I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 379
To provide compensation to certain residents of the island of Vieques, Puerto
Rico, for the use of such island for military readiness, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY17, 2023
Mrs. G
ONZA´LEZ-COLO´Nintroduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee
on the Judiciary, 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 provide compensation to certain residents of the island
of Vieques, Puerto Rico, for the use of such island for
military readiness, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vieques Recovery and 4
Redevelopment Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
The Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) Vieques is an island municipality of Puerto 1
Rico, measuring approximately 21 miles long by 4 2
miles wide, and located approximately 8 miles east 3
of the main island of Puerto Rico. 4
(2) Prior to Hurricane Maria, residents of 5
Vieques were served by an urgent medical care facil-6
ity, the Susana Centeno Family Health Center, and 7
residents had to travel off-island to obtain medical 8
services, including most types of emergency care be-9
cause the facility did not have the basic use of x-ray 10
machines, CT machines, EKG machines, 11
ultrasounds, or PET scans. 12
(3) The predominant means of transporting 13
passengers and goods between Vieques and the main 14
island of Puerto Rico is by ferry boat service, and 15
over the years, the efficiency of this service has fre-16
quently been disrupted, unreliable, and difficult for 17
cancer patients to endure to receive treatment. Each 18
trip to Ceiba, Puerto Rico, for the cancer patient is 19
an additional out-of-pocket expense ranging from 20
$120 to $200. 21
(4) The United States Military maintained a 22
presence on the eastern and western portions of 23
Vieques for close to 60 years, and used parts of the 24
island as a training range during those years, drop-25
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ping over 80 million tons of ordnance and other 1
weaponry available to the United States military 2
since World War II. 3
(5) The unintended, unknown, and unavoidable 4
consequences of these exercises were to expose 5
Americans living on the islands to the residue of 6
that weaponry which includes heavy metals and 7
many other chemicals now known to harm human 8
health. 9
(6) According to Government and independent 10
documentation, the island of Vieques has high levels 11
of heavy metals and has been exposed to chemical 12
weapons and toxic chemicals. Since the military ac-13
tivity in Vieques, island residents have suffered from 14
the health impacts from long-term exposure to envi-15
ronmental contamination as a result of 62 years of 16
military operations, and have experienced higher 17
rates of certain diseases among residents, including 18
cancer, cirrhosis, hypertension, diabetes, heavy metal 19
diseases, along with many unnamed and 20
uncategorized illnesses. These toxic residues have 21
caused the American residents of Vieques to develop 22
illnesses due to ongoing exposure. 23
(7) In 2017, Vieques was hit by Hurricane 24
Maria, an unusually destructive storm that dev-25
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astated Puerto Rico and intensified the existing hu-1
manitarian crisis on the island by destroying existing 2
medical facilities. 3
(8) The medical systems in place prior to Hur-4
ricane Maria were unable to properly handle the 5
health crisis that existed due to the toxic residue left 6
on the island by the military’s activities. 7
(9) After Maria, the medical facility was closed 8
due to damage and continues to be unable to per-9
form even the few basic services that it did provide. 10
Vieques needs a medical facility that can treat and 11
address the critical and urgent need to get life-sav-12
ing medical services to its residents. Due to legal re-13
strictions, the Federal Emergency Management 14
Agency (in this Act referred to as ‘‘FEMA’’) is un-15
able to provide a hospital where its capabilities ex-16
ceed the abilities of the facility that existed prior to 17
Maria; therefore Vieques needs assistance to build a 18
facility to manage the vast health needs of its resi-19
dents. 20
(10) Every American has benefitted from the 21
sacrifices of those Americans who have lived and are 22
living on Vieques and it is our intent to acknowledge 23
that sacrifice and to treat those Americans with the 24
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same respect and appreciation that other Americans 1
enjoy. 2
(11) In 2012, the residents of Vieques were de-3
nied the ability to address their needs in Court due 4
to sovereign immunity, Sa´nchez v. United States, 5
No. 3:09–cv–01260–DRD (D.P.R.). However, the 6
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit 7
referred the issue to Congress and urged it to ad-8
dress the humanitarian crisis. This bill attempts to 9
satisfy that request such that Americans living on 10
Vieques have a remedy for the suffering they have 11
endured. 12
SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED 13
STATES FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF THE IS-14
LAND OF VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—An individual claimant who files 16
a claim for compensation under this section with the Spe-17
cial Master, appointed pursuant to subsection (c), shall be 18
awarded monetary compensation as described in sub-19
section (b) if— 20
(1) the Special Master determines that the 21
claimant is or was a resident, the child of a resident, 22
or an immediate heir (as determined by the laws of 23
