Radiation Experimentation Compensation Act (H.R. 3743) (Includes a Bill of the Act)

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wasningron. oc 20s is “ oh AGT RATION THE RADIATION EXPERIMENTATION COMPENSATION ACT I am introducing legislation to compensate those individuals who were the subjects of secret government radiation tests that began., during the 1940s. To learn about the effects of radiation on humans, t h e Federal Government commenced radiation tests on individuals. Unfortunately, many of these experiments were conducted without the person being tested ever knowing what was happening. Rather than informing these people about the nature of the experiments add the likely risks, the government and its scientists simply )- found opportune moments to conduct the experiments secretly. Over the last couple of months, we‘ve been hearing about some of these experiments. We learneG, for example, that mentally retarded children were f e d food containing radioactive material. We learned that pregnant women were given radioactive medication. We’ve learned about radiation experiments conducted ’ on veterans in VA hospitals. And we’ve learned about eighteen individuals being injected with plutonium. One of t h e people injected with plutonium, Elmer Allen, lived in my Congressional District in Texas. Believing he was being treated for bone cancer, Mr. Allen received an injection of plutonium in 1947. Although doctors did not expect him to live long, Elmer Allen lived another 44 years. But those w e r e difficult years for a man troubled by numerous illnesses and become a guinea pig for government scientists. Neither he nor h i s family ever knew that he had What the Federal Government did to these people was outrageous. Experiments like these happened in Nazi Germany and t h e Soviet Union, not here. Unfortunately, we are now learning that they did happen here. To provide some measure of compensation to the individuals and their families for the burdens they have borne, my bill would authorize a payment of SS0,OOO t o each person who, without giving their informed consent, was the subject of an intentional radiation experiment. A process would be set up by the Attorney General to review claims and determine which ones are eligible We can never fully compensate these people for what their government has done to them. However, we can provide some

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on its citizens. If you would like to j o i n me in cosponsoring this measure, please call Alissa Baum or Askia Suruma at X S - 3 6 0 5 .

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To provide for payments to individuals who were the subjects of radiation experiments conducted by the Federal.&v1 Be it enacted by the Senate and Hause of Represents2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembkd, 5 tation Compensation Act of 1994”. 6 SEC. z FTNDINGS, PURPOSE,AND APOLOGY. This Act may be cited as t h e “Radiation Ezrperimen- (1) since the 1940’s, the Federal Gavernment has intentionally conducted secret radiation eXperi-

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mats in the United States xethout the informed consect or knowledge of t h e indk5duals on whom the experiments were performed; (2) such radiation experiments included, but were not limited to, experiments in vo bg injections of plutonium, ingestion of irradiated food, exposure t o atmospheric radiation, and the prescription of radioactive medication to pregnant women; (3) the Federal Government performed such esperiments not in order to achieve medical or health benefits for the individuals used in t h e tests, but for research purposes, t o allow Federal Government seientjsts and health specialists to study the effects of radiation on the human body; d (4) at the time of such e-qeriments and in the years following the experiments, the Federal Government failed to inform the in&15duals tested, or their , families, about the nature and effects of the tests; ( 5 ) t h e Federal Government has harmed the subjects of such radiation experiments; (6) the Congress presumes that the e,sposure t o radiation of the subjece of such experiments has generated an excess of cancers and other debilitating diseases and health problems for such subjects;

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(7) t h e Federal Government should recognize that the lives and health of the innocent individuals d o were the subjects of such esperiments were put at risk by t h e individuals' &owing and involuntxiq participation in radiation esperiments; and sponsibili@ for the harm caused by its actions relish a procedure to make patial restitution t o the individuals descnied in subsection (a) for the burdens they have borne for the Nation as a whole, although monetary compensation can never fully compensate them. (c) APomeY.-The Congress apologizes on behalf of the Nation to the individuals described in subsection (a) and their Eamilies for the hardships they hiwe endured because of the experiments described in subsection (a). (a) EsTaBLISHbmNT.-'Fhete is established in t h e Treasluy of the United States a trust fund to be known as the "Radiation Experimentation Compensation Trust F"'(in this Act referred to as the "Fund"), which shall red by t h e Secretary of the Treasury.be admmste in the Fund shall be invested in accordance with section

