Sample documents · Issue B3. Truth commission
Template. Sample template for use by or with a licensed attorney. Not legal advice. Laws differ by jurisdiction and change; adapt the document to your facts and check every citation before relying on it.
When to use. Legislators and advocates drafting a truth commission with immunity and redress provisions. Not for: A records review board alone (the UAP Disclosure Act).
Deadlines. None.
11 pages, laid out as in the PDF and Word downloads. Select a page to open the PDF at that page.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the “UAP Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act.”
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. (a) Findings. Congress finds the following: (1) Since at least 1947 the Federal Government has received reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena from military personnel, civil aviators, and the public, and has studied them through programs whose existence and results were not fully disclosed to Congress or the public. (2) Former officials have testified under oath before committees of Congress that the Government and its contractors have operated programs to retrieve and exploit technologies of unknown origin, that those programs were withheld from the committees with jurisdiction over them, and that persons who reported them suffered reprisal. (3) Congress has found it necessary to enact statutes that require the reporting of unidentified anomalous phenomena, protect persons who disclose information about them, create a records collection at the National Archives, and bar the obligation of funds for unreported programs (section 1673 of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023; sections 1687 and 1841 through 1843 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024). (4) The offices established to receive such information have not produced a complete account, and their reports have been disputed by witnesses whose accounts they addressed. (5) Witnesses with knowledge of such programs are bound by nondisclosure agreements and face potential criminal, civil, and administrative liability, and many will not come forward without a lawful process that addresses that exposure. (6) A complete public account, with lawful protection for witnesses and redress for persons harmed, serves the constitutional responsibilities of Congress over appropriations and the armed forces and the public interest in knowing the history of the Government’s knowledge of and involvement with unidentified anomalous phenomena. (b) Purposes. To establish a complete and accurate public account of the Federal Government’s knowledge of and activities relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin, and non-human intelligence; to identify unlawful conduct and its consequences; to provide redress to persons harmed; and to recommend reforms.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT. There is established as an independent agency the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the “Commission”).
SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP. (a) Nine members appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, not more than five from the same political party, after considering recommendations from the majority and minority leaders of each House. (b) Qualifications. No member may have had any involvement with a legacy program or controlling authority (as defined in section 12). (c) Clearances. Members and staff shall be processed for clearances on an expedited basis and shall be granted access to all information necessary to the Commission’s work, including special access and controlled access programs, notwithstanding section 119 of title 10, United States Code, or any regulation or directive limiting access.
SEC. 5. DUTIES. The Commission shall investigate and report on– (1) the history of Federal Government and contractor programs relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena, including collection, retrieval, exploitation, reverse engineering, and study of technologies of unknown origin and biological evidence of non-human intelligence; (2) the legal authorities under which such programs operated, including any directive, finding, or opinion, and whether such programs complied with law, including laws on appropriations and reporting to Congress; (3) actions taken against persons who reported or sought to report information relating to such programs; (4) any harm to any person, including any injury, death, detention, or violation of rights, arising from such programs; and (5) recommendations for legislation, executive action, and redress.
SEC. 6. POWERS. (a) Hearings. The Commission may hold public and closed hearings, take testimony under oath, and receive evidence. (b) Subpoenas. The Commission may issue subpoenas for testimony and records, enforceable by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on application of the Commission. (c) Access. Every department, agency, and contractor shall provide the Commission with information, records, facilities, and material it requests, notwithstanding any nondisclosure agreement, contract term, or classification. (d) Agency for immunity purposes. The Commission is an agency of the United States for purposes of section 6001 of title 18, United States Code.
SEC. 7. TESTIMONY, IMMUNITY, AND PROTECTION OF PROSECUTIONS. (a) Proffers. The Commission may receive proffers of testimony under written agreements that limit the use of the proffer, in consultation with the Attorney General. (b) Immunity orders. The Commission may seek orders under section 6004 of title 18, United States Code. Before any such order is sought, the Attorney General shall be given not less than 30 days to secure and document evidence relating to the witness. (c) Excluded conduct. No order, agreement, or provision of this Act shall confer immunity from prosecution or civil liability for any act constituting murder, manslaughter, torture (as defined in section 2340 of title 18, United States Code), cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, enforced disappearance, or sexual assault. (d) Handling of immunized testimony. Immunized testimony shall be taken in closed session; transcripts shall be held under seal; and no person engaged in a related criminal investigation or prosecution shall have access to it without order of the court that issued the immunity order.
SEC. 8. CONDITIONAL RELIEF FROM CIVIL LIABILITY. (a) A person who, as determined by the Commission, gives full and truthful testimony regarding covered conduct shall not be liable in any civil action under Federal or State law for that conduct, except for excluded conduct under section 7(c). (b) “Covered conduct” means participation in a program described in section 5(1), including violations of laws on appropriations, records, reporting to Congress, and contracts, and nondisclosure of information. (c) The Commission’s determination is subject to review in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. (d) A person whose claim is extinguished under subsection (a) may seek compensation under section 9.
