After decades of fighting, advocates for those who faced radiation exposure in Arizona and elsewhere are getting a big win through President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill.
That push in Congress to carry on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, or RECA, is finding victory after more than 30 years.
“I’m very, very happy for the people who can really use the compensation to do something good for themselves while they’re still alive, but you know, my father’s dead,” said Cullin D. Pattillo.
Pattillo’s dad, Eddie, lived in Kingman his whole life and had a 30-year battle against three forms of cancer. Pattillo says his father fell sick from radiation exposure, during the 1950s when the government tested nuclear weapons 120 miles north of Mohave County.
“It killed my father and killed thousands of other people around the state of Arizona,” said Pattillo.
Pattillo says his dad never benefited from RECA, which provides screenings and compensation for those exposed to radiation from nuclear testing sites.
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The law expired last year, but with the passage of President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill, RECA has been reauthorized and expanded through December 2028.
Under the new RECA, “downwinders” and their survivors as well as uranium industry workers are now eligible for compensation up to $100,000. It also expands the list of radiation-related illnesses eligible for compensation.
“I know of at least 100 claims that’ll be submitted here in Kingman, and there’s probably going to be a lot more,” said Pattillo.
Advocates say people who want to file claims should begin collecting all the right documentation.
For Pattillo, it was always about his dad.
"It was always something that he fought for. We got close several times while he was still alive, and it was something I wanted to at least push through to the bitter end,” said Pattillo.
ABC15 reached out to Arizona’s 9th District Representative Paul Gosar, who helped push this through Congress. We have not heard back.