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1 9702 of title 31, United States Code, and any interest on, 2 and proceeds &om, my such investment shall be credited 3 to and become a part of the Fund. 5 shall be available only for disbursement by the Attorney 6 General under section 5 . 9 terminate not later than the earlier of- (A) the date on which the amount mthor- # ized t o be appropriated to the Fund by sub12 section ( e ) , and any income earned on such 13 amount, have been expended from the Fund; or 14 (B)22 years after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act. end of the 22-year period referred to in paragraph , (1)@3), if a.U of the amounts in the Fund have not 19 been e.spended, investments of amounts in the Fund shall be liquidated, the receipts of svch liquidation shaH be deposited in the Fund, and a l l funds re22 maining in the b d shaU be deposited in the miscellanems receipts iiocount in the Tmasury.23 25 are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund

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$100,000,000. Any amount appropriated pursuant to this subsection is authorized to remain available until exSEC. 4 CLAIMS ELIGIBLE FOR PAYMENT. individual’s informed consent, was intentionally exrosed tx radiation as a subject in an experiment of the Federal Government at any time during the period be,- on J a n u q 1,1940, and en- on December 31, 1974, shall (1) a claim for such payment is filed with the Attorney General by or on behalf of such individual; (2) the Attorney General determines, in accordance with section 5(b), that the claim meets the requirements of this Act. (1) The term “experiment” means a test or other action that is conducted primarily for research purposes to determine the effect of e-sposure to radiation on the human body. (2) The term “exposed to radiation” means cansed fa come into contact with any radioactive substance or material by means indu%, but not limited to, injection, ingestion, inhalation, or pre-

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scription of, or skin esposure to, any radioactive substance or material. (A) the legislatiye, judicial, or aecrttive branch of the government of the United States, or any agency or instnunentali@ of such a (B)any person or entity whose actions regarding an esyeriment under livluch humans were esposed to radiation were funded in any mmer, approved, authorized, supenised, or contracted for, by an entity referred to in sub- (C)any person or entity that was funded in any manner, approved, authorized, supervised, or contracted with, wholly or partially, by an entity referred b in subparagraph (A) during a time period in which an entity referred to in subparagraph (A) had bod edge that such person or entie was conducting any e-xperiment under which humans were exposed to radiation. sent by an individual (or the individual’s parent or legal guardian, in t h e ease of an individud who was a minor or was incompetent at t h e relevant time), to

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I the individual's participation in an experiment, after a full disclosure of the nature and purpose of the experiment and i t s possible consequences that was suf4 ficient t o allow the individual (or the individual's 5 parent or legal guardian, in the case of an individual 6 who was a minor or was incompetent at t h e relemnt 7 time) to intelligently exercise judgment to decide 8 whether t h e indkidual should participate in the ex10 SEC. 6. DETERMDUTION AND PAYMENT OF CLAIMS. 12 Attorney General shall establish procedures under which L 13 individuds may submit claims for payments under this d 16 filed under this Act, the Attorney Generd shall determine 17 whether the claim meets t h e requirements of section 4(a). 8 pay, from amounts available in the "und, each claim that the Attorney Gened determines meets the re22 quirements of this Act. 24 (A) OFFSET OF PAY ME^ MADE UNDER 25 THIS Am.-A payment under this Act to or on

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1 behalf of an individual described in section 4(a) 2 shall be offset by the amount of any papen t 3 made ta or on behalf of the individual pursuant 4 to a final awrd or settlement on a claim (other 5 than a claim for worker's compensation) 6 against any person, that is based on the individ7 ual's participation in an esperiment that is the 8 basis for the pqment under this Act, including 9 any pajment under the Radiation Esposure 10 Compensation Act (42 U.S.C.2'210 note). . 11 (B)OFFSET OF PAIXENT MADE UNDER RADIATION EXPOSURE COMPENSATION ACT.- For purposes of section 6(c)(2) of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C.2210 note), a payment made under this Act shall be considered to be a final award or settlement on a claim described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of such section. (3) RIGHT OF SUBROU!lTON.-Upon paynent of a claim under this section, the Federal &ernmat is subrogated, for the amount of the payment, to a right or claim that the individual t o whom the payment mas made may have against any person on amount of participation in an experiment that is the basis for t h e payment made under this Act.

