II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1386
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MAY1, 2023
Mr. M
ENENDEZ(for himself and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
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’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
The Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Vieques is an island municipality of Puerto 8
Rico, measuring approximately 21 miles long by 4 9
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miles wide, and located approximately 8 miles east 1
of the main island of Puerto Rico. 2
(2) Prior to Hurricane Maria, residents of 3
Vieques were served by an urgent medical care facil-4
ity, the Susana Centeno Family Health Center, and 5
residents had to travel off-island to obtain medical 6
services, including most types of emergency care be-7
cause the facility did not have the basic use of x-ray 8
machines, CT machines, EKG machines, 9
ultrasounds, or PET scans. 10
(3) The predominant means of transporting 11
passengers and goods between Vieques and the main 12
island of Puerto Rico is by ferry boat service, and 13
over the years, the efficiency of this service has fre-14
quently been disrupted, unreliable, and difficult for 15
cancer patients to endure to receive treatment. Each 16
trip to Ceiba, Puerto Rico, for the cancer patient is 17
an additional out-of-pocket expense ranging from 18
$120 to $200. 19
(4) The United States Military maintained a 20
presence on the eastern and western portions of 21
Vieques for close to 60 years, and used parts of the 22
island as a training range during those years, drop-23
ping over 80 million tons of ordnance and other 24
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weaponry available to the United States military 1
since World War II. 2
(5) The unintended, unknown, and unavoidable 3
consequences of these exercises were to expose 4
Americans living on the islands to the residue of 5
that weaponry which includes heavy metals and 6
many other chemicals now known to harm human 7
health. 8
(6) According to Government and independent 9
documentation, the island of Vieques has high levels 10
of heavy metals and has been exposed to chemical 11
weapons and toxic chemicals. Since the military ac-12
tivity in Vieques, island residents have suffered from 13
the health impacts from long-term exposure to envi-14
ronmental contamination as a result of 62 years of 15
military operations, and have experienced higher 16
rates of certain diseases among residents, including 17
cancer, cirrhosis, hypertension, diabetes, heavy metal 18
diseases, along with many unnamed and 19
uncategorized illnesses. These toxic residues have 20
caused the American residents of Vieques to develop 21
illnesses due to ongoing exposure. 22
(7) In 2017, Vieques was hit by Hurricane 23
Maria, an unusually destructive storm that dev-24
astated Puerto Rico and intensified the existing hu-25
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manitarian crisis on the island by destroying existing 1
medical facilities. 2
(8) The medical systems in place prior to Hur-3
ricane Maria were unable to properly handle the 4
health crisis that existed due to the toxic residue left 5
on the island by the military’s activities. 6
(9) After Maria, the medical facility was closed 7
due to damage and continues to be unable to per-8
form even the few basic services that it did provide. 9
Vieques needs a medical facility that can treat and 10
address the critical and urgent need to get life-sav-11
ing medical services to its residents. Due to legal re-12
strictions, the Federal Emergency Management 13
Agency (in this Act referred to as ‘‘FEMA’’) is un-14
able to provide a hospital where its capabilities ex-15
ceed the abilities of the facility that existed prior to 16
Maria; therefore Vieques needs assistance to build a 17
facility to manage the vast health needs of its resi-18
dents. 19
(10) Every American has benefitted from the 20
sacrifices of those Americans who have lived and are 21
living on Vieques and it is our intent to acknowledge 22
that sacrifice and to treat those Americans with the 23
same respect and appreciation that other Americans 24
enjoy. 25
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(11) In 2012, the residents of Vieques were de-1
nied the ability to address their needs in Court due 2
to sovereign immunity, Sanchez v. United States, 3
No. 3:09–cv–01260–DRD (D.P.R.). However, the 4
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit 5
referred the issue to Congress and urged it to ad-6
dress the humanitarian crisis. This bill attempts to 7
satisfy that request such that Americans living on 8
Vieques have a remedy for the suffering they have 9
