Suppress COVID–19 Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4458 To grant the authority for States to enter into interstate compacts or agreements for the purpose of procuring COVID–19 tests. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 5, 2020 Mr. CASSIDY (for himself, Ms. SMITH, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. KING, and Mr. CAR- PER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To grant the authority for States to enter into interstate compacts or agreements for the purpose of procuring COVID–19 tests. 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 ‘‘Suppress COVID–19 4 Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. INTERSTATE COMPACTS AND AGREEMENTS. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSES.—The consent 7 of Congress is hereby given to States and Indian Tribes 8 to enter into compacts, not in conflict with any law of the 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4458 IS United States, for cooperative effort and mutual assist- 1 ance in procuring COVID–19 tests and supplies for such 2 tests, or cooperative agreements (referred to in this section 3 as ‘‘agreements’’) for cooperative effort and mutual assist- 4 ance in procuring COVID–19 tests and supplies through 5 memoranda of understanding. 6 (b) ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of Health and 7 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec- 8 retary’’) shall— 9 (1) take all possible steps to encourage and as- 10 sist States and Indian Tribes entering into interstate 11 compacts or agreements under this section; 12 (2) cooperate with such compacts and agree- 13 ments; 14 (3) cooperate with States and Indian Tribes 15 forming cooperative agreements for cooperative ef- 16 fort and mutual assistance in procuring COVID–19 17 tests and supplies for such tests, through memo- 18 randa of understanding instead of compacts; and 19 (4) encourage cooperative activities of Federal 20 departments and agencies with such compacts or 21 agreements. 22 (c) FUNDING.— 23 (1) APPROPRIATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:47 Aug 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4458 IS (A) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date 1 that is 30 days after the date of enactment of 2 this Act, there are authorized to be appro- 3 priated to the Secretary, and there are hereby 4 appropriated, out of amounts in the Treasury 5 not otherwise appropriated, $25,000,000,000, 6 for purposes of supporting testing procurement. 7 Of such amount— 8 (i) $20,000,000,000 shall be made 9 available to States and Indian Tribes on 10 the date that is 30 days after such date of 11 enactment, which States or Indian Tribes 12 may forward to interstate compacts or 13 agreements authorized under this section; 14 and 15 (ii) $5,000,000,000 shall be reserved 16 for States and Indian Tribes that enter 17 into compacts authorized or agreements 18 recognized under this section. 19 (B) RESERVATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the 20 amounts appropriated under subparagraph (A), 21 not less than $667,000,000 shall be reserved 22 for awards to Indian Tribes that shall be dis- 23 tributed by the Secretary in consultation with 24 the Indian Health Service. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4458 IS (C) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 1 (i) IN GENERAL.—The amounts pro- 2 vided by this paragraph are designated as 3 an emergency requirement pursuant to sec- 4 tion 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go 5 Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)). 6 (ii) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 7 Senate, this paragraph is designated as an 8 emergency requirement pursuant to section 9 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Con- 10 gress), the concurrent resolution on the 11 budget for fiscal year 2018. 12 (2) ALLOTMENTS.— 13 (A) FUNDS FOR STATES.—Out of amounts 14 appropriated under paragraph (1) and allocated 15 for the purpose described in paragraph 16 (1)(A)(i) and not reserved under paragraph 17 (1)(B), the Secretary shall allot to each State 18 an amount that bears the same relationship to 19 the total amount so allocated under paragraph 20 (1)(A)(i) and not so reserved that the amount 21 allotted to such State under the State’s Public 22 Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative 23 agreement for fiscal year 2019 bears to the 24 total amount appropriated to the Public Health 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4458 IS Emergency Preparedness program for fiscal 1 year 2019 for purposes of making allocations to 2 States. 3 (B) ALLOCATIONS FOR STATES ENTERING 4 INTO COMPACTS OR AGREEMENTS.—The Sec- 5 retary, not later than 45 days after the date of 6 enactment of this Act, shall allocate the 7 amounts appropriated under paragraph (1) and 8 allocated for the purposes described in para- 9 graph (1)(A)(ii) to eligible States and Indian 10 Tribes that have entered into a compact or 11 agreement under this section or stated their in- 12 tent to enter into such a compact or agreement, 13 according to a formula established by the Sec- 14 retary that provides a base amount to each 15 such State and Indian Tribe, plus an additional 16 amount based on population. 17 (d) ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTAIN FUNDING.—A State 18 or Indian Tribe is eligible for an allocation under sub- 19 section (c)(2)(B) only if the compact or agreement that 20 the State or Indian Tribe has joined meets all of the fol- 21 lowing requirements: 22 (1) TRANSPARENCY PROVISIONS.—The compact 23 or agreement shall publicly disclose all contract 24 sums, terms, requests for proposals, and recipients 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4458 IS of contracts on a quarterly basis, and shall publicly 1 disclose, on a quarterly basis, key performance indi- 2 cators of, with respect to COVID–19 testing used by 3 the compact or agreement, the price, volume, speed 4 to market, and test turnaround time. With respect 5 to new contracts, compacts and agreements shall 6 give priority to contracting entities that can guar- 7 antee fulfillment of existing contracts with States or 8 Indian Tribes. 9 (2) PROCUREMENT GOVERNING STRUCTURE.— 10 The compact or agreement shall demonstrate having 11 consulted with, for purposes of developing contracts 12 for testing procurement, medical professionals, indi- 13 viduals with a background in public health, business, 14 biotechnology, logistics, manufacturing, or procure- 15 ment. 16 (3) ANTI-CORRUPTION PROVISIONS.—The com- 17 pact or agreement shall have in place anti-corruption 18 requirements that prohibit anyone who is overseeing 19 the development of the compact or agreement from 20 personally benefitting from any contract the compact 21 or agreement enters. 22 (4) TIMELY TESTING.—The compact or agree- 23 ment shall have as a goal testing turnaround times 24 of under 24 hours. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4458 IS (e) EXPIRATION.—Amounts appropriated under this 1 section and made available to States and Indian Tribes 2 for testing procurement shall remain available until the 3 later of December 31, 2021, or the date that is 90 days 4 after the public health emergency declared by the Sec- 5 retary of Health and Human Services under section 319 6 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), on 7 January 31, 2020, with respect to COVID–19 expires, 8 and, on such applicable date, any such funds that remain 9 unobligated shall be remitted to the Treasury of the 10 United States. 11 SEC. 3. STATE PLANS. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date that is 14 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 15 there are hereby appropriated to the Public Health 16 and Social Services Emergency Fund, out of 17 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 18 $18,000,000,000, to remain available until ex- 19 pended, to prevent, prepare for, and respond to 20 COVID–19, domestically or internationally, for nec- 21 essary expenses undertaken by States and Tribal au- 22 thorities to implement COVID–19 testing, contact 23 tracing, and supporting isolation programs, and to 24 otherwise monitor and suppress COVID–19. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4458 IS (2) RESERVATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the 1 amounts appropriated under subparagraph (A), not 2 less than $600,000,000 shall be reserved for awards 3 to Indian Tribes that shall be distributed by the Sec- 4 retary in consultation with the Indian Health Serv- 5 ice. 6 (3) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 8 by this subsection are designated as an emer- 9 gency requirement pursuant to section 4(g) of 10 the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 11 U.S.C. 933(g)). 12 (B) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 13 Senate, this subsection is designated as an 14 emergency requirement pursuant to section 15 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), 16 the concurrent resolution on the budget for fis- 17 cal year 2018. 18 (b) ALLOCATION TO STATES AND INDIAN TRIBES.