Puerto Rico) of a deceased claimant on the island of 24
Vieques, Puerto Rico, during or after the United 25
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States Government used the island of Vieques, Puer-1
to Rico, for military readiness; 2
(2) the claimant previously filed a lawsuit or an 3
administrative claim, or files a claim not later than 4
120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act 5
against the United States Government for personal 6
injury, including illness or death arising from use by 7
the United States Government of the island of 8
Vieques for military readiness; and 9
(3) the claimant submits to the Special Master 10
written medical documentation that indicates the 11
claimant contracted a chronic, life threatening, or 12
physical or mental disease or illness, including can-13
cer, hypertension, cirrhosis, kidney disease, diabetes, 14
or a heavy metal poisoning during or after the 15
United States Government used the island of 16
Vieques, Puerto Rico, for military readiness. 17
(b) A
MOUNTS OFAWARD.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A claimant who meets the 19
requirements of subsection (a) shall be awarded 20
compensation as follows: 21
(A) $50,000 for 1 disease described in sub-22
section (a)(3). 23
(B) $80,000 for 2 diseases described in 24
subsection (a)(3). 25
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(C) $110,000 for 3 or more diseases de-1
scribed in subsection (a)(3). 2
(2) I
NCREASE IN AWARD .—In the case that an 3
individual receiving an award under paragraph (1) 4
of this subsection contracts another disease under 5
subsection (a)(3) and files a new claim with the Spe-6
cial Master for an additional award not later than 7
10 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, 8
the Special Master may award the individual an 9
amount that is equal to the difference between— 10
(A) the amount that the individual would 11
have been eligible to receive had the disease 12
been contracted before the individual filed an 13
initial claim under subsection (a); and 14
(B) the amount received by the individual 15
pursuant to paragraph (1). 16
(3) D
ECEASED CLAIMANTS .—In the case of an 17
individual who dies before making a claim under this 18
section or a claimant who dies before receiving an 19
award under this section, any immediate heir to the 20
individual or claimant, as determined by the laws of 21
Puerto Rico, shall be eligible for 1 of the following 22
awards: 23
(A) Compensation in accordance with 24
paragraph (1), divided among any such heir. 25
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(B) Compensation based on the age of the 1
deceased as follows: 2
(i) In the case of an individual or 3
claimant who dies before attaining 20 4
years of age, $110,000, divided among any 5
such heir. 6
(ii) In the case of an individual or 7
claimant who dies before attaining 40 8
years of age, $80,000, divided among any 9
such heir. 10
(iii) In the case of an individual or 11
claimant who dies before attaining 60 12
years of age, $50,000, divided among any 13
such heir. 14
(c) A
PPOINTMENT OFSPECIALMASTER.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 16
appoint a Special Master not later than 90 days 17
after the date of the enactment of this Act to con-18
sider claims by individuals and the Municipality. 19
(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—The Attorney General 20
shall consider the following in choosing the Special 21
Master: 22
(A) The individual’s experience in the proc-23
essing of victims’ claims in relation to foreign 24
or domestic governments. 25
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(B) The individual’s balance of experience 1
in representing the interests of the United 2
States and individual claimants. 3
(C) The individual’s experience in matters 4
of national security. 5
(D) The individual’s demonstrated abilities 6
in investigation and fact findings in complex 7
factual matters. 8
(E) Any experience the individual has had 9
advising the United States Government. 10
(d) A
WARDAMOUNTSRELATED TOCLAIMS BY THE 11
M
UNICIPALITY OFVIEQUES.— 12
(1) A
WARD.—The Special Master, in exchange 13
for its administrative claims, shall provide the fol-14
lowing as compensation to the Municipality of 15
Vieques: 16
(A) S
TAFF.—The Special Master shall pro-17
vide medical staff, and other resources nec-18
essary to build and operate a level three trauma 19
center (in this section, referred to as ‘‘medical 20
facility’’) with a cancer center and renal dialysis 21
unit and its equipment. The medical facility 22
shall be able to treat life threatening, chronic, 23
heavy metal, and physical and mental diseases. 24
The medical facility shall be able to provide 25
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basic x-ray, EKG, internal medicine expertise, 1
medical coordination personnel and case man-2
agers, ultrasound, and resources necessary to 3
screen residents for cancer and the other pre-4
vailing health problems. 5
(B) O
PERATIONS.—The Special Master 6
shall fund the operations of the medical facility 7
to provide medical care for pediatric and adult 8
patients who reside on the island of Vieques, al-9
lowing the patients to be referred for tertiary 10
and quaternary health care facilities when nec-11
essary, and providing the transportation and 12
medical costs when traveling off the island of 13
Vieques, until such time as medical testing es-14
tablishes that the disease levels are reduced to 15
the average in the United States. 16
(C) A
DMINISTRATIVE EXPERTISE .—The 17
Special Master shall ensure that the Adminis-18
trator of FEMA provides all administrative and 19
technical expertise and oversight in the bidding 20
and construction of the facility but the design 21
and abilities of the hospital shall be determined 22
by the Special Master considering the medical 23
and research needs of the residents of the is-24
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land of Vieques. All costs shall be part of the 1
municipality’s compensation. 2
(D) I
NTERIM SERVICES.—Before the med-3
ical facility on the island of Vieques is oper-4
ational, the Special Master shall provide— 5
(i) urgent health care air transport to 6
hospitals on the mainland of Puerto Rico 7
from the island of Vieques; 8
(ii) medical coordination personnel 9
and case managers; 10
(iii) telemedicine communication abili-11
ties; and 12
(iv) any other services that are nec-13
essary to alleviate the health crisis on the 14
island of Vieques. 15
(E) S
CREENING.—The Special Master 16
shall make available, at no cost to the patient, 17
medical screening for cancer, cirrhosis, diabetes, 18
and heavy metal contamination on the island of 19
Vieques. 20
(F) A
CADEMIC PARTNER .—The Special 21
Master shall appoint an academic partner, with 22
appropriate experience and an established rela-23
tionship with the Municipality of Vieques 24
shall— 25
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(i) lead a research and outreach en-1
deavor on behalf of the Municipality of 2
Vieques; 3
(ii) select the appropriate scientific ex-4
pertise and administer defined studies, 5
conducting testing and evaluation of the 6
soils, seas, plant and animal food sources, 7
and the health of residents; and 8
(iii) determine and implement the 9
most efficient and effective way to reduce 10
the environmental toxins to a level suffi-11
cient to return the soils, seas, food sources, 12
and health circumstances to a level that re-13
duces the diseases on the island of Vieques 14
to the average in the United States. 15
(G) D
UTIES.—The Special Master shall 16
provide amounts necessary for the academic 17
partner and medical coordinator to carry out 18
the duties described in subparagraphs (A) 19
through (D). 20
(H) P
ROCUREMENT.—The Special Master 21
shall provide amounts necessary to compensate 22
the Municipality of Vieques for— 23
(i) contractual procurement obliga-24
tions and additional expenses incurred by 25
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the Municipality as a result of the enact-1
ment of this section and settlement of its 2
claim; and 3
(ii) any other damages and costs to be 4
incurred by the Municipality, if the Special 5
Master determines that it is necessary to 6
carry out the purpose of this section. 7
(I) C
ONSULTING FIRMS .—The Special 8
Master shall provide amounts necessary for the 9
Special Master to contract with consulting 10
firms for technical advice on any aspect of the 11
Special Master’s duties. 12
(J) P
OWER SOURCE.—The Special Master 13
shall determine the best source of producing 14
independent power on the island of Vieques that 15
is hurricane resilient and can effectively sustain 16
the needs of the island and shall authorize such 17
construction as an award to the Municipality of 18
Vieques. 19
(2) S
OURCE.—Amounts awarded under this Act 20
shall be made from amounts appropriated under sec-21
tion 1304 of title 31, United States Code, commonly 22
known as the ‘‘Judgment Fund’’, as if claims were 23
adjudicated by a United States District Court under 24
section 1346(b) of title 28, United States Code. 25
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(3) DETERMINATION AND PAYMENT OF 1
CLAIMS.— 2
(A) E
STABLISHMENT OF FILING PROCE -3
DURES.—The Attorney General shall establish 4
procedures whereby individuals and the Munici-5
pality may submit claims for payments under 6
this section to the Special Master. 7
(B) D
ETERMINATION OF CLAIMS .—The 8
Special Master shall, in accordance with this 9
subsection, determine whether each claim meets 10
the requirements of this section. Claims filed by 11
residents of the island of Vieques that have 12
been disposed of by a court under chapter 171 13
of title 28, United States Code, shall be treated 14
as if such claims are currently filed. 15
(e) A
CTION ONCLAIMS.—The Special Master shall 16
make a determination on any claim filed under the proce-17
dures established under this section not later than 150 18
days after the date on which the claim is filed. 19
(f) P
AYMENT INFULLSETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS BY 20
I
NDIVIDUALS AND THE MUNICIPALITY OF VIEQUES 21
A
GAINST THEUNITEDSTATES.—The acceptance by an 22
individual or the Municipality of Vieques of a payment of 23
an award under this section shall— 24
(1) be final and conclusive; 25
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(2) be deemed to be in full satisfaction of all 1
claims under chapter 171 of title 28, United States 2
Code; and 3
(3) constitute a complete release by the indi-4
vidual or Municipality of such claim against the 5
United States and against any employee of the 6
United States acting in the scope of employment 7
who is involved in the matter giving rise to the 8
claim. 9
(g) C
ERTIFICATION OFTREATMENT OF PAYMENTS 10
U
NDEROTHERLAWS.—Amounts paid to an individual 11
under this section— 12
(1) shall be treated for purposes of the laws of 13
the United States as damages for human suffering; 14
and 15
(2) may not be included as income or resources 16
for purposes of determining eligibility to receive ben-17
efits described in section 3803(c)(2)(C) of title 31, 18
United States Code, or the amount of such benefits. 19
Æ
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