I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1297 

To provide redress to the employees of Air America. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2021 

Mr. GROTHMAN (for himself, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. NORTON, 

Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. MAST, Mr. WALTZ, Mr. STEWART, Mr. 

ESPAILLAT, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. 

KELLER, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. COSTA, Mr. SMITH of Washington, 

Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. POCAN, Mr. 

GAETZ, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. MEIJER, Mr. 

GRIFFITH, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. TRONE, 

Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. GONZALEZ of 

Ohio, Ms. TITUS, Miss RICE of New York, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. LARSEN

of Washington, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. HASTINGS, 

Mr. KILMER, Ms. HOULAHAN, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. 

POSEY, Ms. WILD, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. 

RYAN, Mr. CRIST, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, Ms. MENG, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. TONKO, and Mrs. KIRKPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To provide redress to the employees of Air America. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Air America Act of 

5 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AIR AMERICA. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Air America, Incorporated (referred to in 

4 this section as ‘‘Air America’’) and its related cover 

5 corporate entities were wholly owned and controlled 

6 by the United States Government and directed and 

7 managed by the Department of Defense, the Depart8 ment of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency 

9 from 1950 to 1976. 

10 (2) Air America, a corporation owned by the 

11 Government of the United States, constituted a 

12 ‘‘Government corporation’’, as defined in section 103 

13 of title 5, United States Code. 

14 (3) It is established that the employees of Air 

15 America and the other entities described in para16 graph (1) were Federal employees. 

17 (4) The employees of Air America were retro18 actively excluded from the definition of the term 

19 ‘‘employee’’ under section 2105 of title 5, United 

20 States Code, on the basis of an administrative policy 

21 change in paperwork requirements implemented by 

22 the Office of Personnel Management 10 years after 

23 the service of the employees had ended and, by ex24 tension, were retroactively excluded from the defini25 tion of the term ‘‘employee’’ under section 8331 of 


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1 title 5, United States Code, for retirement credit 

2 purposes. 

3 (5) The employees of Air America were paid as 

4 Federal employees, with salaries subject to— 

5 (A) the General Schedule under subchapter 

6 III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code; 

7 and 

8 (B) the rates of basic pay payable to mem9 bers of the Armed Forces. 

10 (6) The service and sacrifice of the employees 

11 of Air America included— 

12 (A) suffering a high rate of casualties in 

13 the course of employment; 

14 (B) saving thousands of lives in search and 

15 rescue missions for downed United States air16 men and allied refugee evacuations; and 

17 (C) lengthy periods of service in chal18 lenging circumstances abroad. 

19 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

20 (1) the term ‘‘affiliated company’’, with respect 

21 to Air America, includes Air Asia Company Limited, 

22 CAT Incorporated, Civil Air Transport Company 

23 Limited, and the Pacific Division of Southern Air 

24 Transport; and 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘qualifying service’’ means service 

2 that— 

3 (A) was performed by a United States cit4 izen as an employee of Air America or an affili5 ated company during the period beginning on 

6 January 1, 1950, and ending on December 31, 

7 1976; and 

8 (B) is documented in the attorney-certified 

9 corporate records of Air America or any affili10 ated company. 

11 (c) TREATMENT AS FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT.—Any 

12 period of qualifying service— 

13 (1) is deemed to have been service of an em14 ployee (as defined in section 2105 of title 5, United 

15 States Code) with the Federal Government; and 

16 (2) shall be treated as creditable service by an 

17 employee for purposes of subchapter III of chapter 

18 83 of title 5, United States Code. 

19 (d) RIGHTS.—An individual who performed quali20 fying service, or a survivor of such an individual, shall be 

21 entitled to the rights, retroactive as applicable, provided 

22 to employees and their survivors for creditable service 

23 under the Civil Service Retirement System under sub24 chapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, 

25 with respect to that qualifying service. 


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1 (e) DEDUCTION, CONTRIBUTION, AND DEPOSIT RE2 QUIREMENTS.—The deposit of funds in the Treasury of 

3 the United States made by Air America in the form of 

4 a lump-sum payment apportioned in part to the Civil Serv5 ice Disability and Retirement Fund in 1976 is deemed to 

6 satisfy the deduction, contribution, and deposit require7 ments under section 8334 of title 5, United States Code, 

8 with respect to all periods of qualifying service. 

9 (f) APPLICATION TIME LIMIT.—Section 8345(i)(2) of 

10 title 5, United States Code, shall be applied with respect 

11 to the death of an individual who performed qualifying 

12 service by substituting ‘‘2 years after the effective date 

13 under section 2(g) of the Air America Act of 2021’’ for 

14 ‘‘30 years after the death or other event which gives rise 

15 to title to the benefit’’. 

16 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 

17 on the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment 

18 of this Act. 

Æ 


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