II 111th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1306 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 19, 2009 Mr. Bunning (for himself and Mr. Alexander) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To provide for payment to the survivor or surviving family members of compensation otherwise payable to a contractor employee of the Department of Energy who dies after application for compensation under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Improvement Act of 2009.

2.

Payment of compensation to survivors of Department of Energy contractor employees

(a)

In general

Section 3672 of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7385s–1) is amended to read as follows:

3672.

Compensation to be provided

Subject to the other provisions of this subtitle: (1)

Contractor employees

(A)

In general

A covered DOE contractor employee shall receive contractor employee compensation under this subtitle in accordance with section 3673. (B)

Compensation after death of contractor employee

(i)

In general

Except as provided paragraph (2)(B), if the death of a contractor employee occurs after the employee applies for compensation under this subtitle but before such compensation is paid, the amount of compensation described in clause (ii) shall be paid to a survivor (as that term is used in section 3674) of the employee or, if the employee has no such survivors, to the surviving family members of the employee in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 3628(e)(1). (ii)

Amount of compensation

The amount of compensation described in this clause is the amount of compensation the contractor employee would have received pursuant to section 3673(a), except that if the Secretary cannot determine the minimum impairment rating of the employee under paragraph (1) of such section as a result of the death of the employee, such compensation shall not include compensation pursuant to such paragraph. (2)

Survivors

(A)

In general

Except as provided in subparagraph (B) or paragraph (1)(B), a survivor of a covered DOE contractor employee shall receive contractor employee compensation under this subtitle in accordance with section 3674. (B)

Election of contractor employee compensation or survivor compensation

A survivor who is otherwise eligible to receive compensation pursuant to both subparagraph (A) and paragraph (1)(B) shall not receive compensation pursuant to both subparagraph (A) and paragraph (1)(B), but shall receive compensation pursuant to subparagraph (A) or paragraph (1)(B), as elected by the survivor. (C)

Compensation after death of survivor

If the death of a survivor occurs after the survivor applies for compensation under this subtitle but before such compensation is paid and, in the case of compensation pursuant to paragraph (1)(B), there are no other survivors (as that term is used in section 3674) of the employee, the amount of compensation the survivor would have received under this section shall be paid to the surviving family members of the employee in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 3628(e)(1).

. (b)

Applicability

The provisions of section 3672 of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 7385s–1), as amended by subsection (a), shall apply to applications for compensation under subtitle E of such Act filed before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.