HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — As federal legislation extending and expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, sits before the House of Representatives following passage in the Senate earlier this month, local lawmakers are now considering a resolution expressing support for any amendments that would recognize Guam as a downwinder of U.S. Pacific nuclear test sites and provide coverage to affected individuals, Resolution 171-37.
Local lawmakers sent the resolution to the voting file Wednesday morning.
RECA is administered by the U.S. Department of Justice, and, according to the DOJ website, the law establishes lump sum compensation awards for individuals who contracted specific diseases in three populations: uranium miners, millers and ore transporters; onsite participants at nuclear weapons tests; and those who lived downwind of the Nevada Test Site. Compensation differs for each group.
A previous version of Resolution 171 expressed the Guam Legislature’s support for the passage of S. 1751 and H.R. 4426, which were, respectively, the Senate and House versions of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2023. Both measures proposed to expand RECA coverage and would have created downwinder eligibility for people living in Guam.
Amendments expanding RECA were contained in the Senate version of the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act but not the House version of the annual authorization bill and were ultimately cut out of the reconciled version of the 2024 NDAA.
The RECA bill that recently passed the Senate is a separate measure but includes provisions similar to S. 1751. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act, or S. 3853, still contains the language creating downwinder eligibility for people in Guam.
S. 3853 passed the Senate on March 7 and was received in the House on March 11.
The amended version of Resolution 171 does away with naming any specific federal legislation but maintains the Guam Legislature’s support for the passage of measures that would amend RECA to include Guam as a downwinder of U.S. nuclear test sites in the Pacific, extend the fund claims period, improve the compensation amount to $150,000 and provide medical benefits. Resolution 171 also expresses the Legislature’s support of extending RECA coverage to those persons present in Guam for at least one year from 1956 to 1962 and diagnosed with RECA covered illnesses.
The U.S. Capitol Building, on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
