I 118THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 4426 To amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to improve compensation for workers involved in uranium mining, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE30, 2023 Ms. L EGERFERNANDEZ(for herself, Mr. MOYLAN, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. B LUNTROCHESTER, Mr. CARSON, Ms. CHU, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GRI- JALVA, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Mr. KILMER, Ms. LEEof California, Ms. L OFGREN, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PETTERSEN, Ms. ROSS, Ms. S CANLON, Mr. SMITHof Washington, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. STAN- TON, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Ms. W ILLIAMSof Georgia, Mr. VASQUEZ, and Mr. FULCHER) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to im- prove compensation for workers involved in uranium min- ing, 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 ‘‘Radiation Exposure 4 Compensation Act Amendments of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4426 IH SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 1 Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 2 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 3 of an amendment to or repeal of a section or other provi-4 sion of law, the reference shall be considered to be made 5 to a section or other provision of the Radiation Exposure 6 Compensation Act (Public Law 101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 7 note). 8 SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF FUND. 9 Section 3(d) is amended— 10 (1) by striking the first sentence and inserting 11 ‘‘The Fund shall terminate 19 years after the date 12 of the enactment of the Radiation Exposure Com-13 pensation Act Amendments of 2023.’’; and 14 (2) by striking ‘‘2-year’’ and inserting ‘‘19- 15 year’’. 16 SEC. 4. CLAIMS RELATING TO ATMOSPHERIC TESTING. 17 (a) L EUKEMIACLAIMSRELATING TOTRINITYTEST 18 INNEWMEXICO ANDTESTS AT THENEVADASITE AND 19 IN THEPACIFIC.—Section 4(a)(1)(A) is amended— 20 (1) in clause (i)— 21 (A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘October 22 31, 1958’’ and inserting ‘‘November 6, 1962’’; 23 (B) in subclause (II)— 24 (i) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ 25 and inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4426 IH (ii) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semi-1 colon; 2 (C) by redesignating subclause (III) as 3 subclause (V); and 4 (D) by inserting after subclause (II) the 5 following: 6 ‘‘(III) was physically present in an af-7 fected area for a period of at least 1 year 8 during the period beginning on September 9 24, 1944, and ending on November 6, 10 1962; 11 ‘‘(IV) was physically present in an af-12 fected area— 13 ‘‘(aa) for a period of at least 1 14 year during the period beginning on 15 July 1, 1946, and ending on Novem-16 ber 6, 1962; or 17 ‘‘(bb) for the period beginning on 18 April 25, 1962, and ending on No-19 vember 6, 1962; or’’; and 20 (2) in clause (ii)(I), by striking ‘‘physical pres-21 ence described in subclause (I) or (II) of clause (i) 22 or onsite participation described in clause (i)(III)’’ 23 and inserting ‘‘physical presence described in sub-24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4426 IH clause (I), (II), (III), or (IV) of clause (i) or onsite 1 participation described in clause (i)(V)’’. 2 (b) A MOUNTS FOR CLAIMSRELATED TO LEU-3 KEMIA.—Section 4(a)(1) is amended— 4 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘an 5 amount’’ and inserting ‘‘the amount’’; and 6 (2) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 7 the following: 8 ‘‘(B) A MOUNT.—If the conditions de-9 scribed in subparagraph (C) are met, an indi-10 vidual who is described in subparagraph (A) 11 shall receive $150,000.’’. 12 (c) C ONDITIONS FOR CLAIMSRELATED TO LEU-13 KEMIA.—Section 4(a)(1)(C) is amended— 14 (1) by striking clause (i); and 15 (2) by redesignating clauses (ii) and (iii) as 16 clauses (i) and (ii), respectively. 17 (d) S PECIFIEDDISEASESCLAIMSRELATING TO 18 T RINITYTEST INNEWMEXICO ANDTESTS AT THENE-19 VADASITE AND IN THE PACIFIC.