SEC. 9. REDRESS PROGRAM. (a) Fund. There is established in the Treasury the UAP Redress Fund, to be administered by a Special Master appointed by the Attorney General after consultation with the Commission. (b) Eligibility. An individual (or the personal representative of a deceased individual) is eligible for compensation if the Special Master determines that the individual– (1) suffered physical injury, illness, or death arising from participation in, exposure to, or proximity to an activity of a program described in section 5(1); (2) suffered loss of employment, security clearance, or professional standing as a result of reporting or seeking to report information relating to such a program; or (3) held a claim against any person that was extinguished by section 8. (c) Documentation. A claimant shall submit the evidence reasonably available to the claimant. The Special Master shall obtain records held by any department, agency, or contractor, including classified records, and may rely on the Commission’s findings. A claimant shall not be denied compensation because records relevant to the claim remain classified or were destroyed; in such a case the Special Master may rely on the claimant’s sworn statement and other credible evidence. (d) Presumptions. The Special Master may establish by regulation presumptions of causation for specified injuries or illnesses associated with specified exposures, after considering the views of the Secretary of Health and Human Services and any medical evidence developed by the Commission. (e) Awards. Awards shall compensate for economic loss and noneconomic loss, reduced by collateral payments received for the same injury from another Federal program. The Special Master shall publish award schedules. (f) Procedure. A claim shall be filed within 3 years after the later of the date of enactment of this Act or the date on which the claimant knew or reasonably should have known of the injury and its connection to a program described in section 5(1). The Special Master shall decide a claim within 180 days after it is complete. Hearings may be closed when classified information is discussed. (g) Election and finality. Acceptance of an award constitutes a waiver of all civil claims arising from the same injury against the United States, its officers and employees, and its contractors. A decision of the Special Master is final, except that a claimant may seek review in the United States Court of Federal Claims on the ground that the decision was arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law. (h) Confidentiality. The identity of a claimant, and any information that would reveal it, shall not be disclosed without the claimant’s written consent.
SEC. 10. PROTECTION OF WITNESSES. Any person who provides information to the Commission shall have the protections of section 1673(b) of the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (50 U.S.C. 3373b(b)). No person may take or threaten any personnel action, including any action affecting a security clearance, in reprisal for such information. A person aggrieved may bring a civil action in a district court of the United States for reinstatement, back pay, compensatory damages, and attorney fees.
SEC. 11. REPORTS AND RECORDS. (a) Interim reports every 6 months; a final report within 3 years after the Commission’s first meeting, unclassified with a classified annex. (b) The unclassified report shall be published. The classified annex shall be reviewed for declassification within 2 years after the final report and every 5 years thereafter. (c) All Commission records shall be transferred to the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection at the National Archives.
SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) The term “controlling authority” means any Federal, State, or local government department, office, agency, committee, commission, commercial company, academic institution, or private sector entity in physical possession of technologies of unknown origin or biological evidence of non-human intelligence. (2) The term “legacy program” means all Federal, State, and local government, commercial industry, academic, and private sector endeavors to collect, exploit, or reverse engineer technologies of unknown origin or examine biological evidence of living or deceased non-human intelligence that predate the date of the enactment of this Act. (3) The term “non-human intelligence” means any sentient intelligent non-human lifeform regardless of nature or ultimate origin that may be presumed responsible for unidentified anomalous phenomena or of which the Federal Government has become aware. (4) The term “technologies of unknown origin” means any materials or meta-materials, ejecta, crash debris, mechanisms, machinery, equipment, assemblies or sub-assemblies, engineering models or processes, damaged or intact aerospace vehicles, and damaged or intact ocean-surface and undersea craft associated with unidentified anomalous phenomena or incorporating science and technology that lacks prosaic attribution or known means of human manufacture. (5) The term “prosaic attribution” means having a human (either foreign or domestic) origin and operating according to current, proven, and generally understood scientific and engineering principles and established laws of nature and not attributable to non-human intelligence. (6) The term “unidentified anomalous phenomena” has the meaning given that term in section 3373(n) of title 50, United States Code. (7) The term “contractor” includes a subcontractor at any tier and any person performing work under an other transaction agreement or cooperative agreement.
SEC. 13. TERMINATION. The Commission terminates 90 days after submitting its final report.
SEC. 14. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act, to remain available until expended, of which not less than $____ shall be available for the UAP Redress Fund.
SEC. 15. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of this Act and the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected. If section 8 is held invalid as to any claim, the claimant shall remain eligible under section 9.
Alternative SEC. 3 and 4 (legislative-branch commission). To insulate the Commission from presidential removal (see the drafting note on Slaughter), substitute the following and delete sections 6(d) and 7(b) to the extent they rely on executive powers:
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT. There is established in the legislative branch the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Truth and Reconciliation Commission (the “Commission”).
SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP. (a) Ten members: three appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, two by the minority leader of the House, three by the majority leader of the Senate, and two by the minority leader of the Senate. Members serve for the life of the Commission and may be removed only by the official who appointed them. (b) and (c) as in the principal text.
In this version the Commission investigates and reports to Congress. Section 6005 of title 18 allows immunity orders only for proceedings before a House or a committee, so immunized testimony would be taken by a committee of Congress at the Commission’s request. Give the Commission express authority to sue in its own name to enforce its subpoenas in the District Court for the District of Columbia, because 28 U.S.C. §1365 reaches only Senate and Senate committee subpoenas.