the bill does not itself fund or detail.
The bill draws a narrow substantive line — combat-related disabilities only — which reduces the universe of retirees who gain concurrent receipt but leaves other disability retirees unchanged. That narrowness avoids a broad, immediate expansion of concurrent receipt but raises implementation questions: who makes the final combat-related determination for the concurrent-pay rule (VA’s existing rating decision or a DoD eligibility review), and how will differences in evidentiary standards between agencies be reconciled?
The statute references the term “combat-related disability” as defined in §1413a(e), so implementation will rely on that cross-reference, but disputes over classification could generate appeals and delays.
Another tension is fiscal versus equity trade-offs. The bill’s forward-only effective date limits retroactive liability, but it still creates a new recurring cost stream.
DoD, DFAS, and Treasury will need to detect current Chapter 61 retirees with qualifying VA ratings and correct payrolls; that process risks both underpayments and overpayments while records are reconciled. The text does not authorize a specific administrative process for pre-identifying beneficiaries or for recouping payments made in error, so agencies will need to craft procedures within existing authorities.
Finally, the bill assumes the statutory removal of reductions under 38 U.S.C. §§ 5304–5305 is sufficient for practical concurrent payment, but operational integration—matching claimant records, rating dates, and effective-month accounting—can be the real bottleneck.
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