WTC Records Folder 0128 Disaster Information General label, 2001

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Responding to Terrorism Victims - Oklahoma City and Beyond Page I of 3

Chapter VI Legal Issues Pertaining to Victims of Terrorism

T here are several key areas of federal law that are important to consider in responding to terrorism victims.

Funding Authorization

As a result of the need for federal monetary assistance to victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, Congress, in 1996, gave OVC the authority to access the Victims of Crime Act emergency reserve fund of $50 million to assist victims of terrorism and mass violence. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 amended VOCA by adding 42 U.S.C. § 19693(b) to allow OVC access to the emergency reserve fund in both domestic and international terrorist incidents. In domestic terrorism incidents, the OVC Director is authorized to use the reserve funds to supplement existing grants to state crime victim compensation and assistance programs, to provide funds to U.S. Attorneys' Offices for use in coordination with the state programs, and to provide emergency relief to terrorism and mass-violence victims. In international terrorism incidents, the OVC Director can supplement grants to state crime victim compensation and assistance programs to provide compensation and assistance to state residents who are victims of terrorism while outside the United States. OVC has used emergency reserve funds to provide supplemental grants in support of victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, the Khobar Towers bombing, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the bombing of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the Columbine High School shooting incident. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 also contained a provision requiring state crime victim compensation programs to include in their compensation programs state residents who are victims of terrorism while outside of the United States.

Although the 1996 amendment adding 42 U.S.C. § 10603b to VOCA created a new capability for OVC to provide funding to assist victims in both domestic and international terrorism and mass-violence cases, in practice, the limits of section 10603b's language have caused difficulties in providing funding effectively. The statute's limitations on the recipients of grants, the types of relief that could be funded, the timeframe covered, and problems inherent in sending victims from the same event to a multitude of different state compensation programs have seriously affected OVC's ability to provide effective funding support for terrorism victims. To overcome these restrictions in specific cases, Congress passed special legislation broadening OVC's authorization to provide additional assistance to victims of both the Oklahoma City bombing and the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Currently, Congress is considering legislation that would expand OVC's authority to provide funding from the emergency reserve fund in the future. The proposed legislation would also authorize OVC to develop and administer a compensation program for victims of international terrorism. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/infores/respterrorism/chap6.htn-d 9/29/01

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