[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1957 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1957

   To provide for the payment of compensation to the families of the 
 Federal employees who were killed in the crash of a United States Air 
   Force CT-43A aircraft on April 3, 1996, near Dubrovnik, Croatia, 
     carrying Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown and 34 others.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 18, 1999

 Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mr. Robb, and Ms. Mikulski) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for the payment of compensation to the families of the 
 Federal employees who were killed in the crash of a United States Air 
   Force CT-43A aircraft on April 3, 1996, near Dubrovnik, Croatia, 
     carrying Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown and 34 others.

    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 ``CT-43A Federal Employee Settlement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On April 3, 1996, Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown 
        embarked on a mission to Croatia to build trade ties and 
        provide economic assistance to the former Yugoslavia as part of 
        the United States commitment to bring lasting peace to Bosnia-
        Herzegovina and Croatia. Accompanying Secretary Brown were 
        numerous United States Government officials and high-ranking 
        representatives of United States infrastructure and economic 
        development interests.
            (2) The Department of Defense provided Secretary Brown and 
        his party a United States Air Force CT-43A aircraft and crew 
        for transport purposes.
            (3) On April 3, 1996, the aircraft carrying Secretary Brown 
        and his party crashed into a mountainside near Dubrovnik, 
        Croatia, while attempting an instrument approach into the 
        Cilipi Airport (serving Dubrovnik).
            (4) The crash resulted in the death of all 35 persons 
        aboard, as well as the loss of the aircraft and personal 
        effects of the crew and passengers.
            (5) The Air Force investigation into the crash concluded 
        that the accident was caused by a failure of command, aircrew 
        error, and an improperly designed instrument approach 
        procedure.

SEC. 3. COMPENSATION FOR FAMILIES OF FEDERAL CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES.

    (a) Requirement To Make Payments.--The Secretary of the Air Force 
shall pay, from amounts available to the Air Force for the payment of 
claims, the amount of $2,000,000 to the specified beneficiary of each 
of the 14 Federal civilian officers and employees killed in the crash 
of a United States Air Force CT-43A aircraft on April 3, 1996, near 
Dubrovnik, Croatia.
    (b) Deadline.--The Secretary shall make each payment required by 
subsection (a) not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
    (c) Specified Beneficiaries.--For the purposes of this section, the 
specified beneficiary of a Federal civilian officer or employee 
described in subsection (a) is determined in the manner specified in 
section 5582(b) of title 5, United States Code. If in the case of any 
such officer or employee there is more than one such beneficiary, the 
payment required by subsection (a) shall be paid in equal shares to 
those beneficiaries.
    (d) Relationship to Other Payments.--The amount payable under this 
section with respect to the death of a Federal civilian officer or 
employee shall be reduced by any amount (other than a statutory death 
gratuity for burial benefits) previously determined to be payable by 
the United States (under section 127 or chapter 163 of title 10, United 
States Code, or any other provision of law for administrative 
settlement of claims) by reason of the death of that officer or 
employee.
    (e) Full Settlement of Claims.--Acceptance by a specified 
beneficiary of a payment under this section constitutes full settlement 
of all claims by that person against the United States arising from the 
death of the officer or employee with respect to whom the payment is 
made.
    (f) Construction.--The payment of an amount under this section may 
not be considered to constitute a statement of legal liability on the 
part of the United States or otherwise as evidence of any material fact 
in any judicial proceeding or investigation arising from the accident 
described in subsection (a).
    (g) Limitation on Attorney Fees.--Notwithstanding any contract, no 
representative of a beneficiary may receive more than 10 percent of a 
payment made under this section for services rendered in connection 
with the beneficiary's claim for that payment. Any person who violates 
this subsection shall be guilty of an infraction and shall be subject 
to a fine in the amount provided in title 18, United States Code.
                                 <all>