I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3923

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the National Transportation Safety Board and individual air carriers to take actions to address

the needs of families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 31, 1996

Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr.

HUTCHINSON, Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mr.

BLUTE, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. BACHUS, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr.

LATHAM, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. MASCARA, Mr. LAZIO of

New York, and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

A BILL

To amend title 49, United States Code, to require the National Transportation Safety Board and individual air

carriers to take actions to address the needs of families

of passengers involved in aircraft accidents.

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 ‘‘Aviation Disaster

5 Family Assistance Act of 1996’’.
2

•HR 3923 IH

1 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE BY NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFE2 TY BOARD TO FAMILIES OF PASSENGERS IN3 VOLVED IN AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS.

4 (a) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter

6 11 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by

7 adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘§ 1136. Assistance to families of passengers involved

9 in aircraft accidents

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after

11 being notified of an accident within the United States in12 volving an aircraft of an air carrier and resulting in a sig13 nificant loss of life, the Chairman of the National Trans14 portation Safety Board shall—

15 ‘‘(1) designate and publicize the name and

16 phone number of a family advocate who shall be an

17 employee of the Board and shall be responsible for

18 acting as a point of contact within the Federal Gov19 ernment for the families of passengers involved in

20 the accident and a liaison between the air carrier

21 and the families; and

22 ‘‘(2) designate an independent nonprofit organi23 zation, with experience in disasters and posttrauma

24 communication with families, which shall have pri25 mary responsibility for coordinating the care and
3

•HR 3923 IH

1 support of the families of passengers involved in the

2 accident.

3 ‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE BOARD.—The Board

4 shall have primary responsibility for coordinating the re5 covery and identification of passengers involved in an acci6 dent described in subsection (a).

7 ‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF DESIGNATED ORGANIZA8 TION.—The organization designated for an accident under

9 subsection (a)(2) shall have the following responsibilities

10 with respect to the families of passengers involved in the

11 accident:

12 ‘‘(1) To provide mental health and counseling

13 services, in coordination with the disaster response

14 team of the air carrier involved.

15 ‘‘(2) To take such actions as may be necessary

16 to provide an environment in which the families may

17 grieve in private.

18 ‘‘(3) To meet with the families who have trav19 eled to the location of the accident, to contact the

20 families unable to travel to such location, and to

21 contact all affected families periodically thereafter

22 until such time as the organization determines that

23 further assistance is no longer needed.

24 ‘‘(4) To communicate with the families as to

25 the roles of the organization, government agencies,
4

•HR 3923 IH

1 and the air carrier involved with respect to the acci2 dent and the post-accident activities.

3 ‘‘(5) To arrange a suitable memorial service in

4 consultation with the families.

5 ‘‘(d) OBTAINING PASSENGER LISTS.—

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be the responsibil7 ity of the family advocate designated for an accident

8 under subsection (a)(1), and the organization des9 ignated for the accident under subsection (a)(2), to

10 each request, as soon as practicable, from the air

11 carrier involved in the accident a list, which is based

12 on the best available information at the time of the

13 request, of the names of the passengers that were

14 aboard the aircraft involved in the accident.

15 ‘‘(2) USE OF INFORMATION.—The family advo16 cate and the organization shall each take such ac17 tions as may be necessary to keep any list obtained

18 under paragraph (1) confidential but may provide

19 information on the list about a passenger to the

20 family of the passenger to the extent that the family

21 advocate or the organization considers appropriate.

22 ‘‘(e) CONTINUING RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE

23 BOARD.—In the course of its investigation of an accident

24 described in subsection (a), the Board shall, to the maxi-
5

•HR 3923 IH

1 mum extent practicable, ensure that the families of pas2 sengers involved in the accident—

3 ‘‘(1) are briefed, prior to any public briefing,

4 about the accident, its causes, and any other find5 ings from the investigation; and

6 ‘‘(2) are individually informed of and allowed to

7 attend any public hearings and meetings of the

8 Board about the accident.

9 ‘‘(f) USE OF AIR CARRIER RESOURCES.—To the ex10 tent practicable, the organization designated for an acci11 dent under subsection (a)(2) shall use and coordinate the

12 use of the resources and personnel of the air carrier in13 volved in the accident in carrying out the organization’s

14 responsibilities under this section.

15 ‘‘(g) PROHIBITED ACTIONS.—No person (including a

16 State or political subdivision) may impede the ability of

17 the Board (including the family advocate designated for

18 an accident under subsection (a)(1)), or an organization

19 designated for an accident under subsection (a)(2), to

20 carry out its responsibilities under this section or the abil21 ity of the families of passengers involved in the accident

22 to have contact with one another.

23 ‘‘(h) AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT DEFINED.—In this sec24 tion, the term ‘aircraft accident’ means any aviation disas25 ter regardless of its cause or suspected cause.’’.
6

•HR 3923 IH

1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of

2 sections for chapter 11 of such title is amended by

3 inserting after the item relating to section 1135 the

4 following:

‘‘1136. Assistance to families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents.’’.

5 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 1155 of such title is

6 amended—

7 (1) by striking ‘‘or 1134(b) or (f)(1)’’ and in8 serting ‘‘, section 1134(b), section 1134(f)(1), or

9 section 1136(g)’’; and

10 (2) by striking ‘‘either of’’ and inserting ‘‘any

11 of’’.

