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FYI:
HR 3495 IH
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3495
To establish a compensation program for Department of Energy employees
injured in Federal nuclear activities.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 18, 1999
Mr. STRICKLAND (for himself, Mr. GORDON, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr.
WHITFIELD, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. PHELPS, Mr.
FORBES, Mr. PALLONE, and Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee
on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
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A BILL
To establish a compensation program for Department of Energy employees
injured in Federal nuclear activities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Department of Energy Nuclear Employees Exposure
Compensation Act'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Federal nuclear activities have long been explicitly recognized by the
Government as an ultra-hazardous activity under law.
(2) Since the inception of the Federal nuclear weapons program, the
Department of Energy and its predecessors have self-regulated worker safety
and health, which places a unique responsibility upon the Department to
ensure a safe working environment.
(3) Since the inception of the nuclear weapons program, nuclear workers at
sites operated by the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies were
put at risk of exposure to harmful substances without the knowledge or
consent of the workers.
(4) For decades the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies
withheld information about worker health risks for reasons that were not in
the national interest--while actively resisting efforts by workers to seek
compensation.
(5) The Department of Energy currently does not have accurate and complete
records of exposure to radioactive and hazardous substances--which unfairly
places the burden of proof of harm upon workers.
(6) Current remedies under State compensation programs are ill-suited to
address chronic diseases and those that have long latency periods which are
associated with exposure to radioactive and hazardous substances at
Department of Energy facilities.
(7) Scientific evidence shows that ionizing radiation is a carcinogenic
substance and that specific types of cancer are considered radiogenic by the
scientific and medical community.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY- The term `Department of Energy' includes the
predecessor agencies of the Department.
(2) DOE NUCLEAR EMPLOYEE- The term DOE nuclear employee` means an individual
employed by--
(A) the Department of Energy;
(B) an entity that contracted with the Department of Energy to provide
management and operations, management and integration, production, testing,
research, development, environmental remediation, or waste management at
facilities at locations, including the following:
(i) Portsmouth, Ohio;
(ii) Paducah, Kentucky.
(iii) O.R. K-25, Tennessee;
(iv) O.R. Y-12, Tennessee;
(v) O.R. X-10, Tennessee;
(vi) Hanford, Washington;
(vii) Idaho National Engineering Laboratory;
(viii) Rocky Flats, Colorado;
(ix) Fernald, Ohio;
(x) Miamisburg, Ohio;
(xi) Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico;
(xii) Pinellas, Florida;
(xiii) Pantex, Texas;
(xiv) Nevada Test Site;
(xv) Brookhaven, New York;
(xvi) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory;
(xvii) Sandia National Laboratory, New Mexico
(xviii) Burlington, Iowa;
(xix) Fermi Nuclear Facility, Illinois;
(xx) Weldon Spring, Maryland; or
(xxi) Savannah River, South Carolina
(xxii) Argonne National Lab, Illinois
(C) a supplier that supplied uranium conversion or manufacturing services,
including Allied Signal Facility in Metropolis, Illinois, Nuclear Fuels
Services in Erwin, Tennessee, Linde Air Products, Tonowanda, New York, and
Reactive Metals in Ashtabula, Ohio.
(3) SPECIFIED DISEASE- The term `specified disease' means--
(A) leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia);
(B) the following diseases;
(i) multiple myeloma;
(ii) lymphomas (other than Hodgkins disease); and
(iii) primary cancer or a pre-cancerous condition of the bone, lung, thyroid,
male or female breast, esophagus, kidney, salivary gland, skin, urinary
bladder, stomach pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall
bladder, or liver; and
(C) additional diseases covered by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal of the
Marshall Islands.
SEC. 4. DOE NUCLEAR FACILITY EMPLOYEES' EXPOSURE COMPENSATION FUND.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT- There is established in the Treasury the DOE Nuclear
Employees' Exposure Compensation Fund (hereafter in this Act referred to as
the `Fund').
