Community Solutions for COVID–19 Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7077 To establish or expand programs to improve health equity regarding COVID– 19 and reduce or eliminate inequities in the prevalence and health out- comes of COVID–19. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 1, 2020 Ms. KELLY of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To establish or expand programs to improve health equity regarding COVID–19 and reduce or eliminate inequities in the prevalence and health outcomes of COVID–19. 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 ‘‘Community Solutions 4 for COVID–19 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ADDRESSING COVID–19 HEALTH INEQUITIES AND 6 IMPROVING HEALTH EQUITY. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 8 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Jun 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7077.IH H7077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7077 IH Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec- 1 retary’’), acting through the Director of the Centers for 2 Disease Control and Prevention, shall award grants to eli- 3 gible entities to establish or expand programs to improve 4 health equity regarding COVID–19 and reduce or elimi- 5 nate inequities, including racial and ethnic inequities, in 6 the incidence, prevalence, and health outcomes of COVID– 7 19. 8 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 9 under subsection (a), an entity shall— 10 (1) be a nongovernmental entity or consortium 11 of entities that works to improve health and health 12 equity in populations or communities disproportion- 13 ately affected by adverse health outcomes, includ- 14 ing— 15 (A) racial and ethnic minority commu- 16 nities; 17 (B) Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, 18 and urban Indian organizations; 19 (C) people with disabilities; 20 (D) English language learners; 21 (E) older adults; 22 (F) low-income communities; 23 (G) justice-involved communities; 24 (H) immigrant communities; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Jun 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7077.IH H7077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7077 IH (I) communities on the basis of their sex- 1 ual orientation or gender identity; 2 (2) have demonstrated experience in success- 3 fully working in and partnering with such commu- 4 nities, and have an established record of accomplish- 5 ment in improving health outcomes or preventing, 6 reducing or eliminating health inequities, including 7 racial and ethnic inequities, in those communities; 8 (3) communicate with State, local, and Tribal 9 health departments to coordinate grant activities, as 10 appropriate; and 11 (4) submit to the Secretary an application at 12 such time, in such manner, and containing such in- 13 formation as the Secretary may require. 14 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity shall use amounts re- 15 ceived under grant under this section to establish, improve 16 upon, or expand programs to improve health equity re- 17 garding COVID–19 and reduce or eliminate inequities, in- 18 cluding racial and ethnic inequities, in the incidence, prev- 19 alence, and health outcomes of COVID–19. Such uses may 20 include— 21 (1) acquiring and distributing medical supplies, 22 such as personal protective equipment, to commu- 23 nities that are at an increased risk of COVID–19; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Jun 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7077.IH H7077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7077 IH (2) helping people enroll in a health insurance 1 plan that meets minimum essential coverage; 2 (3) increasing the availability of COVID–19 3 testing and any future COVID–19 treatments or 4 vaccines in communities that are at an increased 5 risk of COVID–19; 6 (4) aiding communities and individuals in fol- 7 lowing guidelines and best practices in regards to 8 COVID–19, including physical distancing guidelines; 9 (5) helping communities and COVID–19 sur- 10 vivors recover and cope with the long-term health 11 impacts of COVID–19; 12 (6) addressing social determinants of health, 13 such as transportation, nutrition, housing, discrimi- 14 nation, health care access, including mental health 15 care and substance use disorder prevention, treat- 16 ment, and recovery, health literacy, employment sta- 17 tus, and working conditions, education, income, and 18 stress, that impact COVID–19 incidence, prevalence, 19 and health outcomes, and facilitating or providing 20 access to needed services; 21 (7) the provision of anti-racism and implicit 22 and explicit bias training for health care providers 23 and other relevant professionals; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Jun 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7077.IH H7077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7077 IH (8) creating and disseminating culturally in- 1 formed, linguistically appropriate, accessible, and 2 medically accurate outreach and education regarding 3 COVID–19; 4 (9) acquiring, retaining, and training a diverse 5 workforce; and 6 (10) improving the accessibility to health care, 7 including accessibility to health care providers, men- 8 tal health care, and COVID–19 testing for people 9 with disabilities. 10 (d) ADMINISTRATION.— 11 (1) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 12 section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible 13 entities that are a community-based organization or 14 have an established history of successfully working 15 in and partnering with the community or with popu- 16 lations which the entity intends to provide services 17 under the grant. The Secretary shall also utilize 18 available demographic data to give priority to eligible 19 entities working with populations or communities 20 disproportionately affected by COVID–19. 21 (2) GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY.—The Secretary 22 shall seek to ensure geographical diversity among 23 grant recipients. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Jun 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7077.IH H7077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7077 IH (3) REDUCTION OF BURDENS.—In admin- 1 istering the grant program under this section, the 2 Secretary shall make every effort to minimize unnec- 3 essary administrative burdens on eligible entities re- 4 ceiving such grants. 5 (4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 6 shall provide technical assistance to eligible entities 7 on best practices for applying grants under this sec- 8 tion. 9 (e) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this section 10 shall be for a period of 3 years. 11 (f) REPORTING.— 12 (1) BY GRANTEE.—Not later than 180 days 13 after the end of a grant period under this section, 14 the grantee shall submit to the Secretary a report on 15 the activities conducted under the grant, including— 16 (A) a description of the impact of grant 17 activities, including on— 18 (i) outreach and education related to 19 COVID–19; and 20 (ii) improving public health activities 21 related to COVID–19, including physical 22 distancing; 23 (B) the number of individuals reached by 24 the activities under the grant and, to the extent 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Jun 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7077.IH H7077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7077 IH known, the disaggregated demographic data of 1 such individuals, such as by race, ethnicity, sex 2 (including sexual orientation and gender iden- 3 tity), income, disability status, or primary lan- 4 guage; and 5 (C) any other information the Secretary 6 determines is necessary. 7 (2) BY SECRETARY.—Not later than 1 year 8 after the end of the grant program under this sec- 9 tion, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 10 on the grant program, including a summary of the 11 information gathered under paragraph (1). 12 (g) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Grants awarded 13 under this Act shall be used to supplement and not sup- 14 plant any other Federal funds made available to carry out 15 the activities described in this Act. 16 (h) FUNDING.—Out of funds in the Treasury not oth- 17 erwise appropriated, there are appropriated to carry out 18 this section, $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 19 through 2022. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Jun 23, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7077.IH H7077 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS