Sets forth procedural guidelines for claim determination and payment. Restricts claimant's attorney's fees to ten percent of a payment made for a claim.
[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3495 Introduced in House (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
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
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.
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.
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.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
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