(b) PURPOSE- The amounts in the Fund are available only for disbursement by
the Attorney General under section 6.
(c) TERMINATION- The Fund shall terminate 22 years after the date of
enactment of this Act. If all of the amounts in the Fund have not been
expended by the end of the 22-year period, amounts remaining in the Fund
shall be deposited in the miscellaneous receipts account in the Treasury.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There are authorized to be appropriated
to the Fund such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act. Amounts
appropriated to the fund shall remain available until expended or deposited
in the Treasury.
(e) AUTHORITY- Authority under this Act to enter into contracts or to make
payments is effective in any fiscal year only to the extent, or in the
amounts, provided in advance in an appropriation Act.
SEC. 5. ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES.
A DOE nuclear employee who--
(1) was employed at a DOE nuclear facility for at least a year;
(2) during the employees' employment period--
(A) was or should have been monitored through the use of dosimetry badges for
exposure of the employees's body to radiation at the facility, and
(B) submits written medical documentation as to having contracted a specified
disease after beginning employment as described in paragraph (1) and after
beginning being monitored or beginning work,
is authorized to receive $100,000 and first dollar coverage for all medical
and diagnostic costs related to a claim for a specified disease, including
complicating factors, if the claim for payment is filed with the Attorney
General and the Attorney General determines, in accordance with section 6,
that the claim meets the requirements of this Act.
SEC. 6. DETERMINATION AND PAYMENT OF CLAIMS.
(a) FILING PROCEDURES- The Attorney General shall establish procedures under
which an eligible employee may submit a claim for payment under this section.
(b) DETERMINATION- The Attorney General shall determine if each claim filed
under this section meets the requirements of this Act. In making a
determination of eligibility for compensation, the Attorney General may
consult with the Surgeon General and the Secretary of Energy. The Attorney
General shall--
(1) in consultation with the Surgeon General, establish guidelines for
determining what constitutes written medical documentation under section 5
that an individual contracted a specified disease; and
(2) in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, establish guidelines for
determinations of employment and exposure, as described in section 5.
(c) PAYMENT-
(1) IN GENERAL- The Attorney General is authorized to pay, from amounts
available in the Fund, claims filed under this section that the Attorney
General determines meets the requirements of this Act.
(2) SUBROGATION- Upon payment of a claim under paragraph (1), the United
States is subrogated for the amount of the payment to a right or claim that
the individual to whom the payment was made may have against any person on
account of a specified disease contracted following employment and exposure
as described in section 5.
(3) DECEASED OR DYING EMPLOYEE-
(A) DECEASED- In the case of a DOE nuclear employee who is deceased at the
time of payment under this section, the payment may be made only as follows:
(i) If the DOE nuclear employee is survived by a spouse who is living at the
time of payment, the payment shall be made to the surviving spouse.
(ii) If there is no surviving spouse at the time of payment, the payment
shall be made in equal shares to all the children of the DOE nuclear employee
who are living at the time of payment.
(iii) If there is no spouse or children living at the time of payment, the
payment shall be made in equal shares to the parents of the DOE nuclear
employee who are living at the time of payment.
(iv) If there are no spouse, children, or parents living at the time of
payment, the payment shall be made in equal shares to all grandchildren of
the DOE nuclear employee who are living at the time of payment.
(v) If there are no spouse, children, parents, or grandchildren living at the
time of payment, the payment shall be made in equal shares to the
grandparents of the DOE nuclear employee who are living at the time of
payment.
(vi) If there are no spouse, children, parents, grandchildren, or
grandparents living at the time of payment, the amount of the payment shall
remain in the Fund for future claimants.
(B) DIES- If the DOE nuclear employee eligible for payment under this section
dies before filing a claim under this Act, a survivor of that employee who
may receive payment under subparagraph (A) may file a claim for payment for
such employee.
