H.R. 2334, Servicemember Residence Protection Act

H.R. 2334 would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) to exclude the period of time that a member of the armed forces serves in the military from a state’s or other jurisdiction’s calculation of a period of adverse possession. (That is, the determination of the period of time after which the service member may lose ownership of their real property to another person who possesses the property.) Because those property rights do not directly implicate the federal government, CBO estimates that the bill’s changes to the SCRA would not affect the federal budget.

The bill also would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to update its website to include information pertaining to service members’ property and tenancy rights. Based on similar efforts, CBO estimates that the requirement would increase spending subject to appropriation by less than $500,000 over the 2025‑2035 period.

H.R. 2334 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by preempting state laws to exclude military service from the calculation of periods of adverse possession of real property. CBO estimates that the preemption would not result in additional expenditures or losses in revenue, and therefore, the cost of the mandate would not exceed the thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental mandates ($103 million, adjusted annually for inflation).

The bill does not contain private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Paul B.A. Holland (federal costs) and Brandon Lever (mandates). The estimate was reviewed by Christina Hawley Anthony, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.