II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 971 To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a program on children and the media within the National Institute of Health to study the health and developmental effects of technology on infants, children, and adolescents. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 25, 2021 Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. SASSE, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. COL- LINS, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a program on children and the media within the National Institute of Health to study the health and developmental effects of technology on infants, children, and adoles- cents. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children and Media 4 Research Advancement Act’’ or the ‘‘CAMRA Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:05 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S971.IS S971 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 971 IS SEC. 2. RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT 1 EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON INFANTS, CHILDREN, 2 AND ADOLESCENTS. 3 Subpart 7 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 4 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285g et seq.) is amended by adding 5 at the end the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 452H. RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH AND DEVELOP- 7 MENT EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON INFANTS, CHIL- 8 DREN, AND ADOLESCENTS. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In- 10 stitutes of Health, in coordination with or acting through 11 the Director of the Institute, shall conduct and support 12 research and related activities concerning the health and 13 developmental effects of media on infants, children, and 14 adolescents, which may include the positive and negative 15 effects of exposure to and use of media, such as social 16 media, applications, websites, television, motion pictures, 17 artificial intelligence, mobile devices, computers, video 18 games, virtual and augmented reality, and other media 19 formats as they become available. Such research shall at- 20 tempt to better understand the relationships between 21 media and technology use and individual differences and 22 characteristics of children and shall include longitudinally 23 designed studies to assess the impact of media on youth 24 over time. Such research shall include consideration of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:05 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S971.IS S971 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 971 IS core areas of child and adolescent health and development 1 including the following: 2 ‘‘(1) COGNITIVE.—The role and impact of 3 media use and exposure in the development of chil- 4 dren and adolescents within such cognitive areas as 5 language development, executive functioning, atten- 6 tion, creative problem solving skills, visual and spa- 7 tial skills, literacy, critical thinking, and other learn- 8 ing abilities, and the impact of early technology use 9 on developmental trajectories. 10 ‘‘(2) PHYSICAL.—The role and impact of media 11 use and exposure on children’s and adolescent’s 12 physical development and health behaviors, including 13 diet, exercise, sleeping and eating routines, and 14 other areas of physical development. 15 ‘‘(3) SOCIO-EMOTIONAL.—The role and impact 16 of media use and exposure on children’s and adoles- 17 cents’ social-emotional competencies, including self- 18 awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relation- 19 ship skills, empathy, distress tolerance, perception of 20 social cues, awareness of one’s relationship with the 21 media, and decision-making, as well as outcomes 22 such as violations of privacy, perpetration of or ex- 23 posure to violence, bullying or other forms of aggres- 24 sion, depression, anxiety, substance use, misuse or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:05 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S971.IS S971 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 971 IS disorder, and suicidal ideation/behavior and self- 1 harm. 2 ‘‘(b) DEVELOPING RESEARCH AGENDA.—The Direc- 3 tor of the National Institutes of Health, in consultation 4 with the Director of the Institute, other appropriate na- 5 tional research institutes, academies, and centers, the 6 Trans-NIH Pediatric Research Consortium, and non-Fed- 7 eral experts as needed, shall develop a research agenda 8 on the health and developmental effects of media on in- 9 fants, children, and adolescents to inform research activi- 10 ties under subsection (a). In developing such research 11 agenda, the Director may use whatever means necessary 12 (such as scientific workshops and literature reviews) to as- 13 sess current knowledge and research gaps in this area. 14 ‘‘(c) RESEARCH PROGRAM.—In coordination with the 15 Institute and other national research institutes and cen- 16 ters, and utilizing the National Institutes of Health’s proc- 17 ess of scientific peer review, the Director of the National 18 Institutes of Health shall fund an expanded research pro- 19 gram on the health and developmental effects of media 20 on infants, children, and adolescents. 21 ‘‘(d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 22 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 23 the National Institutes of Health shall submit a report to 24 Congress on the progress made in gathering data and ex- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:05 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S971.IS S971 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 971 IS panding research on the health and developmental effects 1 of media on infants, children, and adolescents in accord- 2 ance with this section. Such report shall summarize the 3 grants and research funded, by year, under this section. 4 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 5 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec- 6 tion— 7 ‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 8 through 2024; and 9 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 10 and 2026.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:57 Apr 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S971.IS S971 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS