H.R. 1103 – Child Abuse Accountability Enhancement Act

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Updated April 15, 2026 at 1:01 PM UTC

The Child Abuse Accountability Enhancement Act would allow the Department of Defense to withhold part of a retired service member’s pension to pay victims of child abuse when a court orders it. It creates a legal mechanism for garnishing retired pay to satisfy judgments for physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of children. The rule applies to all retired uniformed‑service members and takes effect for any qualifying court order received after the law’s enactment.

Key Provisions

Adds a new subsection to 10 U.S.C. § 1408 that lets the Secretary of Defense garnish a retired service member’s pension to satisfy a court‑ordered judgment for physically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child.
Defines a “child abuse garnishment order” as a final court decree that meets the jurisdiction’s laws and directs garnishment to enforce such a judgment.
Specifies that a judgment for child abuse is any enforceable final judgment based wholly or partly on abuse of a person under 18, even if other wrongdoing is also alleged.
If more than one garnishment order is received, the retired pay is applied to the orders on a first‑come, first‑served basis after earlier orders are satisfied.
States the Secretary does not have to alter normal retirement‑pay disbursement cycles to comply with the garnishment.
Applies to any garnishment order received after the law takes effect, regardless of when the order was originally issued.

Legislative Activity

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3 earlier actions

HouseCommittee Latest Action

Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

Military Personnel Subcommittee

March 23, 2017

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

February 16, 2017

HouseIntro Referral

Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H1256)

February 16, 2017

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

Armed Services Committee

February 16, 2017

HouseCommittee

Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

Military Personnel Subcommittee

March 23, 2017

Bill Text

Latest available legislative text

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Introduced in HouseIssued February 16, 2017

I

115th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1103

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 16, 2017

Ms. DelBene (for herself, Ms. Herrera Beutler, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Speier, Mrs. Hartzler, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Reichert, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Poe of Texas, Ms. Moore, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Soto, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mrs. Noem, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Royce of California, Ms. Norton, and Mr. Heck) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for garnishment pursuant to a court order to satisfy a judgment against a retired member of the uniformed services for physically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Child Abuse Accountability Enhancement Act.

2.

Garnishment to satisfy judgment rendered for physically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child

(a)

Garnishment authority

Section 1408 of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

(l)

Garnishment To satisfy a judgment rendered for physically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child

(1)

Any payment of retired pay that would otherwise be made to a member shall be paid (in whole or in part) by the Secretary concerned to another person if and to the extent expressly provided for in the terms of a child abuse garnishment order.

(2)

In this section, the term court order includes a child abuse garnishment order.

(3)

In this subsection, the term child abuse garnishment order means a final decree issued by a court that—

(A)

is issued in accordance with the laws of the jurisdiction of that court; and

(B)

provides in the nature of garnishment for the enforcement of a judgment rendered against the member for physically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child.

(4)

For purposes of this subsection, a judgment rendered for physically, sexually, or emotionally abusing a child is any legal claim perfected through a final enforceable judgment, which claim is based in whole or in part upon the physical, sexual, or emotional abuse of an individual under 18 years of age, whether or not that abuse is accompanied by other actionable wrongdoing, such as sexual exploitation or gross negligence.

(5)

If the Secretary concerned is served with more than one court order with respect to the retired pay of a member, the disposable retired pay of the member shall be available to satisfy such court orders on a first-come, first-served basis, with any such process being satisfied out of such moneys as remain after the satisfaction of all such processes which have been previously served.

(6)

The Secretary concerned shall not be required to vary normal pay and disbursement cycles for retired pay in order to comply with a child abuse garnishment order.

.

(b)

Application of amendment

Subsection (l) of section 1408 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall apply with respect to a court order received by the Secretary concerned on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, regardless of the date of the court order.