—Section 4(a)(2) is 20 amended— 21 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 22 (A) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ and 23 inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4426 IH (B) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘1 1 year’’; and 2 (C) by striking ‘‘October 31, 1958’’ and 3 inserting ‘‘November 6, 1962’’; 4 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘in the affected area’’ and 6 inserting ‘‘in an affected area’’; and 7 (B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end; 8 (3) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as sub-9 paragraph (E); and 10 (4) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol-11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(C) was physically present in an affected 13 area for a period of at least 1 year during the 14 period beginning on September 24, 1944, and 15 ending on November 6, 1962; 16 ‘‘(D) was physically present in an affected 17 area— 18 ‘‘(i) for a period of at least 1 year 19 during the period beginning on July 1, 20 1946, and ending on November 6, 1962; or 21 ‘‘(ii) for the period beginning on April 22 25, 1962, and ending on November 6, 23 1962; or’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 4426 IH (e) AMOUNTS FORCLAIMSRELATED TOSPECIFIED 1 D ISEASES.—Section 4(a)(2) is amended in the matter fol-2 lowing subparagraph (E) (as redesignated by subsection 3 (d) of this section) by striking ‘‘$50,000 (in the case of 4 an individual described in subparagraph (A) or (B)) or 5 $75,000 (in the case of an individual described in subpara-6 graph (C)),’’ and inserting ‘‘$150,000’’. 7 (f) M EDICALBENEFITS.—Section 4(a) is amended 8 by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(5) M EDICAL BENEFITS.—An individual re-10 ceiving a payment under this section shall be eligible 11 to receive medical benefits in the same manner and 12 to the same extent as an individual eligible to receive 13 medical benefits under section 3629 of the Energy 14 Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Pro-15 gram Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384t).’’. 16 (g) D OWNWINDSTATES.—Section 4(b)(1) is amend-17 ed to read as follows: 18 ‘‘(1) ‘affected area’ means— 19 ‘‘(A) except as provided under subpara-20 graphs (B) and (C), Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, 21 Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and 22 Guam; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 4426 IH ‘‘(B) with respect to a claim by an indi-1 vidual under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(III) or sub-2 section (a)(2)(C), only New Mexico; and 3 ‘‘(C) with respect to a claim by an indi-4 vidual under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(IV) or sub-5 section (a)(2)(D), only Guam.’’. 6 (h) C HRONICLYMPHOCYTICLEUKEMIA AS ASPECI-7 FIEDDISEASE.—Section 4(b)(2) is amended by striking 8 ‘‘other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia’’ and inserting 9 ‘‘including chronic lymphocytic leukemia’’. 10 SEC. 5. CLAIMS RELATING TO URANIUM MINING. 11 (a) E MPLOYEES OF MINES ANDMILLS.—Section 12 5(a)(1)(A)(i) is amended— 13 (1) by inserting ‘‘(I)’’ after ‘‘(i)’’; 14 (2) by striking ‘‘December 31, 1971; and’’ and 15 inserting ‘‘December 31, 1990; or’’; and 16 (3) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(II) was employed as a core driller in 18 a State referred to in subclause (I) during 19 the period described in such subclause; 20 and’’. 21 (b) M INERS.—Section 5(a)(1)(A)(ii)(I) is amended 22 by inserting ‘‘or renal cancer or any other chronic renal 23 disease, including nephritis and kidney tubal tissue in-24 jury’’ after ‘‘nonmalignant respiratory disease’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 4426 IH (c) MILLERS, COREDRILLERS, ANDORETRANS-1 PORTERS.—Section 5(a)(1)(A)(ii)(II) is amended— 2 (1) by inserting ‘‘, core driller,’’ after ‘‘was a 3 miller’’; 4 (2) by inserting ‘‘, or was involved in remedi-5 ation efforts at such a uranium mine or uranium 6 mill,’’ after ‘‘ore transporter’’; 7 (3) by inserting ‘‘(I)’’ after ‘‘clause (i)’’; and 8 (4) by striking all that follows ‘‘nonmalignant 9 respiratory disease’’ and inserting ‘‘or renal cancer 10 or any other chronic renal disease, including nephri-11 tis and kidney tubal tissue injury; or’’. 12 (d) C OMBINED WORK HISTORIES.—Section 13 5(a)(1)(A)(ii) is further amended— 14 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subclause (I); 15 and 16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(III)(aa) does not meet the condi-18 tions of subclause (I) or (II); 19 ‘‘(bb) worked, during the period de-20 scribed in clause (i)(I), in two or more of 21 the following positions: miner, miller, core 22 driller, and ore transporter; 23 ‘‘(cc) meets the requirements of para-24 graph (4) or (5), or both; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 4426 IH ‘‘(dd) submits written medical docu-1 mentation that the individual developed 2 lung cancer or a nonmalignant respiratory 3 disease or renal cancer or any other chron-4 ic renal disease, including nephritis and 5 kidney tubal tissue injury after exposure to 6 radiation through work in one or more of 7 the positions referred to in item (bb);’’. 