ADMINISTRATION OF BASIC ALLOWANCE FOR QUARTERS AND VARIABLE HOUSING ALLOWANCE.

SEC. 604. ADMINISTRATION OF BASIC ALLOWANCE FOR QUARTERS AND VARIABLE HOUSING ALLOWANCE. (a) Basic Allowance for Quarters.—Section 403 of title 37, United States Code (as amended by section 602), is further amended— (1) in subsection (a)— (A) by inserting “(1)” after “(a)”; and (B) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(2) A member of a uniformed service with dependents is not entitled to a basic allowance for quarters as a member with dependents unless the member makes an annual certification to the Secretary concerned indicating the status of each dependent of the member. The certification shall be made in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense.”; and (2) in subsection (j)(1), by striking out “President may” and inserting in lieu thereof “Secretary of Defense shall”. (b) Variable Housing Allowance.—Section 403a of such title (as amended by section 603), is further amended— (1) in subsection (b)— (A) by striking out “or” at the end of paragraph (2); (B) by striking out the period at the end of paragraph (3) and inserting in lieu thereof “; or”; and (C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(4) unless the member makes an annual certification (in accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of Defense may prescribe) to the Secretary concerned identifying the housing costs of the member.”; and (2) in subsection (e)— (A) by striking out “President” in paragraph (1) and inserting in lieu thereof “Secretary of Defense”; (B) by striking out “a survey area” in paragraphs (2) and (3) each place it appears and inserting in lieu thereof “an area”; (C) by striking out “the survey area” in paragraph (2)(A) and inserting in lieu thereof “that area”; and (D) by striking out “such area reported on the variable housing allowance survey” in paragraph (2)(B) and inserting in lieu thereof “that area determined on the basis of the annual certifications of housing costs of members of the uniformed services receiving a variable housing allowance for that area”. (c) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall take effect six months after the date of the enactment of this Act.