Janey Ensminger Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1563 To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s review and publication of illness and conditions relating to veterans stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and their family members, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2019 Mr. BURR (for himself, Mr. TESTER, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s review and publication of illness and conditions relating to veterans stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and their family members, 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. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Janey Ensminger Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1563.IS S1563 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1563 IS SEC. 2. REVIEW OF ILLNESSES AND CONDITIONS RELATING 1 TO VETERANS STATIONED AT CAMP LE- 2 JEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, AND THEIR FAM- 3 ILY MEMBERS. 4 (a) REVIEW AND PUBLICATION OF ILLNESS OR CON- 5 DITION.—Part P of title III of the Public Health Service 6 Act (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by adding at 7 the end the following: 8 ‘‘SEC. 399V–7. REVIEW AND PUBLICATION OF ILLNESSES 9 AND CONDITIONS. 10 ‘‘Consistent with section 104(i) of the Comprehensive 11 Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 12 of 1980, not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 13 of this section, and not less frequently than once every 14 3 years thereafter, the Secretary, acting through the Ad- 15 ministrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Dis- 16 ease Registry, shall— 17 ‘‘(1)(A) review the scientific literature relevant 18 to the relationship between the employment or resi- 19 dence of individuals at Camp Lejeune, North Caro- 20 lina, for not fewer than 30 days during the period 21 beginning on August 1, 1953, and ending on Decem- 22 ber 21, 1987, and specific illnesses or conditions in- 23 curred by those individuals; 24 ‘‘(B) determine each illness or condition for 25 which there is evidence that exposure to a toxic sub- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1563.IS S1563 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1563 IS stance at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, during the 1 period specific in subparagraph (A) may be a cause 2 of the illness or condition; and 3 ‘‘(C) with respect to each illness or condition 4 for which a determination has been made under sub- 5 paragraph (B), categorize the evidence of the con- 6 nection of the illness or condition to exposure de- 7 scribed in that subparagraph as— 8 ‘‘(i) sufficient to conclude with reasonable 9 confidence that the exposure is a cause of the 10 illness or condition; 11 ‘‘(ii) modest supporting causation, but not 12 sufficient to conclude with reasonable con- 13 fidence that exposure is a cause of the illness 14 or condition; or 15 ‘‘(iii) no more than limited supporting cau- 16 sation; 17 ‘‘(2) publish in the Federal Register and on the 18 internet website of the Department of Health and 19 Human Services— 20 ‘‘(A) a list of each illness or condition for 21 which a determination has been made under 22 paragraph (1)(B), including the categorization 23 of the evidence of causal connection relating to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1563.IS S1563 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1563 IS the illness or condition under paragraph (1)(C); 1 and 2 ‘‘(B) the bibliographic citations for all lit- 3 erature reviewed under paragraph (1) for each 4 illness or condition listed under such paragraph; 5 and 6 ‘‘(3) update the list under paragraph (2), as ap- 7 plicable, to add an illness or condition for which a 8 determination has been made under paragraph 9 (1)(B), including the categorization of the evidence 10 of causal connection relating to the illness or condi- 11 tion under paragraph (1)(C), since such list was last 12 updated consistent with the requirements of this sec- 13 tion.’’. 14 (b) ELIGIBILITY FOR HEALTH CARE FROM DEPART- 15 MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1710(e)(1)(F) of 17 title 38, United States Code, is amended— 18 (A) by redesignating clauses (i) through 19 (xv) as subclauses (I) through (XV), respec- 20 tively; 21 (B) by striking ‘‘(F) Subject to’’ and in- 22 serting ‘‘(F)(i) Subject to’’; 23 (C) by striking ‘‘any of the following’’ and 24 inserting ‘‘any of the illnesses or conditions for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1563.IS S1563 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1563 IS which the evidence of connection of the illness 1 or condition to exposure to a toxic substance at 2 Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, during such pe- 3 riod is categorized as sufficient or modest in the 4 most recent list published under section 399V– 5 7(a)(2) of the Public Health Service Act, which 6 may include any of the following’’; and 7 (D) by adding at the end the following new 8 clause: 9 ‘‘(ii) For the purposes of ensuring continuation of 10 care, any veteran who has been furnished hospital care 11 or medical services under this subparagraph for an illness 12 or condition shall remain eligible for hospital care or med- 13 ical services for such illness or condition notwithstanding 14 that the evidence of connection of such illness or condition 15 to exposure to a toxic substance at Camp Lejeune, North 16 Carolina, during the period described in clause (i) is not 17 categorized as sufficient or modest in the most recent list 18 published under section 399V–7(a)(2) of the Public 19 Health Service Act.’’. 20 (2) FAMILY MEMBERS.—Section 1787 of such 21 title is amended by adding at the end the following 22 new subsection: 23 ‘‘(c) CONTINUATION OF CARE.—For the purposes of 24 ensuring continuation of care, any individual who has been 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1563.IS S1563 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1563 IS furnished hospital care or medical services under this sec- 1 tion for an illness or condition shall remain eligible for 2 hospital care or medical services for such illness or condi- 3 tion notwithstanding that the illness or condition is no 4 longer described in section 1710(e)(1)(F) of this title.’’. 5 (3) TRANSFER OF AMOUNTS FOR PROGRAM.— 6 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for each 7 of fiscal years 2019 and 2020, the Secretary of Vet- 8 erans Affairs shall transfer $2,000,000 from 9 amounts made available to the Department of Vet- 10 erans Affairs for medical support and compliance to 11 the Chief Business Office and Financial Services 12 Center of the Department to be used to continue 13 building and enhancing the claims processing sys- 14 tem, eligibility system, and web portal for the Camp 15 Lejeune Family Member Program of the Depart- 16 ment. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:18 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1563.IS S1563 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS