Kaine Military Spouse Provisions in FY19 NDAA

In early 2018, Kaine introduced the Military Spouse Employment Act and the Jobs and Childcare
for Military Families Act to take steps to reduce military spouse unemployment and examine the
effects of frequent moves and reassignments on military spouses’ careers. The majority of
provisions from those two bills were included in the FY 2019 NDAA that came out of the
conference committee between the House and Senate.

Somewhere between 12% and 25% of military spouses are unemployed—with an additional 25%
facing underemployment (meaning they are underpaid or have skills that are underutilized
compared to their training) — causing negative ripple effects across the military. Military
families frequently face financial insecurity due to spousal unemployment, which is an often
overlooked military readiness issue, and the lack of access to quality, affordable childcare
exacerbates these challenges.

Below is a list of provisions from Kaine’s two bills that made it in the final NDAA:
 Modifies Federal Hiring Authority:
o Modifies federal hiring authority so that federal agencies can expedite the hiring
of a candidate who is a military spouse. The most desirable jobs near military
installations are often federal positions.
 Expands Small Business Opportunities for Military Spouses on Military
Installations:
o Recognizing that spouses have faced obstacles to starting small businesses on
base, this legislation encourages the Department of Defense (DoD) to submit a
plan on how to best facilitate military spouse entrepreneurship on military
installations.
 Instructs the DoD to Evaluate Impact of Frequent Moves on Families
o The legislation instructs the DoD to evaluate the impact that frequent moves have
on military families and report to Congress on its findings.
 Instructs the DoD to expand educational opportunities for military spouses
o Instructs the DoD to evaluate how to expand and advertise existing career training
programs to military spouses. This includes ensuring existing installation career
counselors have the most helpful information for spouses and that spouses are
aware of the potentially under-utilized Military Spouse Career Advancement
Account (MyCAA), which provides scholarships for spouses to pursue associate
degrees, certificates, and professional licenses.
 Increases access to affordable child care for military families
o Given that a lack of access to affordable child care increases spouse
unemployment, this bill instructs the DoD to implement a program designed to
increase the number of cleared childcare providers and requires the DoD to assess
whether each duty station is allotted the right number of childcare subsidies for
the number of families requesting them.
 Encourages DoD to Establish Dependent Care Savings Accounts:
o Considering the unique life events uniformed servicemember families experience,
including frequent moves and deployments, this legislation strongly encourages
DoD to make flexible spending accounts available to military families so they can
 opt in to reserve pre-tax dollars from their paychecks to pay for out-of-pocket
child care expenses. Uniformed servicemembers and their families are the only
group in the federal employment system who do not have this benefit.
 Provides military spouses with resources to ease their families’ transition to civilian
life
o Acknowledging that career stability plays a big role in successful transitions to
civilian life, this bill allows military spouses to access Military One Source (MOS)
resources for a full year, instead of just six months. MOS provides non-medical
mental health counseling, career help and life coaching for veterans and military
families after transitioning to civilian life.
 Increases Participation in Military Family Public-Private Partnerships
o Recognizing that there are many businesses and community organizations
surrounding military installations that would like to support military families, this
legislation directs the DoD to make the process to enter into formal agreements
with these organizations and companies clearer for installation
commanders. Currently, there are numerous bureaucratic barriers to entering into
public-private partnerships and the process is unclear to many installation
commanders.