II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 407 

To provide redress to the employees of Air America. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2021 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. WARNER, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. SHAHEEN, 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. 

CASEY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. SMITH, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. HAWLEY, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. 

DURBIN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. TESTER, Mr. COTTON, 

and Mr. PADILLA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AIR AMERICA. 

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


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

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

3 corporate entities were wholly owned and controlled 

4 by the United States Government and directed and 

5 managed by the Department of Defense, the Depart6 ment of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency 

7 from 1950 to 1976. 

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

9 Government of the United States, constituted a 

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

11 of title 5, United States Code. 

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

13 America and the other entities described in para14 graph (1) were Federal employees. 

15 (4) The employees of Air America were retro16 actively excluded from the definition of the term 

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

18 States Code, on the basis of an administrative policy 

19 change in paperwork requirements implemented by 

20 the Office of Personnel Management 10 years after 

21 the service of the employees had ended and, by ex22 tension, were retroactively excluded from the defini23 tion of the term ‘‘employee’’ under section 8331 of 

24 title 5, United States Code, for retirement credit 

25 purposes. 


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

2 Federal employees, with salaries subject to— 

3 (A) the General Schedule under subchapter 

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

5 and 

6 (B) the rates of basic pay payable to mem7 bers of the Armed Forces. 

8 (6) The service and sacrifice of the employees 

9 of Air America included— 

10 (A) suffering a high rate of casualties in 

11 the course of employment; 

12 (B) saving thousands of lives in search and 

13 rescue missions for downed United States air14 men and allied refugee evacuations; and 

15 (C) lengthy periods of service in chal16 lenging circumstances abroad. 

17 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

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

19 to Air America, includes Air Asia Company Limited, 

20 CAT Incorporated, Civil Air Transport Company 

21 Limited, and the Pacific Division of Southern Air 

22 Transport; and 

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

24 that— 


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1 (A) was performed by a United States cit2 izen as an employee of Air America or an affili3 ated company during the period beginning on 

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

5 1976; and 

6 (B) is documented in the attorney-certified 

7 corporate records of Air America or any affili8 ated company. 

9 (c) TREATMENT AS FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT.—Any 

10 period of qualifying service— 

11 (1) is deemed to have been service of an em12 ployee (as defined in section 2105 of title 5, United 

13 States Code) with the Federal Government; and 

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

15 employee for purposes of subchapter III of chapter 

16 83 of title 5, United States Code. 

17 (d) RIGHTS.—An individual who performed quali18 fying service, or a survivor of such an individual, shall be 

19 entitled to the rights, retroactive as applicable, provided 

20 to employees and their survivors for creditable service 

21 under the Civil Service Retirement System under sub22 chapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, 

23 with respect to that qualifying service. 

24 (e) DEDUCTION, CONTRIBUTION, AND DEPOSIT RE25 QUIREMENTS.—The deposit of funds in the Treasury of 


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

2 a lump-sum payment apportioned in part to the Civil Serv3 ice Disability & Retirement Fund in 1976 is deemed to 

4 satisfy the deduction, contribution, and deposit require5 ments under section 8334 of title 5, United States Code, 

6 with respect to all periods of qualifying service. 

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

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

9 to the death of an individual who performed qualifying 

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

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

12 ‘‘30 years after the death or other event which gives rise 

13 to title to the benefit’’. 

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

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

16 of this Act. 

Æ 


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