Is the Major Richard Star Act retroactive — will it apply if I retire before it passes?

The Major Richard Star Act is proposed legislation that would allow certain combat-injured veterans who are medically retired with fewer than 20 years of service to receive both military retired pay and VA disability compensation concurrently, without the current offset. Right now, this bill has not been enacted into law. Until Congress passes it and the President signs it, current concurrent receipt rules still apply.

Under existing law, full concurrent receipt is generally available through two programs: Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP), which applies to retirees with 20 or more years of service and a VA rating of 50 percent or higher, and Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC), which applies to retirees whose disabilities are combat-related, regardless of years of service, but is calculated differently and is not simply added on top of full retired pay in the same way CRDP is. Veterans who are medically retired with fewer than 20 years of service and whose conditions are combat-related may currently only have access to CRSC, which does not fully eliminate the VA waiver offset the way CRDP does. This gap is exactly what the Major Richard Star Act aims to close.

Because the bill has not passed, no one can currently apply for benefits under it, and there is no confirmed retroactivity or back-pay provision, since those terms would be defined in the final bill text and any implementing guidance if and when it becomes law. Similar past changes to concurrent receipt rules, such as the original CRDP phase-in years ago, have had specific effective dates set by the statute itself, sometimes with limited retroactive components tied to enactment date rather than a veteran's retirement date. There is no guarantee this bill would follow the same pattern.

A veteran approaching a medical retirement date should not delay separation decisions based on anticipated legislation, since bills can stall, get amended, or fail entirely. The most reliable approach is to track the bill's status directly on congress.gov, watch for official VA or DFAS guidance once something is signed into law, and in the meantime file and manage VA claims under current CRDP/CRSC rules, since those are what will govern compensation unless and until the law changes.