117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 407 

AN ACT 

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, 
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†S 407 ES

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 2022’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AIR AMERICA. 

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

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

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

8 corporate entities were wholly owned and controlled 

9 by the United States Government and directed and 

10 managed by the Department of Defense, the Depart11 ment of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency 

12 from 1950 to 1976. 

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

14 Government of the United States, constituted a 

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

16 of title 5, United States Code. 

17 (3) The service and sacrifice of the employees 

18 of Air America included— 

19 (A) suffering a high rate of casualties in 

20 the course of employment; 

21 (B) saving thousands of lives in search and 

22 rescue missions for downed United States air23 men and allied refugee evacuations; and 

24 (C) lengthy periods of service in chal25 lenging circumstances abroad. 

26 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
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1 (1) the term ‘‘affiliated company’’, with respect 

2 to Air America, includes Air Asia Company Limited, 

3 CAT Incorporated, Civil Air Transport Company 

4 Limited, and the Pacific Division of Southern Air 

5 Transport; 

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

7 that— 

8 (A) was performed by a United States cit9 izen as an employee of Air America or an affili10 ated company during the period beginning on 

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

12 1976; and 

13 (B) is documented in the attorney-certified 

14 corporate records of Air America or any affili15 ated company; 

16 (3) the term ‘‘survivor’’, with respect to an indi17 vidual who performed qualifying service, means— 

18 (A) a widow or widower of the individual 

19 who performed qualifying service; or 

20 (B) an individual who, at any time during 

21 or since the period of qualifying service, was a 

22 dependent or child of the individual who per23 formed qualifying service; and 

24 (4) the terms ‘‘widow’’, ‘‘widower’’, ‘‘depend25 ent’’, and ‘‘child’’ have the meanings given those 
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†S 407 ES

1 terms in section 8341(a) of title 5, United States 

2 Code, except that that section shall be applied by 

3 substituting ‘‘individual who performed qualifying 

4 service’’ for ‘‘employee or Member’’. 

5 (c) CREDITABLE SERVICE.—Any period of qualifying 

6 service shall be treated as creditable service for purposes 

7 of subchapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States 

8 Code. 

9 (d) RIGHTS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—An individual who performed 

11 qualifying service or a survivor of such an indi12 vidual— 

13 (A) shall be entitled to the rights, retro14 active as applicable, provided to employees and 

15 their survivors for creditable service under the 

16 Civil Service Retirement System under sub17 chapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United 

18 States Code, with respect to that qualifying 

19 service; and 

20 (B) may submit an application for benefits 

21 based on the qualifying service to the Office of 

22 Personnel Management not later than 2 years 

23 after the effective date under section 2(g) of 

24 this Act. 
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1 (2) INDIVIDUALS DECEASED BEFORE DATE OF

2 ENACTMENT.—A survivor of an individual who per3 formed qualifying service and became eligible, by 

4 reason of this Act, for benefits based on the quali5 fying service under subchapter III of chapter 83 of 

6 title 5, United States Code (but became deceased be7 fore the date of enactment of this Act)— 

8 (A) may submit an application for benefits 

9 based on the qualifying service to the Office of 

10 Personnel Management not later than 2 years 

11 after the effective date under section 2(g) of 

12 this Act, disregarding any requirement that an 

13 employee have filed an application while living; 

14 and 

15 (B) upon submission of the application 

16 under subparagraph (A), shall be eligible for a 

17 survivor annuity under section 8341 of title 5, 

18 United States Code, equal to 55 percent (or 50 

19 percent if the deceased individual retired before 

20 October 11, 1962) of the self-only annuity (as 

21 defined in section 838.103 of title 5, Code of 

22 Federal Regulations (or any successor regula23 tion)) that otherwise would have been paid to 

24 the deceased individual. 
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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) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

10 shall be construed to set any type of precedent for pur11 poses of civil service retirement credit with the Civil Serv12 ice Retirement and Disability Fund or any successor fund. 

13 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect on 

14 the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of 

15 this Act. 

Passed the Senate June 14, 2022. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 407 

AN ACT 

To provide redress to the employees of Air America.