A
JOINT MEMORIAL
REQUESTING THE STATE'S CONGRESSIONAL
DELEGATION TO SUPPORT REFORMS TO THE ENERGY EMPLOYEES OCCUPATIONAL ILLNESS
COMPENSATION PROGRAM ACT OF 2000.
WHEREAS, the federal Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 was enacted to
provide compensation to those veterans of the cold war who were employed by the
United States department of energy and who were made ill from exposure to
radiation, beryllium and other toxic substances; and
WHEREAS, the number of New
Mexicans who have received benefits pursuant to that act is small compared to
the number of recipients in other states; and
WHEREAS, on August 14, 2002,
the United States department of energy issued regulations to implement a
portion of that act to provide physician-panel determinations on occupational
illnesses for contractor employees exposed to toxic substances at department of
energy facilities; and
WHEREAS, the United States
department of energy is encountering significant delays in securing physician
panel review of claims and, at the current rate of implementation, claimants
will wait one hundred sixty-six years to receive findings on their claims; and
WHEREAS, families filing claims
have experienced delays in access to medical and exposure records, incident
reports and confirmations of job histories; and
WHEREAS, the contractor
performing radiation dose reconstructions for the national institute for
occupational safety and health has reportedly admitted conflicts of interest;
and
WHEREAS, the federal act
restrains contractors who operate United States department of energy facilities
from contesting state workers' compensation claims for illnesses induced by
toxic chemicals, claims that have been found by physician panels to be meritorious;
and
WHEREAS, the United States
department of energy has conceded it may not have a willing payor through state
workers' compensation programs for claims that are deemed meritorious by
physician panels; and
WHEREAS, legislation was
introduced in the one hundred seventh congress, with bipartisan support, that
established deadlines for the administration of claims and that provided for a
federal willing payor to equitably administer disability payments and
meritorious medical claims; and
WHEREAS, some New Mexicans with
meritorious claims were unfairly denied state workers' compensation in the
years prior to passage of the federal act, and these individuals and their
survivors should not be left behind without a willing payor; and
WHEREAS, New Mexico's large
population of potentially eligible claimants should not have to wait another
generation or more to be compensated for their occupational illnesses; and
WHEREAS, the thousands of New
Mexicans who risked their lives and good health in the service of their country
should be compensated before they die;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED
BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state's congressional
delegation be requested to pursue legislation to amend the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 to ensure that:
A. there is a willing payor for every
meritorious claim, including those claims that were previously denied under
state workers' compensation programs;
B. the United States department of energy
concludes its reviews of claims within one hundred eighty days;
C. a non-adversarial forum be established to
resolve claims independent of state workers' compensation programs;
D. those employees who are unable to obtain
records establishing past exposures and employees whose claims of radiation
exposure are in jeopardy of being denied due to scientific uncertainty in
causation determinations should receive the benefit of the doubt and be
compensated under the federal act;
E. chronic renal disease in workers exposed to
uranium be recognized as a compensable illness;
F. soft tissue sarcomas are a group of extremely
rare cancers known to be caused by radiation and chemicals;
G. special exposure cohorts be established for
employees in area g and the linear accelerator, and for security guards and all
construction workers, due to the impossibility of accurately reconstructing
past radiation doses;
H. a program of technical assistance grants be
created to enable community- and labor-based organizations to assist claimants;
and
I. congressional oversight hearings be held to
investigate whether the energy employees occupational illness compensation
program is meeting the needs of claimants in New Mexico; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the
federal secretary of energy, the federal secretary of health and human services
and the federal secretary of labor, each of whom shares responsibilities for
implementing the energy employees occupational illness compensation program, be
requested to redouble their efforts to ensure that the program achieves its
intended purpose of providing benefits to the people of New Mexico who were
made ill while employed at federal department of energy facilities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that
copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico
congressional delegation and to the cabinet secretaries of the departments of
energy, health and human services and labor.