8 (e) D ATES OFOPERATION OFURANIUMMINE.—Sec-9 tion 5(a)(2)(A) is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 10 1971’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 1990’’. 11 (f) S PECIALRULESRELATING TOCOMBINEDWORK 12 H ISTORIES.—Section 5(a) is amended by adding at the 13 end the following: 14 ‘‘(4) S PECIAL RULE RELATING TO COMBINED 15 WORK HISTORIES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH AT LEAST 16 ONE YEAR OF EXPERIENCE .—An individual meets 17 the requirements of this paragraph if the individual 18 worked in one or more of the positions referred to 19 in paragraph (1)(A)(ii)(III)(bb) for a period of at 20 least one year during the period described in para-21 graph (1)(A)(i)(I). 22 ‘‘(5) S PECIAL RULE RELATING TO COMBINED 23 WORK HISTORIES FOR MINERS .—An individual 24 meets the requirements of this paragraph if the indi-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 4426 IH vidual, during the period described in paragraph 1 (1)(A)(i)(I), worked as a miner and was exposed to 2 such number of working level months that the Attor-3 ney General determines, when combined with the ex-4 posure of such individual to radiation through work 5 as a miller, core driller, or ore transporter during 6 the period described in paragraph (1)(A)(i)(I), re-7 sults in such individual being exposed to a total level 8 of radiation that is greater or equal to the level of 9 exposure of an individual described in paragraph 10 (4).’’. 11 (g) D EFINITION OFCOREDRILLER.—Section 5(b) is 12 amended— 13 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 14 (7); 15 (2) by striking the period at the end of para-16 graph (8) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(9) the term ‘core driller’ means any indi-19 vidual employed to engage in the act or process of 20 obtaining cylindrical rock samples of uranium or va-21 nadium by means of a borehole drilling machine for 22 the purpose of mining uranium or vanadium.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 4426 IH SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF USE OF AFFIDAVITS IN DETERMINA-1 TION OF CLAIMS; REGULATIONS. 2 (a) A FFIDAVITS.—Section 6(b) is amended by adding 3 at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(3) A FFIDAVITS.— 5 ‘‘(A) E MPLOYMENT HISTORY .—For pur-6 poses of this Act, the Attorney General shall ac-7 cept a written affidavit or declaration as evi-8 dence to substantiate the employment history of 9 an individual as a miner, miller, core driller, or 10 ore transporter if the affidavit— 11 ‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 12 material that may be used to substantiate 13 the employment history of the individual; 14 ‘‘(ii) attests to the employment history 15 of the individual; 16 ‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 17 perjury; and 18 ‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 19 the individual filing the claim. 20 ‘‘(B) P HYSICAL PRESENCE IN AFFECTED 21 AREA.—For purposes of this Act, the Attorney 22 General shall accept a written affidavit or dec-23 laration as evidence to substantiate an individ-24 ual’s physical presence in an affected area dur-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 4426 IH ing a period described in section 4(a)(1)(A)(i) 1 or section 4(a)(2) if the affidavit— 2 ‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 3 material that may be used to substantiate 4 the individual’s presence in an affected 5 area during that time period; 6 ‘‘(ii) attests to the individual’s pres-7 ence in an affected area during that pe-8 riod; 9 ‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 10 perjury; and 11 ‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 12 the individual filing the claim. 13 ‘‘(C) P ARTICIPATION AT TESTING SITE .