Duty Status Reform Act
Sponsored By: Senator Moran, Jerry [R-KS]
Introduced
Summary
Consolidates and modernizes how Reserve and National Guard duty is defined, authorized, and treated across federal law. It creates a single statutory framework for reserve-component duty and a parallel chapter for National Guard duty to align activations, benefits, and new duty types.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 7 mixed.
Pay, pension choices, and agreements
If enacted, the bill would let members sign written active‑duty agreements (up to five years) and, if released early without consent, get a one‑time lump sum equal to unexpired years times one month's basic pay, special pay, and allowances (with listed exclusions). It would let members who get earlier military payments (pensions or disability) choose to keep those payments or waive them and take duty pay instead. The bill would also allow members to serve, with consent, without pay while treating that unpaid duty as service for most non‑pay purposes.
Service continuity, promotions, and release rules
If enacted, breaks of 24 hours or less between two orders would count as continuous service for pay and benefits. During certain active duty under the law, the President could suspend promotion, retirement, or separation rules for essential members, and the Secretary could extend separations or retirements by up to 90 days after the suspension ends. In a time of war or a declared national emergency after 1953, a member could usually be released from active duty only by board recommendation and approval, waiver of the board, or another law. The bill also protects benefits already earned before the law takes effect.
Bankruptcy protection for Guard service
If enacted, the bill would let people who served at least 90 days of full‑time National Guard duty get special means‑test bankruptcy treatment. That special rule would apply during the 540 days after release from such a period of duty.
Legal definitions and statute clean‑up
If enacted, the bill would replace many references to "inactive‑duty training" and similar phrases with the new term "reserve component duty" across Titles 10, 14, 37, and 38. It would repeal specified older sections of Title 10 and Title 32 and change the legal definition of "contingency operation" to include more types of reserve and Guard activations. The bill would also define "reserve component duty" for VA purposes and list exclusions.
New National Guard duty rules
If enacted, the bill would create clear National Guard duty categories and new limits on short duties. Category III duty periods would have to last at least 2 hours and you could do no more than two such periods in one day. Each National Guard unit would normally meet at least 48 times a year and units would normally do at least 15 days of training annually. Governors could order members, with consent, to full‑time Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) functions; a temporary waiver to order Guard members as AGR trainers would be limited to 100 people per Secretary and end on October 1, 2024. The bill would also let members who are alleged sexual assault victims stay on or be ordered to full‑time Guard duty to finish a line‑of‑duty decision and would limit when Governors can refuse consent for certain overseas orders.
Ready Reserve training and remote work
If enacted, most Ready Reserve members would be ordered to at least 14 days of active duty for training each year (travel excluded). The bill would allow approved remote assignments (Category IV) where the Defense Secretary or a Governor may give retirement points or pay for completing pre‑approved work or courses. One retirement point would be earned for each day of active service and one point for each covered period of reserve component duty, and the Secretary may grant extra points for approved remote work or courses. The Coast Guard Reserve timing limit would be removed.
Who can be called up for duty
If enacted, the bill would allow certain Standby Reserve units or members to be ordered to active duty under limited rules and would permit some qualified Retired Reserve members to be ordered to active duty for specific purposes. It would apply the new activation and consent rules to Space Force members in certain statuses and set rules for how reserve officers' date of rank and active‑duty list position are set when ordered.
Default effective date and transition
If enacted, the title would take effect 10 years after enactment by default. The Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs could jointly certify an earlier date and Congress could set an earlier date by law. Service before the effective date would be measured under old law and orders; service on or after the effective date would be measured under the new consolidated rules.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Moran, Jerry [R-KS]
KS • R
Cosponsors
Sen. Rosen, Jacky [D-NV]
NV • D
Sponsored 6/16/2026
Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT]
MT • R
Sponsored 6/16/2026
Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
IL • D
Sponsored 6/16/2026
Sen. Crapo, Mike [R-ID]
ID • R
Sponsored 6/16/2026
Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
CT • D
Sponsored 6/16/2026
Sen. Risch, James E. [R-ID]
ID • R
Sponsored 6/16/2026
Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]
NJ • D
Sponsored 6/16/2026
Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR]
AR • R
Sponsored 7/22/2026
Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
MN • D
Sponsored 7/27/2026
Sen. Welch, Peter [D-VT]
VT • D
Sponsored 7/28/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov