Title: Palomares Veterans Act of 2018
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Palomares Veterans Act of 2018
This bill includes veterans who participated in the cleanup of radioactive materials at Palomares, Spain, from January 17, 1966 through March 31, 1967, as radiation exposed veterans for purposes of the Department of Veterans Affairs presumption of service-connection for specified cancers and other radiogenic disorders.
Under a presumption of service-connection, specific disabilities diagnosed in certain veterans are presumed to have been caused by the circumstances of their military service. Health care benefits and disability compensation may then be awarded.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3373 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3373

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of 
    service connected disability for certain veterans who served in 
               Palomares, Spain, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            August 23, 2018

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Ms. Warren, and Mrs. Feinstein) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                          on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of 
    service connected disability for certain veterans who served in 
               Palomares, Spain, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Palomares Veterans Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. PRESUMPTION OF SERVICE CONNECTED DISABILITY FOR CERTAIN 
              VETERANS WHO SERVED IN PALOMARES, SPAIN.

    (a) Disability Compensation.--Section 1112 (c)(3)(B) of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
clause:
                    ``(v) Onsite participation in the response effort 
                following the collision of a United States Air Force B-
                52 bomber and refueling plane that caused the release 
                of four thermonuclear weapons in the vicinity of 
                Palomares, Spain, during the period beginning January 
                17, 1966, and ending March 31, 1967.''.
    (b) Effective Date and Applicability.--
            (1) Effective date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
        shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Applicability concerning dependency and indemnity 
        compensation.--For purposes of section 1310 of title 38, United 
        States Code, the amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply 
        with respect to a death notwithstanding whether such death 
        occurred before, on, or after such date.
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