— 14 For purposes of this Act, the Attorney General 15 shall accept a written affidavit or declaration as 16 evidence to substantiate an individual’s partici-17 pation onsite in a test involving the atmospheric 18 detonation of a nuclear device if the affidavit— 19 ‘‘(i) is provided in addition to other 20 material that may be used to substantiate 21 the individual’s participation onsite in a 22 test involving the atmospheric detonation 23 of a nuclear device; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •HR 4426 IH ‘‘(ii) attests to the individual’s partici-1 pation onsite in a test involving the atmos-2 pheric detonation of a nuclear device; 3 ‘‘(iii) is made subject to penalty for 4 perjury; and 5 ‘‘(iv) is made by a person other than 6 the individual filing the claim.’’. 7 (b) T ECHNICAL ANDCONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 8 Section 6 is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (b)(2)(C), by striking ‘‘section 10 4(a)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 4(a)(2)(E)’’; 11 (2) in subsection (c)(2)— 12 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 13 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 14 by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), 15 or (a)(2)(B) of section 4’’ and inserting 16 ‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), 17 (a)(2)(C), or (a)(2)(D) of section 4’’; and 18 (ii) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘sub-19 section (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), or (a)(2)(B) of 20 section 4’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 21 (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), (a)(2)(C), or 22 (a)(2)(D) of section 4’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 14 •HR 4426 IH (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘sec-1 tion 4(a)(2)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2 4(a)(2)(E)’’; and 3 (3) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘subsection 4 (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), or (a)(2)(B) of section 4’’ and in-5 serting ‘‘subsection (a)(1), (a)(2)(A), (a)(2)(B), 6 (a)(2)(C), or (a)(2)(D) of section 4’’. 7 (c) R EGULATIONS.— 8 (1) I N GENERAL.—Section 6(k) is amended by 9 adding at the end the following: ‘‘Not later than 180 10 days after the date of enactment of the Radiation 11 Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2023, 12 the Attorney General shall issue revised regulations 13 to carry out this Act.’’. 14 (2) C ONSIDERATIONS IN REVISIONS .—In 15 issuing revised regulations under section 6(k) of the 16 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 17 101–426; 42 U.S.C. 2210 note), as amended under 18 paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall ensure 19 that procedures with respect to the submission and 20 processing of claims under such Act take into ac-21 count and make allowances for the law, tradition, 22 and customs of Indian tribes, including by accepting 23 as a record of proof of physical presence for a claim-24 ant a grazing permit, a homesite lease, a record of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 15 •HR 4426 IH being a holder of a post office box, a letter from an 1 elected leader of an Indian tribe, or a record of any 2 recognized tribal association or organization. 3 SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON CLAIMS. 4 (a) E XTENSION OFFILINGTIME.—Section 8(a) is 5 amended— 6 (1) by striking ‘‘2 years’’ and inserting ‘‘19 7 years’’; and 8 (2) by striking ‘‘2022’’ and inserting ‘‘2023’’. 9 (b) R ESUBMITTAL OF CLAIMS.—Section 8(b) is 10 amended to read as follows: 11 ‘‘(b) R ESUBMITTAL OFCLAIMS.— 12 ‘‘(1) D ENIED CLAIMS.—After the date of enact-13 ment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 14 Amendments of 2023, any claimant who has been 15 denied compensation under this Act may resubmit a 16 claim for consideration by the Attorney General in 17 accordance with this Act not more than three times. 18 Any resubmittal made before the date of the enact-19 ment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 20 Amendments of 2023 shall not be applied to the lim-21 itation under the preceding sentence. 22 ‘‘(2) P REVIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL CLAIMS .— 23 ‘‘(A) I N GENERAL.—After the date of en-24 actment of the Radiation Exposure Compensa-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 16 •HR 4426 IH tion Act Amendments of 2023, any claimant 1 who received compensation under this Act may 2 submit a request to the Attorney General for 3 additional compensation and benefits. Such re-4 quest shall contain— 5 ‘‘(i) the claimant’s name, social secu-6 rity number, and date of birth; 7 ‘‘(ii) the amount of award received 8 under this Act before the date of enact-9 ment of the Radiation Exposure Com-10 pensation Act Amendments of 2023; 11 ‘‘(iii) any additional benefits and com-12 pensation sought through such request; 13 and 14 ‘‘(iv) any additional information re-15 quired by the Attorney General. 