(C) DEFINITIONS- For purposes of subparagraph (A)--
(i) the term `spouse' of a DOE nuclear employee is a wife or husband of that
employee who was married to that employee for at least one year immediately
before the death of that employee;
(ii) the term `child' includes a natural child, a step-child in a regular
parent-child relationship, and an adopted child;
(iii) the term `parent' includes fathers and mothers through adoption.
(iv) the term `grandchild' of a DOE nuclear employee is a child of a child of
that employee;
(v) the term `grandparent' of a DOE nuclear employee is a parent of a parent
of that employee.
(d) ACTION ON CLAIM-
(1) DETERMINATION PERIOD- The Attorney General shall complete the
determination of each claim filed under subsection (a) not later than 12
months after the date the claim is filed.
(2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION- The Attorney General may
request from a claimant, or from an individual or entity on behalf of a
claimant, additional information or documentation necessary to complete the
determination of the claim under subsection (b). The period of time from the
Attorney General's request for additional information or documentation until
the time the information or documentation is provided, or the requested
individual or entity informs the Attorney General the information or
documentation cannot or will not be provided, is not counted toward the
12-month period established under paragraph (1). A claimant may sue the
Department of Energy or its contractor in a district court of the United
States to compel the production of information or documentation requested by
the Attorney General if (A) it is more than 60 days after the date the
Attorney General's request was made, and (B) the information or documentation
has not been provided.
(3) PAYMENTS UNDER OTHER ACTS LIMITED- An individual may not receive payment
under this Act and under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C.
2210 note) or under the Veterans' Dioxin and Radiation Exposure Compensation
Standards Act (38 U.S.C 354 note).
(e) COSTS OF ADMINISTERING THE ADJUDICATIONS-
(1) LIMITATION- Costs incurred by the Attorney General in carrying out this
section shall not be paid from the Fund or set off against, or otherwise
deducted from, a payment under this section.
(2) REIMBURSEMENT- The Department of Energy shall reimburse the Attorney
General for the costs incurred by the Attorney General in connection with
establishing and administering the program of compensation under this Act
until the duties of the Attorney General terminate under subsection (f).
(f) TERMINATION- The duties of the Attorney General under this section
terminate when the Fund terminates.
(g) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS UNDER OTHER LAWS- An amount paid to an individual
under this section--
(1) shall not be subject to Federal income tax under the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986;
(2) shall not be included as income or resources for purposes of determining
eligibility to receive benefits described in section 3803(c)(2)(C) of title
31, United States Code; and
(3) shall not be subject to the offset under chapter 37 of title 31, United
States Code.
(h) REGULATORY AUTHORITY- The Attorney General may issue regulations to carry
out this Act.
(i) ISSUANCE OF REGULATIONS GUIDELINES, AND PROCEDURES- Regulations,
guidelines, and procedures to carry out this Act shall be issued not later
than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
(j) ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS PROCEDURE AND JUDICIAL REVIEW-
(1) DECISION DENYING CLAIM- A decision denying a claim under this Act may be
appealed to an appeals officer designated by the Attorney General.
(2) If the designated appeals officer affirms a decision denying a claim
under this Act, the individual who submitted such claim may seek review of
such affirmation by a district court of the United States.
SEC. 7. CLAIMS NOT ASSIGNABLE OR TRANSFERABLE.
A claim cognizable under this Act is not assignable or transferable.
SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS ON CLAIMS.
A claim to which this Act applies is barred unless the claim is filed within
20 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 9. ATTORNEY FEES.
Notwithstanding any contract, the representative of an individual filing a
claim under this Act may not receive for services rendered in connection with
such claim more than 10 percent of a payment made for such claim. A
representative who violates this section shall be fined not more than $5,000.
SEC. 10. CLAIMS NOT AFFECTED BY AWARDS OF DAMAGES.
A payment made under this Act shall not be considered as any form of
compensation or reimbursement for a loss for purposes of imposing liability
on the individual receiving the payment to repay any insurance carrier for
insurance payments made. A payment under this Act does not affect any claim
against any insurance carrier with respect to insurance.
END
Bob Cherry
bobcherry@aol.com
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