Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. New York, NY January 18, 2002 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL vitimcomp.comments@usdoj.gov. FACSIMILE (301) 519-5956 and U.S. MAIL Kenneth L. Zwick Director, Office of Management Programs U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division Main Building, Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC> 20530 Re: Interim Final Regulations With Request For Comments September 11th Victim Compensation FUND of 2001 Dear Mr. Zwick Safe Horizon is responding to the Department of Justice's (the "Department") request for comments on the interim final regulations issued on December 21, 2001 (the "regulations"), addressing implementation of the " September 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001" (the "Fund"). As the country's leading victim services and assistance to victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Safe Horizon directs its comments toward helping to ensure that the FUND is administered in a manner that most effectively and fairly serves victims and their families. We are joined in these comments by the National Center for Victims of Crime and the Hispanic Federation. Since September 14, 2001, Safe Horizon has been offering financial assistance and other services to the victims of the September 11 tragedy. As of January 17, 2002, we have distributed $119,288,016.84 in assistance to 29,513 victims of the disaster. Based on Safe Horizon's longstanding experience in serving victims of crime, and on our recent experience serving victims of the September 11 terrorist attack, we submit the following comments in response to the Department's request for comments to the Regulations: U.S. Department of Justice January 18, 2002 Page 2 I. Claimant eligibility a. The Regulations should specify that all individuals who suffered loss can recover a claim. 1. Claimants should be eligible regardless of their immigration status. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (the "INS") has stated that families in those circumstances should be treated with compassion and their cases treated with discretion. Families of Victims of Terrorist Attacks, INS News Release (Oct. 10, 2001). As the INS has recognized, families of the September 11 terrorist attacks whose immigrant or non-immigrant status was dependent on the victims's status should not be concerned about facing immediate removal from the United States. Id. By contrast, the Regulations are silent and the program information is ambiguous as to undocumented individuals' eligibility . Consequently, it would be entirely reasonable for those individuals to assume that they are not eligible to receive compensation. In order to ensure that undocumented individuals will file claims with the FUND, the Regulations, as well as program information and application forms, should make abundantly clear that they are eligible and will not be penalized for applying. Therefore, the Regulations should explicitly state that immigrants who meet the eligibility requirements may recover from the FUND regardless of their immigration status. They should also affirmatively assure applicants that information gathered through the application process will not be released to the INS and may not be used against a claimant in any immigration proceeding. In addition, program information and application forms should reflect this policy. As currently drafted, program materials may discourage otherwise eligible undocumented immigrants from applying. For example, it appears that a social security number is required in order to submit a claim form. The application form should clearly state that a social security number is not required and should also indicate the multiple languages in which applications and supporting materials are available, and these materials should be readily available to claimants. 2. Regulations should specify that non-traditional relationships will be recognized as families. As currently drafted, the Regulations do not explicitly protect an unmarried life-partner's right to file a claim with the Fund. By deferring to state law in determining the beneficiaries and personal representatives of the deceased victims, the Regulations may effectively preclude assistance for same-sex and other non-traditional life partners, because those relationships are generally not recognized under state law. The Regulations should specify that these relationships U.S. Department of Justice January 18, 2002 Page 3 will be recognized for the purposes of determining who is a dependant, a beneficiary, and a personal representative, for purposes of administering the Fund. b. The standard for "physical injury" will preclude claims by many individuals who suffered direct harm. The Regulations currently limit recovery only to those who suffered physical injury, which is defined as " partial or total disability, incapacity or disfigurement." 28 C.F.R. §104.2(c)(1) (2001). On its face, this determination seems to have the perverse effect of penalizing those persons who were injured and suffered as a result, but were fortunate enough to recover. The regulations shoold be amended so that those who suffered serious physical injury that can be documented, are eligible for recovery. Additionally, we reiterate our recommendation that the term "physical harm" should be construed to cover psychological as well as discernable. Many of those who were injured may suffer tangible loss even if they do not have a discernable physical injury, and should be eligible. For example , someone whho worked in the World Trade Center and escaped without physical injury may nevertheless have experienced psychological distress that may have produced longstanding damage, including disability. The fact that these victims were lucky enough to have escaped without observable physical harm should not render them ineligible for recovery. In order to ensure that only those who suffered measurable injury can recover, the regulations could impose some additional requirement. For example, the class of eligible claimants could be reasonably limited by requiring eligible claimants to establish that they were physically in the vicinity of the World Trade Center and were rendered unable to work or engage in a major life activity as a result. Furthermore, requiring the claimants to have received medical care within 24 hours of the attack is overly restrictive and unrealistic. 28 CFR Sec. 104.2 (c)(1) (2001).This requirement will exclude many individuals that the statue clearly contemplates as eligible claimants. For a significant amount of time after the attacks, many of those injured were in a state of shock and did not realize that they required medical attention. With the public transportation and telecommunication systems severely disrupted, the primary focus of most surviving victims was to escape the affected area and reach their families. Many victims were required to walk miles to reach their homes, and were simply too exhausted, physically and mentally, to navigate the disrupted transportation system and seek immediate medical attention. It is contrary to the language and the spirit of the statute to exclude these victims from recovery. II. Nature and Amount of compensation a. The definition of "Dependents" should clarify that all those who were actually dependent on the victim will be considered to be beneficiaries in calculating non- economic loss. The Regulations should adopt the same inclusive approach to calculating non-economic loss that we recommended be applied when determining eligibility. Currently, the Regulations set $250,000, plus an additional $50,000 for a spouse and for each dependent, as the presumed amount of non-economic loss. 28 CFR §104.44 (2001) This language is unclear as to who will be considered a dependent, but could be construed to limit the term to those claimed as "dependents" on the victims' income tax returns for the 2000 tax year. However, our experiences with family members of deceased victims has revealed that in many cases the deceased victims provided crucial financial assistance to family members other than their spouse and children. these include family members who are not U.S. citizens or residents, parents whose children helped support them, other relatives who relied on decedents and those in same- sex partnerships. Applicable tax laws may preclude many of these family members from being claimed as "dependents" on the deceased victims. To accurately establish a level of compensation that reflects all family members substantially affected by the attacks, these family members should be included as "dependents" in determining the amount of non-economic loss. b. The Regulations should clarify the circumstances, if any, in which charitable contributions will be considered in determining what is a "collateral source." Although the Regulations state that charitable donations distributed to beneficiaries of deceased victims do not constitute collateral source compensation reducing the amount of award from the Fund, 28 CFR §104.47(b)(2) (2001), it also authorizes the Special Master to determine that such charitable donations can constitute collateral source compensation. Id. This ambiguity should be clarified. As Safe Horizon stated in its previously submitted comments, it opposes treating charitable contributions as collateral sources, among other problems, such a determination would negatively affect charitable giving by removing the incentive for donors to provide assistance. Nevertheless, if the Department authorizes the Special Master to treat charitable contributions as collateral sources in some situations, the Regulations should clearly identify what these situations are. c. Only collateral sources actually received by the claimants should reduce payments from the fund. The regulations require that payments from the fund be reduced by "all collateral source compensation". 28 C.F.R. Sec. 104.47 (a) (2001) the regulations should clarify that only collateral source payments designated to be paid eligible Fund claimants will reduce payments from the Fund. For example, payments made to beneficiaries other that eligible Fund claimants, such as organizations or entitles, (e.g., pursuant to a corporate key-person life insurance policy) should not reduce Fund payments made to eligible Fund claimants. d. The procedure must promote consistency and equity. As a final matter, a procedural mechanism should be built into the process to ensure that similarly situated claimants receive comparable payments. For example, rather than one hearing officer conducting the proceeding, a panel comprised of rotating hearing officers could conduct the proceedings. A separate review board should periodically review the decisions to make certain that there is no substantial divergence in payment to similarly situated claimants. Safe Horizon would be pleased to respond to any additional questions the Department has in connection with establishing the Fund, or to provide more detail about the responses outlined above. Thank you in advance for you consideration. Respectfully submitted, Comment by: Safe Horizon New York, NY September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-18 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002531.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-18