To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to develop a plan to improve surveillance with respect to diseases that are viral pandemic threats, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6504 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to develop a plan to improve surveillance with respect to diseases that are viral pandemic threats, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 14, 2020 Ms. JACKSON LEE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to develop a plan to improve surveillance with respect to diseases that are viral pan- demic threats, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. IMPROVED SURVEILLANCE WITH RESPECT TO 3 DISEASES THAT ARE VIRAL PANDEMIC 4 THREATS. 5 (a) PLAN.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 6 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6504.IH H6504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6504 IH Human Services acting through the Director of the Cen- 1 ters for Disease Control and Prevention (in this section 2 referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall develop a plan to im- 3 prove surveillance with respect to diseases that are viral 4 pandemic threats, so as to ensure— 5 (1) rapid detection of the spread of such dis- 6 eases; 7 (2) effective sharing of surveillance information, 8 subject to privacy protections for individually identi- 9 fiable information under applicable law; and 10 (3) rapid and coordinated response to such dis- 11 eases by Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, and local 12 public health agencies. 13 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordina- 15 tion with development of the plan under subsection 16 (a), shall carry out a competitive pilot program in 17 which the Secretary awards grant to entities for 18 projects— 19 (A) to assesses the state of early detection 20 of diseases that are viral pandemic threats to 21 determine the strengths and weaknesses of the 22 current methods, policies, and procedures for 23 such early detection; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6504.IH H6504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6504 IH (B) to optimize such early detection 1 through development and implementation of in- 2 novative approaches to the development of rapid 3 or instant tests, methods, policies, and proce- 4 dures over the 4-month period following the 5 date of enactment of this Act. 6 (2) ANNOUNCEMENT.—The Secretary shall an- 7 nounce that— 8 (A) applications for grants under this sub- 9 section will be accepted for 60 days following 10 the announcement; and 11 (B) the grant recipients will be selected 12 within 60 days of the end of the acceptance pe- 13 riod described in subparagraph (A). 14 (3) DURATION OF PROJECTS.—The duration of 15 a project funded under this section shall not exceed 16 6 months unless the grant recipient receives written 17 approval from the Secretary for the project to exceed 18 6 months. 19 (4) COLLABORATION.—Grant recipients under 20 this section may not collaborate on projects funded 21 under this section unless, before approving the col- 22 laboration, the Secretary— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6504.IH H6504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6504 IH (A) determines that such collaboration will 1 further the objectives described in paragraph 2 (1); and 3 (B) gives notice to the congressional com- 4 mittees of jurisdiction that such collaboration 5 will occur. 6 (5) REPORTING BY GRANTEES.—Not later than 7 3 months after completing a project funded under 8 this section, a grant recipient shall submit a report 9 to the Secretary on the results of the project. 10 (6) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 11 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 12 Secretary shall submit a report, including a classi- 13 fied annex, to the Congress on the results of the 14 pilot program under this subsection. 15 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 16 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 17 $30,000,000. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Apr 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6504.IH H6504 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS