(vii) No later than January 15, 2001, publish in
the Federal Register a list of atomic weapons employer
facilities within the meaning of section 3621(5) of the
Act, Department of Energy employer facilities within the
meaning of section 3621(12) of the Act, and a list of
facilities owned and operated by a beryllium vendor,
within the meaning of section 3621(6) of the Act.

(d) Attorney General. The Attorney General shall:

{i) Develop procedures to notify, to the extent
possible, each claimant (or the survivor of that claimant
if deceased) whose claim for compensation under section 5
of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act has been or is
approved by the Department of Justice, of the availability
of supplemental compensation and benefits under the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program;

(ii) Identify and notify eligible covered uranium
employees or their survivors of the availability of
supplemental compensation under the Program; and

{iii) Upon request by the Secretary of Labor, provide
information needed to adjudicate the claim of a covered
uranium employee under this Program.

Sec. 3. Establishment of Interagency Working Group.

(a) There is hereby established an Interagency Working Group
to be composed of representatives from the Office of Management
and Budget, the National Economic Council, and the Departments
of Labor, Energy, Health and Human Services, and Justice.

(b) The Working Group shall:

(i) By January 1, 2001, develop a legislative proposal
to ensure the Program's fairness and efficiency, including
provisions to. assure adequate administrative resources and
swift dispute resolution; and

(ii) Address any impediments to timely and coordinated
Program implementation.

Sec. 4. Establishment of Advisory Board on Radiation and
Worker Health.

(a) Pursuant to Public Law 106-398, there is hereby
established an Advisory Board on Radiation and Health
{Advisory Board). The Advisory Board shall consist of no
more than 20 members to be appointed by the President. Members
shall include affected workers and their representatives, and
representatives from scientific and medical communities. The

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Human Services or the Secretary of Labor, and as permitted
by law, require a DOE contractor, subcontractor, or
designated beryllium vendor, pursuant to section 3631(c)
of the Act, to provide information relevant to a claim
under this Program;

(iii) Identify and notify potentially eligible
individuals of the availability of compensation under
the Program;

(iv) Designate, pursuant to sections 3621(4)(B) and
3622 of the Act, atomic weapons employers and additions
to the list of designated beryllium vendors;

(v) Pursuant to Subtitle D of the Act, negotiate
agreements with the chief executive officer of each
State in which there is a DOE facility, and other States
as appropriate, to provide assistance to a DOE contractor
employee on filing a State workers’ compensation system
claim, and establish a Worker Assistance Program to help
individuals whose illness is related to employment in the
DOE's nuclear weapons complex, or the individual's survivor
iff the individual is deceased, in applying for State
workers' compensation benefits. This assistance shall
include:

(1) Submittal of reasonable claims to a physician
panel, appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human
Services and administered by the Secretary of Energy,
under procedures established by the Secretary of
Energy, for determination of whether the individual's
illness or death arose out of and in the course of
employment by the DOE or its contractors and exposure
to a toxic substance at a DOE facility; and

(2) For cases determined by the physician panel
and the Secretary of Energy under section 3661(d) and
(e) of the Act to have arisen out of and in the course
of employment by the DOE or its contractors and
exposure to a toxic substance at a DOE facility,
provide assistance to the individual in filing for
workers' compensation benefits. The Secretary shall
not contest these claims and, to the extent permitted
by law, shall direct a DOE contractor who employed
the applicant not to contest the claim;

(vi) Report on the Worker Assistance Program by making
publicly available on at least an annual basis claims-
related data, including the number of claims filed, the
number of illnesses found to be related to work at a DOE
facility, job location and description, and number of
successful State workers’ compensation claims awarded;
and

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President shall designate a Chair for the Board among its
members.

(b) The Advisory Board shall:

(i) Advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services
on the development of guidelines under section 2(b) (i) of
this order;

(ii) Advise the Secretary of Health and Human
Services on the scientific validity and quality of dose
reconstruction efforts performed for this Program; and

(iii) Upon request by the Secretary of Health and
Human Services, advise the Secretary on whether there is a
class of employees at any Department of Energy facility who
were exposed to radiation but for whom it is not feasible to
estimate their radiation dose, and on whether there is a
reasonable likelihood that such radiation dose may have
endangered the health of members of the class.

Sec. 5. Reporting Requirements. The Secretaries of Labor,
Health and Human Services, and Energy shall, as part of their
annual budget submissions, report to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) on their activities under this Program,
including total expenditures related to benefits and program
administration. They shall also report to the OMB, no later
than March 1, 2001, on the manner in which they will carry out
their respective responsibilities under the Act and this order.
This report shall include, among other things, a description of
the administrative structure established within their agencies
to implement the Act and this order. In addition, the Secretary
of Labor shall annually report on the total number and types
of claims for which compensation was considered and other data
pertinent to evaluating the Federal Government's performance
fulfilling the requirements of the Act and this order.

Sec. 6. Administration and Judicial Review. (a) This
Executive Order shall be carried out subject to the availability
of appropriations, and to the extent permitted by law.

