S.Amdt. 426

SA 426. Mr. NELSON submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2018 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

SEC. 1088. CREDITABLE SERVICE FOR FEDERAL RETIREMENT FOR
CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS AFFILIATED WITH AIR
AMERICA.

(a) Amendments.--
(1) In general.--Section 8332(b) of title 5, United States
Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (16), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(B) in paragraph (17), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; and'';
(C) by adding after paragraph (17) the following:
``(18) any period of service performed not later than 1977,
while a citizen of the United States, in the employ of Air
America, Inc., or any associated company (including any
entity associated with, predecessor to, or subsidiary to Air
America, Inc., including Air Asia Company Limited, CAT
Incorporated, Civil Air Transport Company Limited, and the
Pacific Division of Southern Air Transport), during the
period that Air America, Inc., or such other company or
entity, was owned and controlled by the United States
Government.''; and
(D) by adding at the end the following: ``For purposes of
this subchapter, service of the type described in paragraph
(18) of this subsection shall be considered to have been
service as an employee.''.
(2) Exemption from deposit requirement.--Section 8334(g) of
title 5, United States Code, is amended--
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``or'' at the end;
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; or''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(7) any service for which credit is allowed under section
8332(b)(18) of this title.''.
(b) Applicability.--
(1) In general.--Except as otherwise provided in this
subsection, the amendments made by this section shall apply
with respect to an annuity commencing on or after the
effective date of this section.
(2) Provisions relating to current annuitants.--
(A) In general.--Any individual who is entitled to an
annuity for the month in which this section becomes effective
may, upon submitting an application to the Office of
Personnel Management not later than 2 years after the
effective date of this section, have the amount of that
annuity recomputed as if the amendments made by this section
had been in effect throughout all periods of service on the
basis of which that annuity is or may be based.
(B) Recomputation.--Any recomputation made under
subparagraph (A) shall be effective as of the commencement
date of the annuity, and any additional amounts becoming
payable for periods before the first month for which the
recomputation is reflected in the regular monthly annuity
payments of an individual shall be payable to the individual
in the form of a lump-sum payment.
(3) Provisions relating to individuals eligible for (but
not currently receiving) an annuity.--
(A) In general.--Any individual not described in paragraph
(2) who becomes eligible for an annuity or for an increased
annuity as a result of the enactment of this section may
elect to have the rights of the individual under subchapter
III of chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, determined
as if the amendments made by this section had been in effect,
throughout all periods of service on the basis of which that
annuity is or would be based, by submitting an application to
the Office of Personnel Management not later than 2 years
after--
(i) the effective date of this section; or
(ii) if later, the date on which the individual separates
from service.
(B) Commencement date, etc.--
(i) In general.--Any entitlement to an annuity, or to an
increased annuity resulting from an application submitted
under subparagraph (A), for an individual shall be effective
as of the commencement date of that annuity (subject to
clause (ii), if applicable), and any amounts becoming payable
for periods before the first month for which regular monthly
annuity payments begin to be made in accordance with the
amendments made by this section shall be payable to the
individual in the form of a lump-sum payment.
(ii) Retroactivity.--Any determination of the amount, or of
the commencement date, of any annuity, all the requirements
for entitlement to which (including separation, but
disregarding any application requirement) would have been
satisfied before the effective date of this section if this
section had been in effect (but would not then otherwise have
been satisfied absent this section), shall be made as if an
application for that annuity had been submitted as of the
earliest date that would have been allowable, after the
separation of the individual from service, if the amendments
made by this section had been in effect throughout the
periods of service described in subparagraph (A).
(4) Right to file on behalf of a decedent.--
(A) In general.--The regulations under subsection (d)(1)
shall include provisions, consistent with the order of
precedence set

[[Page S4455]]

forth in section 8342(c) of title 5, United States Code,
under which a survivor of an individual who performed service
described in section 8332(b)(18) of that title (as added by
subsection (a) of this section) shall be allowed to submit an
application on behalf of and to receive any lump-sum payment
that would otherwise have been payable to the decedent under
paragraph (2) or (3) of this subsection.
(B) Deadline.--An application described in subparagraph (A)
shall not be valid unless the application is filed within 2
years after the effective date of this section or 1 year
after the date on which the decedent dies, whichever is
later.
(c) Funding.--
(1) Lump-sum payments.--Any lump-sum payment under
subsection (b) shall be payable out of the Civil Service
Retirement and Disability Fund.
(2) Unfunded liability.--Any increase in the unfunded
liability of the Civil Service Retirement System attributable
to the enactment of this section shall be financed in
accordance with section 8348(f) of title 5, United States
Code.
(d) Regulations and Special Rule.--
(1) Regulations.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the
Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall
prescribe any regulations necessary to carry out this
section.
(B) Contents.--The regulations prescribed under
subparagraph (A) shall include provisions under which rules
similar to those established under section 201 of the Federal
Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-335;
100 Stat. 514) shall be applied with respect to any service
described in section 8332(b)(18) of title 5, United States
Code (as added by subsection (a) of this section), that was
subject to title II of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401
et seq.).
(2) Special rule.--For the purposes of any application for
any benefit that is computed or recomputed taking into
account any service described in section 8332(b)(18) of title
5, United States Code (as added by subsection (a) of this
section), section 8345(i)(2) of that title shall be applied
by deeming the reference to the date of the ``other event
which gives rise to title to the benefit'' to refer to the
effective date of this section, if later than the date of the
event that would otherwise apply.
(e) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect on the
date that is the first day of the first fiscal year beginning
after the date of enactment of this Act.
(f) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``annuity'' includes a survivor annuity; and
(2) the terms ``survivor'' and ``unfunded liability'' have
the meanings given those terms in section 8331 of title 5,
United States Code.
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