16 ‘‘(B) A DDITIONAL COMPENSATION .—If the 17 claimant received compensation under this Act 18 before the date of enactment of the Radiation 19 Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 20 2023 and submits a request under subpara-21 graph (A), the Attorney General shall— 22 ‘‘(i) pay the claimant the amount that 23 is equal to any excess of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 17 •HR 4426 IH ‘‘(I) the amount the claimant is 1 eligible to receive under this Act (as 2 amended by the Radiation Exposure 3 Compensation Act Amendments of 4 2023); minus 5 ‘‘(II) the aggregate amount paid 6 to the claimant under this Act before 7 the date of enactment of the Radi-8 ation Exposure Compensation Act 9 Amendments of 2023; and 10 ‘‘(ii) in any case in which the claimant 11 was compensated under section 4, provide 12 the claimant with medical benefits under 13 section 4(a)(5).’’. 14 SEC. 8. GRANT PROGRAM ON EPIDEMIOLOGICAL IMPACTS 15 OF URANIUM MINING AND MILLING. 16 (a) D EFINITIONS.—In this section— 17 (1) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 18 has the meaning given under section 101 of the 19 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001); 20 (2) the term ‘‘program’’ means the grant pro-21 gram established under subsection (b); and 22 (3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 23 of Health and Human Services. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 18 •HR 4426 IH (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 1 a grant program relating to the epidemiological impacts 2 of uranium mining and milling. Grants awarded under the 3 program shall be used for the study of the epidemiological 4 impacts of uranium mining and milling among non-occu-5 pationally exposed individuals, including family members 6 of uranium miners and millers. 7 (c) A DMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall admin-8 ister the program through the National Institute of Envi-9 ronmental Health Sciences. 10 (d) E LIGIBILITY ANDAPPLICATION.—Any institution 11 of higher education or nonprofit private entity shall be eli-12 gible to apply for a grant. To apply for a grant an eligible 13 institution or entity shall submit to the Secretary an appli-14 cation at such time, in such manner, and containing or 15 accompanied by such information as the Secretary may 16 reasonably require. 17 (e) A UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 18 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 19 $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2026. 20 SEC. 9. ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS 21 COMPENSATION PROGRAM. 22 (a) C OVEREDEMPLOYEESWITHCANCER.—Section 23 3621(9) of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness 24 Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7384l(9)) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 19 •HR 4426 IH is amended by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 1 the following: 2 ‘‘(A) An individual with a specified cancer 3 who is a member of the Special Exposure Co-4 hort, if and only if— 5 ‘‘(i) that individual contracted that 6 specified cancer after beginning employ-7 ment at a Department of Energy facility 8 (in the case of a Department of Energy 9 employee or Department of Energy con-10 tractor employee) or at an atomic weapons 11 employer facility (in the case of an atomic 12 weapons employee); or 13 ‘‘(ii) that individual— 14 ‘‘(I) contracted that specified 15 cancer after beginning employment in 16 a uranium mine or uranium mill de-17 scribed under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) of 18 the Radiation Exposure Compensation 19 Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) (including 20 any individual who was employed in 21 core drilling or the transport of ura-22 nium ore or vanadium-uranium ore 23 from such mine or mill) located in 24 Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyo-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 20 •HR 4426 IH ming, South Dakota, Washington, 1 Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, 2 Texas, or any State the Attorney Gen-3 eral makes a determination under sec-4 tion 5(a)(2) of that Act for inclusion 5 of eligibility under section 5(a)(1) of 6 that Act; and 7 ‘‘(II) was employed in a uranium 8 mine or uranium mill described under 9 subclause (I) (including any individual 10 who was employed in core drilling or 11 the transport of uranium ore or vana-12 dium-uranium ore from such mine or 13 mill) at any time during the period 14 beginning on January 1, 1942, and 15 ending on December 31, 1990.’’. 16 (b) M EMBERS OFSPECIALEXPOSURECOHORT.— 17 Section 3626 of the Energy Employees Occupational Ill-18 ness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 19 7384q) is amended— 20 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) 21 and inserting the following: 22 ‘‘(1) The Advisory Board on Radiation and 23 Worker Health under section 3624 shall advise the 24 President whether there is a class of employees— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 21 •HR 4426 IH ‘‘(A) at any Department of Energy facility 1 who likely were exposed to radiation at that fa-2 cility but for whom it is not feasible to estimate 3 with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose they 4 received; and 5 ‘‘(B) employed in a uranium mine or ura-6 nium mill described under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) 7 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act 8 (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) (including any individual 9 who was employed in core drilling or the trans-10 port of uranium ore or vanadium-uranium ore 11 from such mine or mill) located in Colorado, 12 New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, 13 Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, Or-14 egon, Texas, and any State the Attorney Gen-15 eral makes a determination under section 16 5(a)(2) of that Act for inclusion of eligibility 17 under section 5(a)(1) of that Act, at any time 18 during the period beginning on January 1, 19 1942, and ending on December 31, 1990, who 20 likely were exposed to radiation at that mine or 21 mill but for whom it is not feasible to estimate 22 with sufficient accuracy the radiation dose they 23 received.’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 22 •HR 4426 IH (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(b) D ESIGNATION OFADDITIONALMEMBERS.— 3 ‘‘(1) Subject to the provisions of section 4 3621(14)(C), the members of a class of employees at 5 a Department of Energy facility, or at an atomic 6 weapons employer facility, may be treated as mem-7 bers of the Special Exposure Cohort for purposes of 8 the compensation program if the President, upon 9 recommendation of the Advisory Board on Radiation 10 and Worker Health, determines that— 11 ‘‘(A) it is not feasible to estimate with suf-12 ficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 13 class received; and 14 ‘‘(B) there is a reasonable likelihood that 15 such radiation dose may have endangered the 16 health of members of the class. 17 ‘‘(2) Subject to the provisions of section 18 3621(14)(C), the members of a class of employees 19 employed in a uranium mine or uranium mill de-20 scribed under section 5(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Radiation 21 Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) 22 (including any individual who was employed in core 23 drilling or the transport of uranium ore or vana-24 dium-uranium ore from such mine or mill) located in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 23 •HR 4426 IH Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, South 1 Dakota, Washington, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota, 2 Oregon, Texas, and any State the Attorney General 3 makes a determination under section 5(a)(2) of that 4 Act for inclusion of eligibility under section 5(a)(1) 5 of that Act, at any time during the period beginning 6 on January 1, 1942, and ending on December 31, 7 1990, may be treated as members of the Special Ex-8 posure Cohort for purposes of the compensation pro-9 gram if the President, upon recommendation of the 10 Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, 11 determines that— 12 ‘‘(A) it is not feasible to estimate with suf-13 ficient accuracy the radiation dose that the 14 class received; and 15 ‘‘(B) there is a reasonable likelihood that 16 such radiation dose may have endangered the 17 health of members of the class.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 Aug 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4426.IH H4426 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB