Isolate COVID–19 Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7634 To reduce the spread of COVID–19 through payments to States to lease hotels to temporarily house, on a voluntary basis, eligible individuals, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 16, 2020 Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio (for himself, Mr. RYAN, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. GON- ZALEZ of Texas, and Mr. GOTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To reduce the spread of COVID–19 through payments to States to lease hotels to temporarily house, on a vol- untary basis, eligible individuals, 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 ‘‘Isolate COVID–19 Act 4 of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7634 IH SEC. 2. REDUCING THE SPREAD OF COVID–19 THROUGH 1 PAYMENTS TO STATES TO LEASE HOTELS TO 2 TEMPORARILY HOUSE ELIGIBLE INDIVID- 3 UALS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 5 Human Services may make payments to States to lease 6 hotels to temporarily house, on a voluntary basis, eligible 7 individuals. 8 (b) FORMULA.—The Secretary shall allocate the 9 amount appropriated to carry out this section pursuant 10 to a formula developed by the Secretary that— 11 (1) distributes the amount among the States 12 that— 13 (A) submit applications in accordance with 14 subsection (c); and 15 (B) are determined by the Secretary to 16 need such payments; and 17 (2) takes into consideration— 18 (A) the number of active cases of individ- 19 uals infected with COVID–19 in the applying 20 State relative to the overall population of the 21 State; and 22 (B) the average income of individuals in 23 the applying State relative to the average in- 24 come of individuals in the United States. 25 (c) APPLICATIONS.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7634 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—To seek a payment under 1 this section, a State shall submit an application to 2 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 3 containing such information and assurances as the 4 Secretary may require. 5 (2) PROCESS.—The Secretary shall— 6 (A) not later than 15 days after the date 7 of enactment of this Act, publish the process 8 for States to apply for payments under this sec- 9 tion; and 10 (B) not later than 15 days after the sub- 11 mission of an application in accordance with 12 such process, approve or disapprove the applica- 13 tion. 14 (3) CONTENTS.—The Secretary shall require 15 the application of a State under this section to in- 16 clude— 17 (A) a plan for leasing hotels as described 18 in subsection (a); 19 (B) health guidelines which the State will 20 require to be implemented to protect the staff 21 of the hotels; 22 (C) the rates to be paid to lease the hotels; 23 (D) a plan to ensure that the hotels each 24 have— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7634 IH (i) workplace safety standards for 1 their staff; 2 (ii) proper personal protective equip- 3 ment and sanitation supplies; 4 (iii) a cleaning protocol for rooms and 5 facilities; and 6 (iv) at least one qualified health care 7 professional onsite or on call to monitor 8 the health of individuals being housed at 9 the hotels; 10 (E) a plan to feed and provide other nec- 11 essary materials to individuals described in sub- 12 section (a) at the hotels, including medications 13 and hygiene products, without letting such indi- 14 viduals leave their rooms or accept visitors; 15 (F) a plan to assist the hotels in removing 16 individuals who attempt to continue their stay 17 after the allotted time; 18 (G) a plan for hospital networks, local 19 health departments, and the hotels to coordi- 20 nate on the exchange and protection of patient 21 information in accordance with other applicable 22 law; 23 (H) a plan to effectively communicate the 24 State’s program funded through this section to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7634 IH racial and ethnic minority groups and low-in- 1 come communities; and 2 (I) each funding assurance listed in sub- 3 section (e). 4 (d) NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DIET OR ADMINISTRA- 5 TION OF MEDICINE.—Notwithstanding subsection 6 (c)(3)(E), a contract between a State and a hotel pursuant 7 to this section shall not make the hotel responsible for the 8 diet of, or the administration of medications to, individuals 9 described in subsection (a). 10 (e) FUNDING ASSURANCES.—As a condition on re- 11 ceipt of a payment of this section, a State shall give such 12 assurances as the Secretary may require that— 13 (1) each contract between the State and a hotel 14 pursuant to this section will be entered into on a vol- 15 untary basis, and no hotel will be required by the 16 State to participate in the program under this sec- 17 tion; 18 (2) individuals described in subsection (a) will 19 not be charged for their lodging at a hotel pursuant 20 to this section, except that such individuals may be 21 required to reimburse the costs of receiving food and 22 beverages; 23 (3) individuals described in subsection (a) will 24 retain the option of self-isolating at home (including 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7634 IH the option of checking out early and returning to 1 their homes) rather than being required to stay at 2 a hotel funded pursuant to this section; 3 (4) before an individual is allowed to stay at a 4 hotel pursuant to this section, the individual will be 5 required to present, in such form and manner as 6 may be required by the local department of health, 7 documentation from a physician that the individual 8 meets the criteria described in subsection (a); 9 (5) any non-transient homeless population re- 10 siding at a hotel will not be displaced for purposes 11 of entering into or carrying out a contract between 12 the State and the hotel under this section; and 13 (6) the State will pay (from funds provided to 14 the State under this section or from other State 15 funds)— 16 (A) at least 40 percent of the costs of the 17 personal protective equipment and sanitation 18 supplies needed by individuals staying at a hotel 19 pursuant to this section and the staff of such 20 hotel; and 21 (B) all of the costs of having one or more 22 qualified health care professionals described in 23 subsection (c)(3)(D)(iii) for the provision of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7634 IH monitoring described in such subsection (wheth- 1 er by being onsite or on call). 2 (f) REVIEW.—At the conclusion of the program under 3 this section, the Inspector General of the Department of 4 Health and Human Services shall— 5 (1) review the program and activities of each 6 State funded pursuant to this section; and 7 (2) submit a report on the results of the review 8 to— 9 (A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 10 merce and the Committee on Ways and Means 11 of the House of Representatives; and 12 (B) the Committee on Finance and the 13 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 14 Pensions of the Senate. 15 (g) LIABILITY PROTECTION.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided under 17 paragraph (2), a hotel or member of the staff shall 18 not be liable under Federal or State law for— 19 (A) any harm caused by an act or omission 20 in the provision of hotel services pursuant to 21 this section; or 22 (B) failing to keep an individual who is 23 staying at a hotel pursuant to this section iso- 24 lated from people other than the staff of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7634 IH hotel and any qualified health care professional 1 described in subsection (c)(3)(D)(iii). 2 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) does not apply 3 in the case that the harm was caused by an act or 4 omission constituting willful or criminal misconduct, 5 gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious 6 flagrant indifference to the rights or safety of the in- 7 dividual harmed. 8 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 (1) The term ‘‘eligible individual’’ means an in- 10 dividual who is unable to self-isolate at home, does 11 not require inpatient or outpatient health care treat- 12 ment, and— 13 (A) has a laboratory-confirmed case of 14 COVID–19; 15 (B) has a presumptive positive case of 16 COVID–19; or 17 (C) is a person under investigation who is 18 displaying symptoms of COVID–19. 19 (2) The terms ‘‘Indian tribe’’ and ‘‘tribal orga- 20 nization’’ have the meanings given to those terms in 21 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 22 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 23 (3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 24 of Health and Human Services. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7634 IH (4) The term ‘‘State’’ includes each of 50 1 States, the District of Columbia, each Indian Tribe 2 and tribal organization, Guam, American Samoa, the 3 United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of 4 Puerto Rico, and the Commonwealth of the North- 5 ern Mariana Islands. 6 (i) FUNDING.—To carry out this section, there is au- 7 thorized to be appropriated $1,000,000,000, to remain 8 available through the earlier of— 9 (1) the end of calendar year 2021; or 10 (2) the end of the emergency period (as defined 11 in section 1135(g)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act 12 (42 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)(1)(B)). 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7634.IH H7634 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS