Justice for the Living Victims of Lockerbie Act

Bill: 117-hr-8716
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-19]
Introduced: 2022-08-16
Policy area: Law
Subjects: Administrative remedies

Africa

Aviation and airports

Crime victims

Department of Justice

Europe

Firearms and explosives

Government trust funds

International Affairs

Libya

Scotland

Terrorism

Transportation employees

United Kingdom
Latest action: action_date: 2022-08-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-08-16
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Justice for the Living Victims of Lockerbie Act</b></p> <p>This bill establishes a mechanism for compensating certain victims of the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988.</p> <p>Specifically, the Department of the Treasury must establish a fund to compensate qualifying victims of the bombing (generally, former employees of Pan American who were part of an earlier lawsuit seeking compensation from Libya for the bombing).</p> <p>The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission must establish a process for claimants to apply for compensation from the fund.<br /></p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 8716 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 16, 2022 Ms. Lofgren introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To provide compensation for United States victims of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Justice for the Living Victims of Lockerbie Act . 2. Defined term In this Act, the term compensable living victim of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism means an individual who— (1) is a United States person; (2) was 45 years of age or older on December 3, 1991; (3) was employed by Pan American World Airways, Inc., on December 3, 1991; (4) was a named claimant in Abbott et al. v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (case number 1:94–cv–02444–SS) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; and (5) was alive on August 14, 2008. 3. Living Victims of Lockerbie Claims Trust Fund (a) Establishment Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish, in the Treasury of the United States, a trust fund, to be known as the Living Victims of Lockerbie Claims Trust Fund (in this section referred to as the Fund ) for the payment of claims submitted by compensable living victims of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism under section 4. (b) Authorization of appropriations Once the Fund is established pursuant to subsection (a), there shall be appropriated to the Fund, out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2023, which shall be made available to provide compensation to compensable living victims of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism. 4. Compensation for living victims of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism (a) Certification by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission shall— (1) not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, publish in the Federal Register a notice of a process for filing claims on behalf of compensable living victims of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism, which shall include a deadline for the filing of claims of not later than the date that is 60 days after the date of publication of the notice; (2) not later than 60 days after the end of the period for filing claims described in paragraph (1)— (A) determine if each individual who submitted a claim under that paragraph is a compensable living victim of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism; and (B) approve the claim of each individual the Commission determines under subparagraph (A) to be a compensable living victim of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism; and (3) upon approving a claim under paragraph (2)(B), certify approval of the claim to the Secretary of the Treasury for purposes of authorization of payment under subsection (b). (b) Payments authorized Upon receiving a certification from the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission under subsection (a)(3), the Secretary of the Treasury shall make payments from the Fund to compensable living victims of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism in accordance with subsection (c). (c) Compensation (1) In general Upon a certification by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission under subsection (a)(3) of the claim of a compensable living victim of Libyan state-sponsored terrorism, the claimant (or, in the case of a deceased claimant, the personal representative of the claimant’s estate) shall be entitled to an award in an amount equal to— (A) $20,000,000, divided by (B) the total number of claims certified under subsection (a)(3). (2) Representative If a putative claimant that otherwise qualifies for compensation under this section is deceased, a personal representative may bring a claim on behalf of the estate of the claimant.