COVID Vaccine Transportation Access Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3013 To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants for removing transportation barriers to accessing vaccines for SARS– CoV–2, including booster vaccines, for individuals from low-income com- munities, minority communities, or other communities in which transpor- tation poses a barrier to health care access, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 Ms. BARRAGA´N (for herself, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants for removing transportation barriers to accessing vaccines for SARS–CoV–2, including booster vaccines, for individuals from low-income communities, minority communities, or other communities in which transportation poses a barrier to health care access, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3013 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID Vaccine Trans- 2 portation Access Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FOR CORONAVIRUS VACCINE AC- 4 CESS AND MOBILITY. 5 (a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.— 6 (1) AWARDS.—The Secretary shall award 7 grants to qualified community organizations to as- 8 sist in financing projects to remove transportation 9 barriers to accessing vaccines for SARS–CoV–2, in- 10 cluding booster vaccines, for individuals from low-in- 11 come communities, minority communities, or other 12 communities in which transportation poses a barrier 13 to health care access. 14 (2) TRANSFER OF DUTIES.—The Secretary 15 shall— 16 (A) enter into agreements with State 17 health agencies for purposes of carrying out the 18 duties assigned to the Secretary under this sec- 19 tion; and 20 (B) transfer to such agencies for such pur- 21 poses funds appropriated to carry out this sec- 22 tion. 23 (b) APPLICATION.—A qualified community organiza- 24 tion seeking a grant under this section shall submit to the 25 Secretary an application that contains— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3013 IH (1) a description of the project to be funded 1 through the grant; 2 (2) an identification of all project partners and 3 their specific role in the proposed project, including 4 private for-profit and nonprofit entities engaged in 5 the coordination of transportation services for the 6 project; and 7 (3) specific performance measures the qualified 8 community organization will use to reduce cancella- 9 tions or missed appointments. 10 (c) PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE.—Each grant award- 11 ed under subsection (a) shall be for a period of perform- 12 ance of no less than 6 months. 13 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—Each grant awarded under 14 subsection (a)— 15 (1) shall be used to develop, expand, and en- 16 hance access to transportation to and from sites for 17 receipt of a vaccine for SARS–CoV–2, including a 18 booster vaccine, by individuals from low-income com- 19 munities, minority communities, or other commu- 20 nities in which transportation poses a barrier to 21 health care access; and 22 (2) may be used to— 23 (A) provide prescheduled or on-demand 24 transportation to and from a site for adminis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3013 IH tration of a SARS–CoV–2 vaccine, including a 1 booster vaccine; or 2 (B) provide first and last mile transpor- 3 tation services for appointments for administra- 4 tion of such a vaccine. 5 (e) REPORT.—As a condition on receipt of a grant 6 under this section, a grantee shall agree to submit a re- 7 port, not later than 6 months after the completion of the 8 period of performance of the grant— 9 (1) to the Secretary, the Committee on Energy 10 and Commerce of the House of Representatives, and 11 the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 12 Pensions of the Senate; and 13 (2) containing such information the Secretary 14 determines necessary to evaluate performance under 15 the grant. 16 (f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 17 (1) FIRST AND LAST MILE.—The term ‘‘first 18 and last mile’’ means, with respect to transportation 19 services and an individual’s trip to and from a vac- 20 cine appointment— 21 (A) transportation— 22 (i) between the individual’s point of 23 trip origin and a source of public transit; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3013 IH (ii) between a source of public transit 1 and the individual’s destination; or 2 (B) where no source of public transit is 3 available, transportation between the individ- 4 ual’s point of trip origin and the individual’s 5 destination. 6 (2) QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION.— 7 The term ‘‘qualified community organization’’ means 8 an organization that— 9 (A) is a nonprofit organization; and 10 (B) has experience in— 11 (i) managing Federal grants; and 12 (ii) providing services to low-income 13 or minority communities or communities 14 that disproportionately experience dispari- 15 ties in health status and health care ac- 16 cess. 17 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 18 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 19 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 20 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 21 necessary to carry out this section. 22 SEC. 3. FEDERAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PERCENTAGE. 23 Section 1905(b) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 24 1396d(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3013 IH new sentence: ‘‘Notwithstanding the first sentence of this 1 subsection, the Federal medical assistance percentage 2 shall be 100 per centum with respect to amounts expended 3 for nonemergency transportation benefits provided to indi- 4 viduals eligible for medical assistance under this sub- 5 chapter that are attributable to transportation costs in- 6 curred on or after the date of the enactment of this sen- 7 tence related to providing coronavirus vaccines to such in- 8 dividuals under the State plan.’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jun 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3013.IH H3013 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS