1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “BAH Calculation Improvement Act”.
BAH Calculation Improvement Act
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Defense to report on the basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services.
2. Report on basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services
In general— Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on the basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services.
Elements— The report required by subsection (a) shall contain the following elements:
The evaluation of the Secretary—
of the efficiency and accuracy of the current system used to calculate the basic allowance for housing for members of the uniformed services under section 403 of title 37, United States Code;
the appropriateness of using mean and median housing costs in such calculation;
of existing military housing areas, in relation to choices in, and availability of, housing for members of the uniformed services; and
of the suitability of the six standard housing profiles in relation to the average family sizes of members of the uniformed services, disaggregated by uniformed service, rank, and military housing area.
The recommendation of the Secretary—
regarding the feasibility of including information, furnished by Federal entities, regarding school districts, in calculating the basic allowance for housing;
whether to calculate the basic allowance for housing more frequently, including in response to a sudden change in the housing market;
whether to enter into an agreement with a commercial entity, to compile data and develop an algorithm, in order to calculate the basic allowance for housing; and
whether to publish the methods used by the Secretary to calculate the basic allowance for housing on a publicly accessible website of the Department of Defense.