Compensation and Respect for Energy Workers Act of 2008

Bill: 110-s-3329
Sponsor: Sen. Salazar, Ken [D-CO]
Introduced: 2008-07-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Labor and Employment
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Armed Forces and National Security
Brain
Cancer
Chemicals
Claims
Colon cancer
Compensation (Law)
Data banks
Department of Energy
Department of Labor
Digestive diseases
Disability evaluation
Disabled
Environmental Protection
Estates (Law)
Eye diseases
Families
Federal installations
Government Operations and Politics
Government contractors
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Health
Kidney diseases
Law
Leukemia
Limitation of actions
Lung cancer
Medical screening
Nervous system diseases
Nuclear weapons
Occupational health and safety
Ombudsman
Physical examinations
Physicians
Prostate cancer
Public records
Radiation victims
Science, Technology, Communications
Skin cancer
Survivors' benefits
Thyroid diseases
Transportation and Public Works
Travel costs

Summary:
action_date: 2008-07-24
text: 
Compensation and Respect for Energy Workers Act of 2008 or the CARE Act - Amends the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to expand the diseases for which individuals who were exposed to radiation from nuclear testing may claim compensation to include chronic lymphocytic leukemia, posterior subcapsular cataracts, nonmalignant thyroid nodular disease, parathyroid adenoma, malignant tumors of the brain and central nervous system, and brochio-alveolar carcinoma, and benign neoplasms of the brain and central nervous system. 

Amends the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to: (1) provide to potential claimants of compensation a list of physicians qualified to perform medical and impairment screenings and a written notice of benefits for which they may be eligible under such Act; (2) require exposure assessments of contaminated sites to identify by trade name (if any) any chemical commonly used in such sites; (3) require the Secretary of Labor to provide the public with site profiles and other information used to evaluate claims for compensation; (4) require payment of compensation to a claimant's estate if such claimant dies after filing a claim but before any compensation is paid and leaves no survivors; (5) expand the duties of the Office of the Ombudsman in the Department of Labor to include providing benefit information to claimants and contracting for expert services; and (6) extend to one year the limitation period for filing a petition for review in federal district court of any denial of a compensation claim. Allows claimants under the Act 120 days to respond to a request for information from the Secretary.

Requires the promulgation of regulations for: (1) the direct payment to providers of personal care services and transportation expenses for claimants who receive medical benefits under the Act; (2) providing clear, concise, and easily understandable explanations of the claims process, including denials of claims; and (3) the retention of records in the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Labor that might be used by claimants in the claims process.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2008-07-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
action_date: 2008-07-24
text: Introduced in Senate