I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2837
To provide for compassionate payments with regard to individuals who con-
tracted human immunodeficiency virus due to the provision of a contami-
nated blood transfusion, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 23, 2003
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself and Mr. DEAL of Georgia) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 
and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for compassionate payments with regard to indi-
viduals who contracted human immunodeficiency virus 
due to the provision of a contaminated blood transfusion, 
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Steve Grissom Relief Fund Act of 2003’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—RELIEF FUND 
Sec. 101. Steve Grissom relief fund. 
Sec. 102. Compassionate payments. 
Sec. 103. Determination and payment. 
Sec. 104. Limitation on transfer of rights and number of petitions. 
Sec. 105. Time limitation. 
Sec. 106. Certain claims not affected by payment. 
Sec. 107. Definitions. 
TITLE II—TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PAYMENTS UNDER THE SSI 
PROGRAM 
Sec. 201. Treatment of certain payments under the SSI program.
TITLE I—RELIEF FUND 
SEC. 101. STEVE GRISSOM RELIEF FUND. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 
Treasury of the United States a trust fund to be known 
as the ‘‘Steve Grissom Relief Fund’’, which shall be ad-
ministered by the Secretary of the Treasury. 
(b) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS IN FUND.—Amounts 
in the Fund shall be invested in accordance with section 
9702 of title 31, United States Code, and any interest on 
and proceeds from any such investment shall be credited 
to and become part of the Fund. 
(c) AVAILABILITY OF FUND.—Amounts in the Fund 
shall be available only for disbursement by the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services under section 103. 
(d) TERMINATION.—The Fund shall terminate upon 
the expiration of the 5-year period beginning on the date
of the enactment of this Act. If all of the amounts in the 
Fund have not been expended by the end of the 5-year 
period, investments of amounts in the Fund shall be liq-
uidated, the receipts of such liquidation shall be deposited 
in the Fund, and all funds remaining in the Fund shall 
be deposited in the miscellaneous receipts account in the 
Treasury of the United States. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Fund such sums 
as may be necessary to carry out this title. 
SEC. 102. COMPASSIONATE PAYMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—If the conditions described in sub-
section (b) are met and if there are sufficient amounts 
in the Fund to make each payment, the Secretary shall 
make a single payment of $100,000 from the Fund to any 
individual who has an HIV infection, or who is diagnosed 
with AIDS, and who is described in one of the following 
paragraphs: 
(1) The individual was treated with HIV con-
taminated blood transfusion, HIV contaminated 
blood components, HIV contaminated human tissue, 
or HIV contaminated organs (excluding anti-hemo-
philiac factor) in the United States. 
(2) The individual—
(A) is the lawful spouse of an individual 
described in paragraph (1); or 
(B) is the former lawful spouse of an indi-
vidual described in paragraph (1), was the law-
ful spouse of the individual at any time after 
the individual described in paragraph (1) was 
treated as described in such paragraph, and 
through medical documentation can assert rea-
sonable certainty of transmission of HIV from 
the individual described in paragraph (1). 
(3) The individual acquired the HIV infection 
through perinatal transmission from a parent who is 
an individual described in paragraph (1) or (2). 
(b) CONDITIONS.—The conditions described in this 
subsection are, with respect to an individual, as follows: 
(1) SUBMISSION OF MEDICAL DOCUMENTATION 
OF HIV INFECTION.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The individual submits 
to the Secretary written medical documentation 
that demonstrates that—
(i) the individual has (or had) an HIV 
infection;
(ii) in the case of an individual de-
scribed in subsection (a)(1), the individual 
was treated with a blood transfusion, blood
components, human tissue, or organs (ex-
cluding anti-hemophiliac factor) provided 
by a medical professional in the United 
States; 
(iii) prior to the treatment described 
in clause (ii), there was no evidence of 
HIV infection with respect to the indi-
vidual involved; and 
(iv) a comprehensive physical exam-
ination, or HIV testing, was conducted 
after the treatment described in clause (ii) 
and reveals evidence of HIV infection, and 
that evidence, together with other medical 
records, indicates the probable trans-
mission of the HIV to the individual 
through such treatment. 
(B) WAIVERS.—The Secretary may waive 
the requirements of subparagraph (A) with re-
spect to an individual if the Secretary deter-
mines that the individual is unable to provide 
the documentation required under such sub-
paragraph because the documents involved were 
destroyed or otherwise made unavailable as a 
result of the occurrence of a natural disaster or
other circumstance beyond the control of the in-
dividual. 
(2) PETITION.—A petition for the payment is 
filed with the Secretary by or on behalf of the indi-
vidual. 
(3) DETERMINATION.—The Secretary deter-
mines, in accordance with section 103(b), that the 
petition meets the requirements of this title. 
(c) FRAUD.—Any individual who—
(1) knowingly and willfully makes or causes to 
be made any false statement or representation of a 
material fact in connection with any documentation 
provided under this subsection; or 
(2) having knowledge of the occurrence of any 
event affecting his or her initial or continued right 
to any payment under this title conceals or fails to 
disclose such event with an intent fraudulently to se-
cure such payment; 
shall be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned for 
not more than 5 years, or both. 
SEC. 103. DETERMINATION AND PAYMENT. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FILING PROCEDURES.—The 
Secretary shall establish procedures under which individ-
uals may submit petitions for payment under this title. 
The procedures shall include a requirement that each peti-
tion filed under this title include written medical docu-
mentation that the relevant individual described in section 
102(a)(1) received the treatment described in such sec-
tion. 
(b) DETERMINATION.—For each petition filed under 
this title, the Secretary shall determine whether the peti-
tion meets the requirements of this title. 
(c) PAYMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent there are suf-
ficient amounts in the Fund to cover each payment, 
the Secretary shall pay, from the Fund, each peti-
tion that the Secretary determines meets the re-
quirements of this title in the order received. 
(2) PAYMENTS IN CASE OF DECEASED INDIVID-
UALS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an indi-
vidual referred to in section 102(a) who was di-
agnosed with AIDS and who is deceased at the 
time that payment is made under this section 
on a petition filed by or on behalf of the indi-
vidual, the payment shall be made as follows: 
(i) If the individual is survived by a 
spouse who is living at the time of pay-
ment, the payment shall be made to such 
surviving spouse.
(ii) If the individual is not survived by 
a spouse described in clause (i), the pay-
ment shall be made in equal shares to all 
children of the individual who are living at 
the time of the payment. 
(iii) If the individual is not survived 
by a person described in clause (i) or (ii), 
the payment shall be made in equal shares 
to the parents of the individual who are 
living at the time of the payment. 
(iv) If the individual is not survived 
by a person described in clause (i), (ii), or 
(iii), the payment shall revert back to the 
Fund. 
(B) FILING OF PETITION BY SURVIVOR.—
If an individual eligible for payment under sec-
tion 102(a) dies before filing a petition under 
this title, a survivor of the individual may file 
a petition for payment under this title on behalf 
of the individual if the survivor may receive 
payment under subparagraph (A). 
(C) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
paragraph: 
(i) 
SPOUSE.—The 
term 
‘‘spouse’’ 
means an individual who was lawfully mar-
ried to the relevant individual at the time 
of death. 
(ii) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ in-
cludes a recognized natural child, a step-
child who lived with the relevant individual 
in a regular parent-child relationship, and 
an adopted child. 
(iii) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ in-
cludes fathers and mothers through adop-
tion. 
(3) TIMING OF PAYMENT.—The Secretary may 
not make a payment on a petition under this title 
before the expiration of the 120-day period begin-
ning on the date of the enactment of this Act or 
after the expiration of the 5-year period beginning 
on the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(d) ACTION
ON PETITIONS.—The Secretary shall 
complete the determination required by subsection (b) re-
garding a petition not later than 120 days after the date 
the petition is filed under this title. 
