Protecting Essential Workers Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8604 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to maintain an internet clearinghouse of information on suppliers of personal protective equipment needed to prevent the spread of COVID–19 or any other pathogen triggering a public health emergency declaration, including in- formation on the quality and availability of such equipment, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 16, 2020 Mr. KIM (for himself and Mr. SCHNEIDER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to maintain an internet clearinghouse of information on suppliers of personal protective equipment needed to pre- vent the spread of COVID–19 or any other pathogen triggering a public health emergency declaration, includ- ing information on the quality and availability of such equipment, 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 01:49 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8604.IH H8604 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8604 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Essential 2 Workers Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. NATIONAL COVID–19 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE 4 EQUIPMENT CLEARINGHOUSE. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 2 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 7 retary of Health and Human Services shall establish and 8 maintain an internet clearinghouse of information on sup- 9 pliers of personal protective equipment needed to prevent 10 the spread of COVID–19 or any other pathogen triggering 11 a public health emergency declaration. 12 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Subject to subsection (c), the 13 internet clearinghouse established under subsection (a) 14 shall— 15 (1) identify available personal protective equip- 16 ment by— 17 (A) conducting outbound sourcing to iden- 18 tify manufacturers and distributers of personal 19 protective equipment; 20 (B) soliciting information from manufac- 21 turers and distributers of available personal 22 protective equipment; 23 (C) verifying manufacturer and distributer 24 regulatory status; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8604.IH H8604 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8604 IH (D) verifying supporting documentation of 1 supplier registration, factory, and product cer- 2 tifications; 3 (E) collecting information on product pric- 4 ing, minimum order quantities, lead time, sup- 5 ply resilience, and availability; and 6 (F) verifying product prices to ensure that 7 no price violates antiprice gouging laws; 8 (2) provide transparent information about per- 9 sonal protective equipment availability, dissemina- 10 tion, and procurement opportunities by making 11 available information collected pursuant to para- 12 graph (1); and 13 (3) be established in a manner that allows the 14 information collected to be available to the public 15 and government, including— 16 (A) health care providers; 17 (B) workers deemed essential by public of- 18 ficials during the COVID–19 pandemic and any 19 subsequent pandemics triggering public health 20 emergency declarations; 21 (C) any State, local, or Tribal government; 22 and 23 (D) local emergency operations centers and 24 health departments. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:41 Nov 05, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8604.IH H8604 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8604 IH (c) INCLUSION OF SUPPLIERS ONLY ON VOLUNTARY 1 BASIS.—The Secretary may include in the internet clear- 2 inghouse established under subsection (a) information 3 with respect to a supplier (including any manufacturer or 4 distributor) only if the supplier agrees to be referenced 5 in the clearinghouse, in which case the supplier shall agree 6 to provide to the Secretary the information listed in sub- 7 section (b)(1). 8 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 (1) The term ‘‘personal protective equip- 10 ment’’— 11 (A) means equipment designated to protect 12 individuals from the spread of infection or ill- 13 ness, as determined by the Secretary; and 14 (B) includes any such disinfecting wipes, 15 helmets, gloves, face shields, hand sanitizer, 16 goggles, facemasks, protective clothing, and res- 17 pirators. 18 (2) The term ‘‘State’’ means the 50 States, the 19 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 20 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, the 21 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 22 and American Samoa. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8604.IH H8604 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8604 IH (3) The term ‘‘Tribal’’, with respect to a de- 1 partment of health (or health department), in- 2 cludes— 3 (A) Indian Tribes that— 4 (i) are operating 1 or more health fa- 5 cilities pursuant to an agreement under the 6 Indian Self-Determination and Education 7 Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.); 8 or 9 (ii) receive services from a facility op- 10 erated by the Indian Health Services; and 11 (B) Tribal organizations (as the term 12 ‘‘tribal organization’’ is defined in section 4 of 13 the Indian Self-Determination and Education 14 Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)) and Urban 15 Indian organizations (as defined in section 4 of 16 the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 17 U.S.C. 1603)). 18 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 19 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 20 necessary to carry out this section, to be derived exclu- 21 sively from unobligated amounts in the Public Health and 22 Social Emergency Fund. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:49 Nov 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8604.IH H8604 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS