HEALTH Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8010 To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify that the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall lead all Federal public health and medical response to emergencies and disasters declared by the President pursuant to the National Emergencies Act or the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 11, 2020 Mr. HUDSON (for himself, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to clarify that the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall lead all Federal public health and medical response to emer- gencies and disasters declared by the President pursuant to the National Emergencies Act or the Robert T. Staf- ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 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 15:50 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8010.IH H8010 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8010 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Health Emergencies 2 Are Literally Tenets of HHS Act of 2020’’ or the 3 ‘‘HEALTH Act of 2020’’. 4 SEC. 2. LEAD AGENCY FOR FEDERAL PUBLIC HEALTH AND 5 MEDICAL RESPONSE TO PUBLIC HEALTH 6 EMERGENCIES. 7 Section 2801 of the Public Health Service Act (42 8 U.S.C. 300hh) is amended— 9 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting after ‘‘shall 10 lead all Federal public health and medical response 11 to public health emergencies and incidents’’ the fol- 12 lowing: ‘‘(including emergencies and disasters de- 13 clared by the President pursuant to the National 14 Emergencies Act or the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 15 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act)’’; and 16 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting after ‘‘shall 17 assume operational control of emergency public 18 health and medical response assets, as necessary, in 19 the event of a public health emergency’’ the fol- 20 lowing: ‘‘or in the event of an emergency or disaster 21 declared by the President under the National Emer- 22 gencies Act or the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Re- 23 lief and Emergency Assistance Act’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:50 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8010.IH H8010 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8010 IH SEC. 3. DEPLOYMENT BY THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND 1 HUMAN SERVICES OF NATIONAL STRATEGIC 2 STOCKPILE. 3 Section 319F–2(a)(3)(F) of the Public Health Serv- 4 ice Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–6b(a)(3)(F)) is amended by 5 striking ‘‘as required by’’ and inserting ‘‘in consultation 6 with’’. 7 SEC. 4. AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE FED- 8 ERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 9 REGARDING THE STRATEGIC NATIONAL 10 STOCKPILE. 11 The Homeland Security Act of 2002 is amended— 12 (1) in subparagraph (A) of section 503(b)(2) (6 13 U.S.C. 313(b)(2)), by inserting ‘‘, in coordination 14 with relevant Federal agencies,’’ after ‘‘lead’’; and 15 (2) in subparagraph (D) of section 504(a)(3) (6 16 U.S.C. 314(a)(3)), by striking ‘‘requiring’’ and in- 17 serting ‘‘, at the direction of the Secretary of Health 18 and Human Services, assisting in’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 15:50 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8010.IH H8010 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS