[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2106 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.2106

                       One Hundred Tenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
            the fourth day of January, two thousand and seven


                                 An Act


 
 To provide nationwide subpoena authority for actions brought under the 
             September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.

    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 ``Procedural Fairness for September 11 
Victims Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds the following:
        (1) The September 11th Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 (49 
    U.S.C. 40101 note) establishes a Federal cause of action in the 
    United States District Court for the Southern District of New York 
    as the exclusive remedy for damages arising out of the hijacking 
    and subsequent crash of American Airlines flights 11 and 77, and 
    United Airlines flights 93 and 175, on September 11, 2001.
        (2) Rules 45(b)(2) and 45(c)(3)(A)(ii) of the Federal Rules of 
    Civil Procedure effectively limit service of a subpoena to any 
    place within, or within 100 miles of, the district of the court by 
    which it is issued, unless a statute of the United States expressly 
    provides that the court, upon proper application and cause shown, 
    may authorize the service of a subpoena at any other place.
        (3) Litigating a Federal cause of action under the September 11 
    Victims Compensation Fund of 2001 is likely to involve the 
    testimony and the production of other documents and tangible things 
    by a substantial number of witnesses, many of whom may not reside, 
    be employed, or regularly transact business in, or within 100 miles 
    of, the Southern District of New York.
SEC. 3. NATIONWIDE SUBPOENAS.
    Section 408(b) of the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund of 
2001 (49 U.S.C. 40101 note) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
        ``(4) Nationwide subpoenas.--
            ``(A) In general.--A subpoena requiring the attendance of a 
        witness at trial or a hearing conducted under this section may 
        be served at any place in the United States.
            ``(B) Rule of construction.--Nothing in this subsection is 
        intended to diminish the authority of a court to quash or 
        modify a subpoena for the reasons provided in clause (i), 
        (iii), or (iv) of subparagraph (A) or subparagraph (B) of rule 
        45(c)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.