Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions - S 1364

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Ms. MURKOWSKI:

    S. 1364. A bill to amend the Alaska National Lands Conservation Act to authorize the payment of expenses after the death of certain Federal employees in the State of Alaska; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

    Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, on the morning following the annual candlelight vigil to honor fallen law enforcement officers, I came to the floor to speak about three brave Alaskans whose names were inscribed on the National Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial at Judiciary Square this year. One of these brave Alaskans was a National Park Service ranger who lost his life when the aircraft he was piloting crashed in a remote part of Alaska. Today, I am introducing legislation which I hope will help the surviving family members of this ranger in their recovery from this tragic loss and provide authority for the Federal Government to help the surviving family members of other similarly situated Federal employees should a similar tragedy occur in the future.

    This ranger I am speaking about was assigned to the Katmai National Park and Preserve in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska and lived in the community of Naknek. Naknek is not connected to the rest of North America by road. It is what we in Alaska call a "bush" community. But it was home to the ranger and became the adopted home of his widow who did not grow up in the area. The ranger about whom I am speaking was hired under a special hiring authority in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, ANILCA, which authorizes the Federal land managers to extend a hiring preference to those with special knowledge about a Conservation System Unit. He was regarded as a "local hire."

    Under the Federal Travel Regulation, when a federal employee dies outside of the Continental United States, the Federal Government will reimburse the members of his or her household for the cost of relocating to their permanent residence. Alaska is regarded as "outside of the Continental United States" under this regulation.

    Thus, if the National Park Service ranger who died in the line of duty came from the Lower 48 before being assigned to the Katmai National Park and Preserve then the Federal Government, as I read the regulation, could reimburse the surviving family members for the cost of relocating to Anchorage. This cost can be fairly substantial since one cannot hire a moving van to ship the personal effects from South Naknek to Anchorage. There are no roads which connect the bush village of South Naknek to Anchorage. The personal effects need to be transported by air.

    However, if the deceased employee is a local hire employee, the Federal Travel Regulation does not authorize the Federal Government to reimburse the surviving family members for their relocation cost because the deceased employee's hometown is deemed to be the local hire location. This works an inequity where, as in the present case, the deceased employee's surviving spouse does not have ties to the duty station community, but rather to another community in Alaska. In this instance, the surviving spouse desires to relocate to Anchorage, which is Alaska's largest city, and continue to raise her three children there.

    The legislation that I am introducing today is intended to cure this inequity. It would amend ANILCA, the same legislation which contains the local hire authority, to provide that if a local hire employee dies in the line of duty, the Federal Government will reimburse the surviving immediate family for the cost of transporting the remains to a location in Alaska of their choosing and will also relocate the immediate family members to a community in the State of Alaska which is selected by the surviving head of household. I think that this is the least we can do for the survivors of local hire employees who go to work everyday in the harsh climate and conditions of bush Alaska but sadly sometimes do not return home.

    I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.