Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 1.djvu/537

 PUBLIC LAW 106-245—JULY 10, 2000 114 STAT. 501 Public Law 106-245 106th Congress An Act To amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, and for other purposes. 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 "Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2000". SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds that— (1) the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note) recognized the responsibility of the Federal Government to compensate individuals who were harmed by the mining of radioactive materials or fallout from nuclear arms testing; (2) a congressional oversight hearing conducted by the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate demonstrated that since enactment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (42 U.S.C. 2210 note), regulatory burdens have made it too difficult for some deserving individuals to be fairly and efficiently compensated; (3) reports of the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Hegdth testify to the need to extend eligibility to States in which the Federal Government sponsored uranium mining and milling from 1941 through 1971; (4) scientific data resulting from the enactment of the Radiation Exposed Veterans Compensation Act of 1988 (38 U.S.C. 101 note), and obtained from the Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiations, and the President's Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments provide medical validation for the extension of compensable radiogenic pathologies; (5) above-ground uranium miners, millers and individuals who transported ore should be fairly compensated, in a manner similar to that provided for underground uranium miners, in cases in which those individuals suffered disease or resultant death, associated with radiation exposure, due to the failure of the Federal Government to warn and otherwise help protect citizens from the health hazards addressed by the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 2210 note); and (6) it should be the responsibility of the Federal Government in partnership with State and local governments and July 10, 2000 [S. 1515] Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2000. 42 USC 2011 note. 42 USC 2210 note.

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