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount appropriated 20 under subsection (a), $9,000,000,000 shall be allo- 21 cated to States and Indian Tribes for contact trac- 22 ing personnel, $4,000,000,000 shall be allocated to 23 States and Indian Tribes for voluntary self-isolation, 24 income support for individuals in isolation, or other 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4458 IS isolation supports, $4,500,000,000 shall be allocated 1 to States for Tribal and local health offices, and 2 $500,000,000 shall be allocated to States and Indian 3 Tribes for data modernization in Tribal and local 4 health offices. States and Indian Tribes may apply 5 for a waiver from the Federal Government to use 6 amounts received under this paragraph for a dif- 7 ferent purpose than as originally disbursed, provided 8 that any such other use is consistent with the pur- 9 poses of this section. States and Indian Tribes shall 10 take all possible steps to distribute funding received 11 under this subsection to Tribal and local health of- 12 fices as promptly as possible. 13 (2) ALLOCATIONS TO STATES.—Amounts ap- 14 propriated under subsection (a)(1) and not reserved 15 under subsection (a)(2) shall be allotted to each 16 State in an amount that bears the same relationship 17 to the total amount appropriated under subsection 18 (a)(1) and not so reserved that the amount that the 19 State received pursuant to the Public Health Emer- 20 gency Preparedness cooperative agreement in fiscal 21 year 2019 bears to the total amount appropriated 22 under such cooperative agreement for such fiscal 23 year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4458 IS (3) STATE PLANS.—To be eligible for an alloca- 1 tion under paragraph (1), a State or Indian Tribe 2 shall submit to the Secretary a testing, tracing, and 3 supported isolation plan it intends to follow to 4 achieve suppression of COVID–19 to levels at or 5 below the low incidence plateau set forth by the Cen- 6 ters for Disease Control and Prevention. Such plan 7 shall be developed in consultation with State, local, 8 and Tribal public health departments, include key 9 performance indicators tied to field best practices for 10 contact tracing and supported isolation as well as 11 testing, and be submitted as an addendum to any 12 similar plan a State or Indian Tribe previously sub- 13 mitted to the Secretary, as required pursuant to the 14 Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care En- 15 hancement Act (Public Law 116–139). The Sec- 16 retary shall make each plan submitted under this 17 paragraph publicly available 60 days after submis- 18 sion. 19 (c) EXPIRATION.—Amounts appropriated under this 20 section and made available to States and Indian Tribes 21 for testing procurement shall remain available until the 22 later of December 31, 2021, or the date that is 90 days 23 after the public health emergency declared by the Sec- 24 retary of Health and Human Services under section 319 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4458 IS of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), on 1 January 31, 2020, with respect to COVID–19 expires, 2 and, on such applicable date, any such funds that remain 3 unobligated shall be remitted to the Treasury of the 4 United States. 5 (d) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall develop a 6 plan to coordinate and provide guidance to States and In- 7 dian Tribes in drafting their testing plans described in this 8 section and seek to support the development of shared in- 9 dicators for all States and Indian Tribes. 10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 11 For purposes of this Act: 12 (1) The terms ‘‘COVID–19 test’’, ‘‘COVID–19 13 testing’’, and ‘‘testing’’ mean a viral or serological in 14 vitro diagnostic test defined in section 809.3 of title 15 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regu- 16 lations) for the detection of SARS–CoV–2 or the di- 17 agnosis of the virus that causes COVID–19, and the 18 administration of such test, that— 19 (A) is approved, cleared, or authorized 20 under section 510(k), 513, 515, or 564 of the 21 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 22 U.S.C. 360(k), 360c, 360e, 360bbb–3); 23 (B) the developer has requested, or intends 24 to request, emergency use authorization under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:48 Aug 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4458.IS S4458 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4458 IS section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and 1 Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3), unless and 2 until the emergency use authorization request 3 under such section 564 has been denied or the 4 developer of such test does not submit a request 5 under such section within a reasonable time- 6 frame; 7 (C) is developed in and authorized by a 8 State that has notified the Secretary of Health [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]