12 SEC. 3. AIR CARRIER PLANS TO ADDRESS NEEDS OF FAMI13 LIES OF PASSENGERS INVOLVED IN AIR14 CRAFT ACCIDENTS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 411 of title 49, United

16 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow17 ing:

18 ‘‘§ 41113. Plans to address needs of families of pas19 sengers involved in aircraft accidents

20 ‘‘(a) SUBMISSION OF PLANS.—Not later than 6

21 months after the date of the enactment of this section,

22 each air carrier holding a certificate of public convenience

23 and necessity under section 41102 of this title shall sub24 mit to the Secretary a plan for addressing the needs of

25 the families of passengers involved in any accident involv-
7

•HR 3923 IH

1 ing an aircraft of the air carrier and resulting in a signifi2 cant loss of life.

3 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF PLANS.—A plan to be submitted

4 by an air carrier under subsection (a) shall include, at a

5 minimum, the following:

6 ‘‘(1) A plan for publicizing a reliable, toll-free

7 telephone number, and for providing staff, to handle

8 calls from the families of the passengers.

9 ‘‘(2) A process for notifying the families of the

10 passengers, before providing any public notice of the

11 names of the passengers, either by utilizing the serv12 ices of the organization designated for the accident

13 under section 1136(a)(2) of this title or the services

14 of other suitably trained individuals.

15 ‘‘(3) An assurance that the notice described in

16 paragraph (2) will be provided to the family of a

17 passenger as soon as the air carrier has verified that

18 the passenger was aboard the aircraft (whether or

19 not the names of all of the passengers have been

20 verified) and, to the extent practicable, in person.

21 ‘‘(4) An assurance that the air carrier will pro22 vide to the family advocate designated for the acci23 dent under section 1136(a)(1) of this title, and to

24 the organization designated for the accident under

25 section 1136(a)(2) of this title, immediately upon re-
8

•HR 3923 IH

1 quest, a list, which is based on the best available

2 information at the time of the request, of the names

3 of the passengers aboard the aircraft (whether or

4 not such names have been verified), and will periodi5 cally update the list.

6 ‘‘(5) An assurance that the family of each pas7 senger will be consulted about the disposition of all

8 remains and personal effects of the passenger.

9 ‘‘(6) An assurance that if requested by the fam10 ily of a passenger, any possession of the passenger

11 (regardless of its condition) will be returned to the

12 family unless the possession is needed for the acci13 dent investigation or any criminal investigation.

14 ‘‘(7) An assurance that any unclaimed posses15 sion of a passenger will be retained by the air carrier

16 for at least 2 years.

17 ‘‘(8) An assurance that the family of each pas18 senger will be consulted about construction by the

19 air carrier of any monument to the passengers, in20 cluding any inscription on the monument.

21 ‘‘(9) An assurance that the treatment of the

22 families of nonrevenue passengers (and any other

23 victim of the accident) will be the same as the treat24 ment of the families of revenue passengers.
9

•HR 3923 IH

1 ‘‘(10) An assurance that the air carrier will

2 work with any organization designated under section

3 1136(a)(2) of this title on an ongoing basis to en4 sure that families of passengers receive an appro5 priate level of services and assistance following each

6 accident.

7 ‘‘(11) An assurance that the air carrier will

8 provide reasonable compensation to any organization

9 designated under section 1136(a)(2) of this title for

10 services provided by the organization.

11 ‘‘(c) CERTIFICATE REQUIREMENT.—After the date

12 that is 6 months after the date of the enactment of this

13 section, the Secretary may not approve an application for

14 a certificate of public convenience and necessity under sec15 tion 41102 of this title unless the applicant has included

16 as part of such application a plan that meets the require17 ments of subsection (b).

18 ‘‘(d) AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT DEFINED.—In this sec19 tion, the term ‘aircraft accident’ has the meaning such

20 term has in section 1136 of this title.’’.

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec22 tions for such chapter is amended by adding at the end

23 the following:

‘‘41113. Plans to address needs of families of passengers involved in aircraft accidents.’’.
10

•HR 3923 IH

1 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE.

2 The Secretary of Transportation, in cooperation with

3 the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal

4 Emergency Management Agency, the American Red

5 Cross, air carriers, and families which have been involved

6 in aircraft accidents shall establish a task force consisting

7 of representatives of such entities and families to de8 velop—

9 (1) a model plan to assist air carriers in re10 sponding to aircraft accidents; and

11 (2) recommendations to Congress on methods

12 to ensure that attorneys and representatives of

13 media organizations do not intrude on the privacy of

14 families of passengers involved in an aircraft acci15 dent.

16 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

17 It is the sense of Congress that each State bar asso18 ciation should adopt a rule providing that in the case of

19 a transportation accident no unsolicited communication

20 concerning a potential action for personal injury or wrong21 ful death should be made to an individual injured in the

22 accident, or a relative of an individual killed in the acci23 dent, before the 30th day following the date of the acci24 dent.
11

•HR 3923 IH

1 SEC. 6. LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

2 Nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this

3 Act may be construed as limiting the actions that an air

4 carrier may take in providing assistance to the families

5 of passengers involved in an aircraft accident.

Æ