(e) HUMANITARIAN NATURE
OF PAYMENT.—This 
title does not create or admit any claim of or on behalf 
of the individual against the United States or against any 
officer, employee, or agent thereof acting within the scope 
of employment or agency that relates to an HIV infection
arising from a treatment described in section 102(a)(1). 
A payment under this title shall, however, when accepted 
by or on behalf of the individual, be in full satisfaction 
of all such claims by or on behalf of that individual. 
(f) TERMINATION OF DUTIES OF SECRETARY.—The 
duties of the Secretary under this section shall cease when 
the Fund terminates. 
(g) TREATMENT
OF
PAYMENTS
UNDER
OTHER 
LAWS.—A payment under subsection (c)(1) to an indi-
vidual—
(1) shall be treated for purposes of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 as damages described in sec-
tion 104(a)(2) of such Code; 
(2) shall not be included as income or resources 
for purposes of determining the eligibility of the in-
dividual to receive benefits described in section 
3803(c)(2)(C) of title 31, United States Code, or the 
amount of such benefits, and such benefits shall not 
be secondary to, conditioned upon reimbursement 
from, or subject to any reduction because of receipt 
of, any such payment; and 
(3) shall not be treated as a third party pay-
ment or payment in relation to a legal liability with 
respect to such benefits and shall not be subject 
(whether by subrogation or otherwise) to recovery,
recoupment, reimbursement, or collection with re-
spect to such benefits (including the Federal or 
State governments or any entity that provides such 
benefits under a contract). 
(h) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may 
issue regulations necessary to carry out this title. 
(i) TIME OF ISSUANCE OF PROCEDURES.—The Sec-
retary shall, through the promulgation of appropriate reg-
ulations, guidelines, or otherwise, first establish the proce-
dures to carry out this title not later than 120 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 104. LIMITATION ON TRANSFER OF RIGHTS AND NUM-
BER OF PETITIONS. 
(a) RIGHTS NOT ASSIGNABLE OR TRANSFERABLE.—
Any right under this title shall not be assignable or trans-
ferable. 
(b) ONE PETITION WITH RESPECT TO EACH VIC-
TIM.—With respect to each individual described in para-
graph (1), (2), or (3) of section 102(a), the Secretary may 
not make payment with respect to more than one petition 
filed in respect to an individual. 
SEC. 105. TIME LIMITATION. 
The Secretary may not make any payment with re-
spect to any petition filed under this title unless the peti-
tion is filed within 5 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
SEC. 106. CERTAIN CLAIMS NOT AFFECTED BY PAYMENT. 
A payment made under section 103(c)(1) shall not 
be considered as any form of compensation, or reimburse-
ment for a loss, for purposes of imposing liability on the 
individual receiving the payment, on the basis of such re-
ceipt, to repay any insurance carrier for insurance pay-
ments or to repay any person on account of worker’s com-
pensation payments. A payment under this title shall not 
affect any claim against an insurance carrier with respect 
to insurance or against any person with respect to work-
er’s compensation. 
SEC. 107. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this title: 
(1) AIDS.—The term ‘‘AIDS’’ means acquired 
immune deficiency syndrome. 
(2) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Steve 
Grissom Relief Fund. 
(3) HIV.—The term ‘‘HIV’’ means human im-
munodeficiency virus. 
(4) SECRETARY.—Unless otherwise provided, 
the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services.
TITLE II—TREATMENT OF CER-
TAIN PAYMENTS UNDER THE 
SSI PROGRAM 
SEC. 201. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN PAYMENTS UNDER THE 
SSI PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, the payments described in subsection (b) shall 
not be considered income or resources in determining eligi-
bility for, or the amount of supplemental security income 
benefits under, title XVI of the Social Security Act. 
(b) GOVERNMENT
PAYMENTS
DESCRIBED.—The 
payments described in this subsection are payments made 
from the Fund established pursuant to section 101 of this 
Act.
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