II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1119 

To extend the time for filing certain claims under the September 11th Victim 

Compensation Fund of 2001, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 16, 2007 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. LAUTENBERG, and Mr. 

SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To extend the time for filing certain claims under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘James Zadroga Act 

5 of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The September 11th Victim Compensation 

9 Fund of 2001 was established to provide compensaVerDate Aug 31 2005 19:40 Apr 17, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119

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1 tion to individuals (or relatives of deceased individ2 uals) who were physically injured or killed as a re3 sult of the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of Sep4 tember 11, 2001. 

5 (2) The deadline for filing claims for compensa6 tion under the Victim Compensation Fund was De7 cember 22, 2003. 

8 (3) Some individuals did not know they were el9 igible to file claims for compensation or did not 

10 know they had suffered physical harm as a result of 

11 the terrorist-related aircraft crashes until after the 

12 December 22, 2003, deadline. 

13 SEC. 3. DEADLINE EXTENSION FOR CERTAIN CLAIMS 

14 UNDER SEPTEMBER 11TH VICTIM COMPENSA15 TION FUND OF 2001. 

16 Section 405(a)(3) of the Air Transportation Safety 

17 and System Stabilization Act (49 U.S.C. 40101 note) is 

18 amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by 

21 subparagraph (B), no claim may be filed under 

22 paragraph (1) after December 22, 2003. 

23 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—A claim may be filed 

24 under paragraph (1) by an individual (or by a 


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1 personal representative on behalf of a deceased 

2 individual)— 

3 ‘‘(i) during the 5-year period after the 

4 date of enactment of this subparagraph, if 

5 the Special Master determines that the in6 dividual— 

7 ‘‘(I) did not know that the indi8 vidual had suffered physical harm as 

9 a result of the terrorist-related air10 craft crashes of September 11, 2001, 

11 until after December 22, 2003, and 

12 before the date of the enactment of 

13 this subparagraph; 

14 ‘‘(II) did not for any reason 

15 other than as described in subclause 

16 (I) know that the individual was eligi17 ble to file a claim under paragraph 

18 (1) until after December 22, 2003; 

19 ‘‘(III) suffered psychological 

20 harm as a result of the terrorist-re21 lated aircraft crashes; or 

22 ‘‘(IV) in the case of an individual 

23 who had previously filed a claim under 

24 this title, suffered a significantly 

25 greater physical harm than was 


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1 known to the individual as of the date 

2 the claim was filed and did not know 

3 the full extent of the physical harm 

4 suffered as a result of the terrorist-re5 lated aircraft crashes until after the 

6 date on which the claim was filed and 

7 before the date of enactment of this 

8 subparagraph; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) during the 5-year period after 

10 the date that the individual— 

11 ‘‘(I) first knew that the indi12 vidual had suffered physical or psy13 chological harm as a result of the ter14 rorist-related aircraft crashes of Sep15 tember 11, 2001, if the Special Mas16 ter determines that the individual did 

17 not know that the individual had suf18 fered such physical or psychological 

19 harm until a date that is on or after 

20 the date of enactment of this subpara21 graph; or 

22 ‘‘(II) in the case of an individual 

23 who had previously filed a claim under 

24 this title and had suffered a signifi25 cantly greater physical harm than was 


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1 known to the individual as of the date 

2 the claim was filed, or had suffered 

3 psychological harm as a result of the 

4 terrorist-related crashes, first knew 

5 the full extent of the physical and psy6 chological harm suffered as a result of 

7 the terrorist-related aircraft crashes, 

8 if the Special Master determines that 

9 the individual did not know the full 

10 extent of the harm suffered until a 

11 date that is on or after the date of the 

12 enactment of this subparagraph.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. EXCEPTION TO SINGLE CLAIM REQUIREMENT IN 

14 CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. 

15 Section 405(c)(3)(A) of the Air Transportation Safe16 ty and System Stabilization Act (49 U.S.C. 40101 note) 

17 is amended to read as follows: 

18 ‘‘(A) SINGLE CLAIM.— 

19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro20 vided by clause (ii), not more than 1 claim 

21 may be submitted under this title by an in22 dividual or on behalf of a deceased indi23 vidual. 

24 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—A second claim 

25 may be filed under subsection (a)(1) by an 


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1 individual (or by a personal representative 

2 on behalf of a deceased individual) if the 

3 individual is an individual described in ei4 ther of clauses (i)(IV) or (ii)(II) of sub5 section (a)(3)(B).’’. 

6 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY OF CLAIMANTS SUFFERING FROM PSY7 CHOLOGICAL HARM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 405(c)(2)(A)(ii) of the Air 

9 Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act (49 

10 U.S.C. 40101 note) is amended by inserting ‘‘, psycho11 logical harm,’’ before ‘‘or death’’. 

12 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

13 Section 405(a)(2)(B)(i) of such Act is amended by strik14 ing ‘‘physical harm’’ and inserting ‘‘physical or psycho15 logical harm’’. 

16 SEC. 6. IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH DEFINED. 

17 Section 402 of the Air Transportation Safety and 

18 System Stabilization Act (49 U.S.C. 40101 note) is 

19 amended by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(11) IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH.—In section 

21 405(c)(2)(A)(i), the term ‘immediate aftermath’ 

22 means any period of time after the terrorist-related 

23 aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001, as deter24 mined by the Special Master, that was sufficiently 

25 close in time to the crashes that there was a demonVerDate Aug 31 2005 19:40 Apr 17, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1119.IS S1119

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1 strable risk to the claimant of physical or psycho2 logical harm resulting from the crashes, including 

3 the period of time during which rescue, recovery, 

4 and cleanup activities relating to the crashes were 

5 conducted.’’. 

Æ 


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