§ 727.1 - Statutory provisions, purpose of this part.

(a) Under title IV of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, as amended by the Black Lung Benefits Act of 1972, benefits were provided to coal miners and certain survivors of coal miners on account of the miners’ total disability or death due to pneumoconiosis. Part B of title IV of the act as amended provided that all claims for benefits filed between December 30, 1969, and June 30, 1973, would be filed with, processed by, and paid from Federal funds by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, through the Social Security Administration. The survivor of a miner was permitted to file a claim with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under part B until January 1, 1974, or within 6 months of the miner's death, if death occurred before January 1, 1974, or in the case of a part B beneficiary, within 6 months of the beneficiary's death. Section 415 of part B of title IV of the act provides that a claim filed by a miner between July 1 and December 31, 1973, would be filed with and processed by the Secretary of Labor and paid, if appropriate, by the Secretary of Labor from Federal funds for all periods of eligibility between July 1 and December 31, 1973. For periods of eligibility after December 31, 1973, an approved section 415 claim was to be paid by a coal mine operator found liable pursuant to the act or the Secretary of Labor as appropriate. A claim filed after December 31, 1973, was to be filed under an approved State workers’ compensation law or, if no such law was available in an appropriate State, the claim was to be filed with the Secretary of Labor under part C of title IV of the Act. Claims were to be adjudicated under certain provisions of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 901 et seq., and paid by a coal mine operator found liable pursuant to the act. If no such operator could be identified benefits were to be paid by the Secretary of Labor from Federal funds.

(b) The Black Lung Benefits Revenue Act of 1977 and the Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1977 significantly amend the provisions of title IV of the act to, among other things, establish the black lung disability trust fund (the fund) for the payment of all claims predicated upon coal mine employment which terminate prior to January 1, 1970, and for other claims for which no operator liability can be established. The fund is financed by individual coal mine operators. Other provisions of the act as amended modify the evidentiary requirements necessary to establish entitlement to benefits, eliminate certain restrictions on the filing of claims, establish penalties to be applied if a coal operator fails to meet its obligations under the act, and make technical, correcting, and other administrative or procedural and substantive changes.

(c) Section 435 of the act as amended directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Secretary of Labor to undertake a review of all previously denied and pending claims in light of the amendments made by such act. The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare is directed to perform this review at the request of the claimant on all denied and pending claims filed under part B of title IV of the Act, exclusive of those claims filed under section 415. The Secretary of Labor is directed to perform this review automatically on all claims filed under section 415 and part C of title IV of the Act, which were denied or pending as of the effective date of the Black Lung Benefits Reform Act of 1977, and in addition is required to review certain claims originally filed with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

(d) The new section 435 contains provisions setting forth the scope of the claims review, the procedures to be followed and the consequences which accrue depending upon the results of any particular review. It is the purpose of this part to set forth and implement the provisions of section 435 as those provisions apply to the Secretary of Labor, and inform all interested parties of the manner in which a right to review will be extended with respect to all denied and pending claims for black lung benefits under the act by the Secretary of Labor.