Ten days after Congressman Gerry Connolly introduced legislation making it illegal for cell phone companies and landlords to levy early termination fees against active-duty military personnel who are deployed to war or other duty stations, Connolly’s bill passed U.S. House of Representatives with broad bipartisan support.

Connolly’s bill – the Helping Active Duty Deployed Act -- received strong support from veterans’ groups because it solved a dilemma that has dogged many service members who are deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other duty stations around the globe.

After introducing his bill on June 15, Connolly saw an opportunity to fast track the legislation by attaching the measure to the National Defense Authorization Act.  After working with the chairs of four different House committees and the House Rules Committee, Connolly got the go ahead to offer it as an amendment to the defense bill on the House floor.

Connolly’s amendment passed the House on June 25 by a vote of 389 to 22 as part of the defense authorization bill and now moves to the Senate for consideration.  Virginia Congressmen Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello cosponsored Connolly’s amendment.

“I believe it is disrespectful and wrong that active-duty military personnel can be forced to pay financial penalties for terminating contracts when they are deployed and a majority of my House colleagues from both sides of the aisle agreed with me,” Connolly said. 

“Our military personnel, who make great sacrifices on our behalf and put themselves in harm’s way to protect our nation’s interests,” he said. They should not be required to pay onerous financial penalties when they are deployed and attempt to terminate contracts for the cell phone family plans they can no longer use and rented housing they must vacate.”

While current law prohibits charging penalties for deployed military personnel who terminate individual cell phone contracts and automobile leases, there are no such prohibitions against early termination penalties levied against deployed service members for family cell phone plans, residential property leases, or unused tuition and other college fees.

In a letter to Connolly supporting his bill, Patrick Campbell, chief counsel of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said Congress must “ensure that our men and women in uniform are focusing on their missions overseas and not bureaucratic morass back at home.”

Here are articles on the passage of the Connolly amendment from The Washington Post and the Potomac News and Messenger:

From The Washington Post:

Mr. Connolly Goes to Washington
 
U.S. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) is pretty happy this week about his first major legislative victory in the House of Representatives: a bill that affords financial protections to deployed service personnel.
Connolly, who today was anointed president of the House's freshman class, pushed the bill (which, to the chagrin of his staff, he named the HADD Act, for Helping Active Duty Deployed) through in a speedy 10 days, he said.
The law makes it illegal for cell phone companies and landlords to charge early termination fees against service members who have to back out of contracts because they are deployed.
Connolly introduced the measure on behalf of a group of veterans of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan who visited him on Capitol Hill.
"One guy told a horror story," he said. "It took him seven months of personally going to the office to get out of his telephone contract. Seven months," Connolly said. "And here's a man who has been called up by his country to serve."
The bill was made into an amendment to the defense authorization bill, which passed the House on Thursday and awaits consideration in the Senate.

By Amy Gardner |  July 1, 2009

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/07/mr_connolly_goes_to_washington.html


From the Potomac News and Messenger:

Legislation to help deployed troops passes

By JONATHAN HUNLEY
News and Messenger
June 26, 2009

The House of Representatives approved legislation this afternoon to help U.S. troops avoid financial penalties they could face while deployed.

Rep. Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly, who represents much of Prince William County, submitted a bill June 15 that would allow service members to end “family plan” cell phone contracts or rental property leases early with no charge.

Current federal law allows troops to break individual cell contracts or vehicle leases with no monetary penalty, but family cell plans and real estate leases can still generate extra costs.

That angered Connolly, who said he found out about the problem from speaking to veterans, some of whom were from Prince William.

“It is wrong, it is disrespectful and I am outraged that we allow this to happen to our military men and women who put themselves in harm’s way to protect our nation’s interests,” Connolly said in a prepared statement.
So he submitted the Helping Active Duty Deployed Act, which was approved as an amendment to the $680 billion national defense funding bill.

His fellow Virginia Democratic congressmen Tom Perriello of the 5th District and Glenn Nye of the 2nd District cosponsored the amendment.

The overall defense spending bill passed the House by a vote of 389 to 22.

Connolly’s original bill also would have allowed troops to get a refund if they paid college tuition before being deployed and were unable to complete courses because of their service commitment.

That measure, however, was not included in the spending bill OK’d today.

http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/politics/article/legislation_to_help_deployed_troops_passes/38209/