(b) This Executive Order does not create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity

by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers
or employees, or any other person.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release December 7, 2000

EXECUTIVE ORDER

PROVIDING COMPENSATION TO AMERICA'S
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORKERS

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of America,
including Public Law 106-398, the Energy Employees Occupational
Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-398, the
"Act"), and to allocate the responsibilities imposed by that
legislation and to provide for further legislative efforts, it
is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy. Since World War II, hundreds of
thousands of men and women have served their Nation in building
its nuclear defense. In the course of their work, they overcame
previously unimagined scientific and technical challenges.
Thousands of these courageous Americans, however, paid a high
price for their service, developing disabling or fatal illnesses
as a result of exposure to beryllium, ionizing radiation, and
other hazards unique to nuclear weapons production and testing.
Too often, these workers were neither adequately protected from,
nor informed of, the occupational hazards to which they were
exposed.

Existing workers’ compensation programs have failed
to provide for the needs of these workers and their families.
Federal workers’ compensation programs have generally not
included these workers. Further, because of long latency
periods, the uniqueness of the hazards to which they were
exposed, and inadequate exposure data, many of these individuals
have been unable to obtain State workers' compensation benefits.
This problem has been exacerbated by the past policy of the
Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors of encouraging
and assisting DOE contractors in opposing the claims of workers
who sought those benefits. This policy has recently been
reversed.

While the Nation can never fully repay these workers
or their families, they deserve recognition and compensation
for their sacrifices. Since the Administration’s historic
announcement in July of 1999 that it intended to compensate

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THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 7, 2000.

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DOE nuclear weapons workers who suffered occupational illnesses
as a result of exposure to the unique hazards in building the
Nation's nuclear defense, it has been the policy of this
Administration to support fair and timely compensation for

these workers and their survivors. The Federal Government
should provide necessary information and otherwise help employees
of the DOE or its contractors determine if their illnesses are
associated with conditions of their nuclear weapons-related work;
it should provide workers and their survivors with all pertinent
and available information necessary for evaluating and processing
claims; and it should ensure that this program minimizes the
administrative burden on workers and their survivors, and
respects their dignity and privacy. This order sets out agency
responsibilities to accomplish these goals, building on the
Administration's articulated principles and the framework set
forth in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program Act of 2000. The Departments of Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Energy shall be responsible for developing and
implementing actions under the Act to compensate these workers
and their families in a manner that is compassionate, fair, and
timely. Other Federal agencies, as appropriate, shall assist

in this effort.

Sec. 2. Designation of Responsibilities for Administering
the Energy Employees' Occupational Tliness Compensation Program
"Program").

(a) Secretary of Labor. The Secretary of Labor shall have
primary responsibility for administering the Program.
Specifically, the Secretary shall:

(i) Administer and decide all questions arising under
the Act not assigned to other agencies by the Act or by this
order, including determining the eligibility of individuals
with covered occupational illnesses and their survivors
and adjudicating claims for compensation and benefits;

(ii) No later than May 31, 2001, promulgate regulations
for the administration of the Program, except for functions
assigned to other agencies pursuant to the Act or this
order;

(iii) No later than July 31, 2001, ensure the
availability, in paper and electronic format, of forms
necessary for making claims under the Program; and

(iv) Develop informational materials, in coordination
with the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Health
and Human Services, to help potential claimants understand
the Program and the application process, and provide these
materials to individuals upon request and to the Secretary
of Energy and the Attorney General for dissemination to
potentially eligible individuals.

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(b) Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Secretary
of Health and Human Services shall:

(i) No later than May 31, 2001, promulgate regulations
establishing:

(A) guidelines, pursuant to section 3623(c) of the
Act, to assess the likelihood that an individual with
cancer sustained the cancer in the performance of duty
at a Department of Energy facility or an atomic weapons
employer facility, as defined by the Act; and

(B) methods, pursuant to section 3623(d) of the
Act, for arriving at and providing reasonable estimates
of the radiation doses received by individuals applying
for assistance under this program for whom there are
inadequate records of radiation exposure;

(ii) In accordance with procedures developed by the
Secretary of Health and Human Services, consider and issue
determinations on petitions by classes of employees to be
treated as members of the Special Exposure Cohort;

(iii) With the assistance of the Secretary of Energy,
apply the methods promulgated under subsection (b) (i) (B)
to estimate the radiation doses received by individuals
applying for assistance;

(iv) Upon request from the Secretary of Energy,
appoint members for a physician panel or panels to consider
individual workers' compensation claims as part of the
Worker Assistance Program under the process established
pursuant to subsection (c)(v); and

(v) Provide the Advisory Board established under
section 4 of this order with administrative services, funds,
facilities, staff, and other necessary support services and
perform the administrative functions of the President under
the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C.

App.), with respect to the Advisory Board.
(c) Secretary of Energy. The Secretary of Energy shall:

(i) Provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services
and the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health
access, in accordance with law, to all relevant information
pertaining to worker exposures, including access to
restricted data, and any other technical assistance needed
to carry out their responsibilities under subsection (b) (ii)
and section 4(b), respectively.

(ii) Upon request from the Secretary of Health and

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