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(4) PAYMENTS IN CASE OF DECEASED PER-1 vidual who is deceased at the time of payment 5 under this section, such pa5ment may be made 6 only as follors: (i) If the individual is sumived by a spouse who is living at the time of payment? s\ich payment shall be made to such (ii) If the individual is not suwked by a spouse described in clause (i), such payment shall be made in equal slimes to the children of t h e individual who are living at the time of payment. (iii) If t h e individual is not sunived by a person descriied in clause (i) or (ii), such payment shall be made in equal shares to the parents of the individual who are Mng at the time of payment. (iv) If the individual is not m + e d by a person described in any of clauses (i) through (E), such payment shall be made in equal shares to t h e grmdchildren of the

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indmidual who axe living at the t h e of (v) If the individual is not sunived by a person described in any of clauses (i) in equal shares to the sib- of the indixidual who are living at the time of pay- (11) If the indi+h~al is not sun<ved by a person described in any of clauses (i) through (v), then such payment shall be made in eqyl Shares tothe grandparents of the individual who are living at t h e time an individual eligiile for papen t under this Act dies before figa claim under this Act, a , survivor of the individual who may receive payment under subparagraph (A) may file a claim for such papen t on the individual’s behalf. ognized nat;ural child, a stepchdd who lived

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relationship, and an adopted child. vidual” means a child of a child of the indixidual” means a parent of a parent of thers and mothers through adoption. ual” means a child of the parent or par- . ents of the individual. 15 son d i o was manied to tlie relevant indi16 vidual for at least the 12 months h e - 17 diately preceding the death of the individ- I 20 61ing of any claim under t h i s Act- (a) ACTION ON Ckd3fS.within1s months after the (1) the Attorney General shall make the determination required by subsection (b) re,-dmg the (2) if t h e claim is determined to meet the re25 quirements of section 4(a), the Attorney General

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1 shall make .the payment required by subsection 4 UNITEDSTAmS.-Payrnent under this Act, when accept5 ed by an individual, or the individual’s s ~ ~ v o r s ,shall be 6 in full satisfaction of all claims of or on behalf of the indi7 vidual a,&t t h e United States that arise out of the par8 ticipation in the eqerjment that is die basis for the pay9 ment made under this Act. 11 PASMENT.-NOcosts incurred by the Attorney General in 12 carryiry3 out this Act may be paid &om, set off apinst, 13 or othenrise deducted from my papen t made under sub16 EK-.-The duties of t h e Attorney General under tlk sec17 tion shall cease when the f i n d terminates. 19 Lw.-X payment under subsection (c)(l) to an 23 human suffering; and 24 (2) shall not be considered as income or re- @$I,!,, (1) s l d be treated for purposes of the internal revenue laws of the United States as damages for

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L 1 eligiiility to receive benefits described in section 3803(c)(Z)(C)of title 31, United States Code, or the2 3 amount of such benefits. 5 General should, to t h e estent adable, use funds and re6 sources available to the Attorney General t o out t h e 7 Attorney General's functions under this Act. 9 eral may issue regulations nec es sq to carry out this Act. , 11 DUR;ES.-The initial regulations and procedures to carry 12 out this Act shall be issued not later than 120 days after 13 the date of the enactment of this Act. 15 for compensation under this Act is denied may seek initial 16 judicial review solely in a district c o w of the United 17 States. The court shall review the denial on t h e adminis18 trative record and shall hold unlawful and set aside the 19 denial if it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, 20 or othemise not in accordance with law, Such an individ21 ual may appeal t h e decision of t h e district court to the 22 appropriate higher Federal courts. No claim under this Act shall be assignable or trans-

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1 SEC. 7. LTMITATION ON CLAIMS. 2 An individual, or t h e …