endured. 10
SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED 11
STATES FOR CERTAIN RESIDENTS OF THE IS-12
LAND OF VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—An individual claimant who has 14
resided on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, for not less 15
than 5 years before the date of enactment of this Act and 16
files a claim for compensation under this section with the 17
Special Master, appointed pursuant to subsection (c), shall 18
be 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 or an immediate heir 22
(as determined by the laws of Puerto Rico) of a de-23
ceased claimant on the island of Vieques, Puerto 24
Rico, during or after the United States Government 25
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used the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, for military 1
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 that it 11
is more likely than not the claimant contracted a 12
chronic, life-threatening, or physical disease or ill-13
ness limited to cancer, hypertension, cirrhosis, kid-14
ney disease, diabetes, or a heavy metal poisoning as 15
a result the United States Government used the is-16
land of 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 one 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 if the claimant shows that it is more 2
likely than not that the United States Military 3
activity caused the death of the individual as 4
follows: 5
(i) In the case of an individual or 6
claimant who dies before attaining 20 7
years of age, $110,000, divided among any 8
such heir. 9
(ii) In the case of an individual or 10
claimant who dies before attaining 40 11
years of age, $80,000, divided among any 12
such heir. 13
(iii) In the case of an individual or 14
claimant who dies before attaining 60 15
years of age, $50,000, divided among any 16
such heir. 17
(c) A
PPOINTMENT OFSPECIALMASTER.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 19
appoint a Special Master not later than 90 days 20
after the date of the enactment of this Act to con-21
sider claims by individuals and the municipality. 22
(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—The Attorney General 23
shall consider the following in choosing the Special 24
Master: 25
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(A) The individual’s experience in the proc-1
essing of victims’ claims in relation to foreign 2
or domestic governments. 3
(B) The individual’s balance of experience 4
in representing the interests of the United 5
States and individual claimants. 6
(C) The individual’s experience in matters 7
of national security. 8
(D) The individual’s demonstrated abilities 9
in investigation and fact findings in complex 10
factual matters. 11
(E) Any experience the individual has had 12
advising the United States Government. 13
(d) A
WARDAMOUNTSRELATED TOCLAIMS BY THE 14
M
UNICIPALITY OFVIEQUES.— 15
(1) A
WARD.—The Special Master, in exchange 16
for its administrative claims, shall provide the fol-17
lowing as compensation to the Municipality of 18
Vieques: 19
(A) S
TAFF.—The Special Master shall pro-20
vide medical staff, and other resources nec-21
essary to build and operate a level three trauma 22
center (in this section, referred to as ‘‘medical 23
facility’’) with a cancer center and renal dialysis 24
unit and its equipment. The medical facility 25
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shall be able to treat life-threatening, chronic, 1
heavy metal, and physical and mental diseases. 2
The medical facility shall be able to provide 3
basic x-ray, EKG, internal medicine expertise, 4
medical coordination personnel and case man-5
agers, ultrasound, and resources necessary to 6
screen claimants described in subsection (a) 7
who are receiving treatment for the diseases or 8
illnesses described in paragraph (3) of that sub-9
section for cancer and the other prevailing 10
health problems. 11
(B) O
PERATIONS.—The Special Master 12
shall fund the operations of the medical facility 13
to provide medical care for pediatric and adult 14
patients who reside on the island of Vieques, al-15
lowing the patients to be referred for tertiary 16
and quaternary health care facilities when nec-17
essary, and providing the transportation and 18
medical costs when traveling off the island of 19
Vieques. 20
(C) I
NTERIM SERVICES.—Before the med-21
ical facility on the island of Vieques is oper-22
ational, the Special Master shall provide to 23
claimants described in subsection (a) who are 24
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receiving treatment for the diseases or illnesses 1
described in paragraph (3) of that subsection— 2
(i) urgent health care air transport to 3
hospitals on the mainland of Puerto Rico 4
from the island of Vieques; 5
(ii) medical coordination personnel 6
and case managers; 7
(iii) telemedicine communication abili-8
ties; and 9
(iv) any other services that are nec-10
essary to alleviate the health crisis on the 11
island of Vieques. 12
(D) S
CREENING.—The Special Master 13
shall make available, at no cost to the patient, 14
medical screening for cancer, cirrhosis, diabetes, 15
and heavy metal contamination on the island of 16
Vieques. 17
(E) A
CADEMIC PARTNER .—The Special 18
Master shall appoint an academic partner, with 19
appropriate experience and an established rela-20
tionship with the Municipality of Vieques, that 21
shall— 22
(i) lead a research and outreach en-23
deavor on behalf of the Municipality of 24
Vieques; 25
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(ii) select the appropriate scientific ex-1
pertise and administer defined studies, 2
conducting testing and evaluation of the 3
soils, seas, plant and animal food sources, 4
and the health of residents; and 5
(iii) determine and implement the 6
most efficient and effective way to reduce 7
the environmental toxins to a level suffi-8
cient to return the soils, seas, food sources, 9
and health circumstances to a level that re-10
duces the diseases on the island of Vieques 11
to the average in the United States. 12
(F) D
UTIES.—The Special Master shall 13
provide amounts necessary for the academic 14
partner and medical coordinator to carry out 15
the duties described in subparagraphs (A) 16
through (D). 17
(G) P
ROCUREMENT.—The Special Master 18
shall provide amounts necessary to compensate 19
the Municipality of Vieques for— 20
(i) contractual procurement obliga-21
tions and additional expenses incurred by 22
the municipality as a result of the enact-23
ment of this section and settlement of its 24
claim; and 25
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(ii) any other damages and costs to be 1
incurred by the municipality, if the Special 2
Master determines that it is necessary to 3
carry out the purpose of this section. 4
(H) P
OWER SOURCE.—The Special Master 5
shall determine the best source of producing 6
independent power on the island of Vieques that 7
is hurricane resilient and can effectively sustain 8
the needs of the island and shall authorize such 9
construction as an award to the Municipality of 10
Vieques. 11
(2) S
OURCE.— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 13
subparagraph (B), amounts awarded under this 14
Act shall be made from amounts appropriated 15
under section 1304 of title 31, United States 16
Code, commonly known as the ‘‘Judgment 17
Fund’’, as if claims were adjudicated by a 18
United States District Court under section 19
1346(b) of title 28, United States Code. 20
(B) L
IMITATION.—Total amounts awarded 21
under this Act shall not exceed $1,000,000,000. 22
(3) D
ETERMINATION AND PAYMENT OF 23
CLAIMS.— 24
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(A) ESTABLISHMENT OF FILING PROCE -1
DURES.—The Attorney General shall establish 2
procedures whereby individuals and the munici-3
pality may submit claims for payments under 4
this section to the Special Master. 5
(B) D
ETERMINATION OF CLAIMS .—The 6
Special Master shall, in accordance with this 7
subsection, determine whether each claim meets 8
the requirements of this section. Claims filed by 9
residents of the island of Vieques that have 10
been disposed of by a court under chapter 171 11
of title 28, United States Code, shall be treated 12
as if such claims are currently filed. 13
(e) A
CTION ONCLAIMS.—The Special Master shall 14
make a determination on any claim filed under the proce-15
dures established under this section not later than 150 16
days after the date on which the claim is filed. 17
(f) P
AYMENT INFULLSETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS BY 18
I
NDIVIDUALS AND THE MUNICIPALITY OF VIEQUES 19
A
GAINST THEUNITEDSTATES.—The acceptance by an 20
individual or the Municipality of Vieques of a payment of 21
an award under this section shall— 22
(1) be final and conclusive; 23
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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
(h) L
IMITATION ONCLAIMS.—A claim to which this 20
section applies shall be barred unless the claim is filed 21
within 15 years after the date of the enactment of this 22
Act. 23
(i) A
TTORNEY’SFEES.—Notwithstanding any con-24
tract, a representative of an individual may not receive, 25
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for services rendered in connection with a claim of the in-1
dividual under this Act, more than 20 percent of a pay-2
ment made under this Act. 3
Æ
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