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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Pinto

DATE TYPED 03/04/05 HB

SHORT TITLE Navajo Radiation Exposure Act Compensation

SB SM 5/aSIAC

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Indian Affairs (DIA)

Department of Environment (DOE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Senate Indian Affairs CommitteeAmendment

Following each of the five instances the word “Navajo” is used the words “and other” are

inserted. This broadens the memorial to include other Indian people.

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Memorial 5 (SM 5), urges Congress to improve compensation benefits and the awarding

process for New Mexico Navajo citizens eligible for benefits under the Federal Radiation

Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). In addition, SM 5 would urge Congress to appropriate

increased funds to allow for an adequate number of staff to process Navajo claims and to amend

RECA to increase the number of years that claims can be made that correspond to the duration of

open mines or to the year1990.

Significant Issues

The Indian Affairs Department contributes.

Senate Memorial 5 -- Page 2

The need for compensation resulting from the effects of uranium mining operations in

northwestern New Mexico has long been established with the enactment of RECA. Since

RECA’s enactment and subsequent amendments, however, the needs of the large number of

eligible recipients remain unmet. Only 558 of 6,000 potentially eligible Navajo claimants have

received some type of compensation in the past fourteen years. And, only 3,755 of these

claimants are successfully registered. Approximately 5,000 claims are not currently filed. A

large reason for these high numbers of unprocessed claims, is the lack of adequate staff to

process the Navajo claims. Currently, there are only three caseworkers that process the more

than 4000 Navajo claims that have been submitted to their office.

MW/lg:yr