Air America Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8801 To provide redress to the employees of Air America. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 20, 2020 Mr. GROTHMAN (for himself, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. MAST, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. KELLY of Mis- sissippi, Ms. NORTON, Mr. STEWART, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BYRNE, and Mr. WALTZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To provide redress to the employees of Air America. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Air America Act of 4 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. AIR AMERICA. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 (1) Air America, Incorporated (referred to in 8 this section as ‘‘Air America’’) and its related cover 9 corporate entities were wholly owned and controlled 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8801.IH H8801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8801 IH by the United States Government and directed and 1 managed by the Department of Defense, the Depart- 2 ment of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency 3 from 1950 to 1976. 4 (2) Air America, a corporation owned by the 5 Government of the United States, constituted a 6 ‘‘Government corporation’’, as defined in section 103 7 of title 5, United States Code. 8 (3) It is established that the employees of Air 9 America and the other entities described in para- 10 graph (1) were Federal employees. 11 (4) The employees of Air America were retro- 12 actively excluded from the definition of the term 13 ‘‘employee’’ under section 2105 of title 5, United 14 States Code, on the basis of an administrative policy 15 change in paperwork requirements implemented by 16 the Office of Personnel Management 10 years after 17 the service of the employees had ended and, by ex- 18 tension, were retroactively excluded from the defini- 19 tion of the term ‘‘employee’’ under section 8331 of 20 title 5, United States Code, for retirement credit 21 purposes. 22 (5) The employees of Air America were paid as 23 Federal employees, with salaries subject to— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8801.IH H8801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8801 IH (A) the General Schedule under subchapter 1 III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code; 2 and 3 (B) the rates of basic pay payable to mem- 4 bers of the Armed Forces. 5 (6) The service and sacrifice of the employees 6 of Air America included— 7 (A) suffering a high rate of casualties in 8 the course of employment; 9 (B) saving thousands of lives in search and 10 rescue missions for downed United States air- 11 men and allied refugee evacuations; and 12 (C) lengthy periods of service in chal- 13 lenging circumstances abroad. 14 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 15 (1) the term ‘‘affiliated company’’, with respect 16 to Air America, includes Air Asia Company Limited, 17 CAT Incorporated, Civil Air Transport Company 18 Limited, and the Pacific Division of Southern Air 19 Transport; and 20 (2) the term ‘‘qualifying service’’ means service 21 that— 22 (A) was performed by a United States cit- 23 izen as an employee of Air America or an affili- 24 ated company during the period beginning on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8801.IH H8801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8801 IH January 1, 1950, and ending on December 31, 1 1976; and 2 (B) is documented in the attorney-certified 3 corporate records of Air America or any affili- 4 ated company. 5 (c) TREATMENT AS FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT.—Any 6 period of qualifying service— 7 (1) is deemed to have been service of an em- 8 ployee (as defined in section 2105 of title 5, United 9 States Code) with the Federal Government; and 10 (2) shall be treated as creditable service by an 11 employee for purposes of subchapter III of chapter 12 83 of title 5, United States Code. 13 (d) RIGHTS.—An individual who performed quali- 14 fying service, or a survivor of such an individual, shall be 15 entitled to the rights, retroactive as applicable, provided 16 to employees and their survivors for creditable service 17 under the Civil Service Retirement System under sub- 18 chapter III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, 19 with respect to that qualifying service. 20 (e) DEDUCTION, CONTRIBUTION, AND DEPOSIT RE- 21 QUIREMENTS.—The deposit of funds in the Treasury of 22 the United States made by Air America in the form of 23 a lump-sum payment apportioned in part to the Civil Serv- 24 ice Disability and Retirement Fund in 1976 is deemed to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8801.IH H8801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8801 IH satisfy the deduction, contribution, and deposit require- 1 ments under section 8334 of title 5, United States Code, 2 with respect to all periods of qualifying service. 3 (f) APPLICATION TIME LIMIT.—Section 8345(i)(2) of 4 title 5, United States Code, shall be applied with respect 5 to the death of an individual who performed qualifying 6 service by substituting ‘‘2 years after the effective date 7 under section 2(g) of the Air America Act of 2020’’ for 8 ‘‘30 years after the death or other event which gives rise 9 to title to the benefit’’. 10 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 11 on the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment 12 of this Act. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Dec 02, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8801.IH H8801 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS