Cancer Centers Assistance for Renovations and Expansion Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9049 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a cancer center construction grant program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 24, 2020 Mr. HIGGINS of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a cancer center construction grant program. 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 ‘‘Cancer Centers Assist- 4 ance for Renovations and Expansion Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. CANCER CENTER CONSTRUCTION GRANT PRO- 6 GRAM. 7 The Social Security Act is amended by inserting after 8 section 1897 the following new section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9049.IH H9049 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 9049 IH ‘‘CANCER CENTER CONSTRUCTION GRANT PROGRAM 1 ‘‘SEC. 1897A. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary 2 shall establish a program to award grants to qualifying 3 cancer centers (as defined in subsection (b)) for payment 4 of the capital costs of projects for the improvement of re- 5 search, prevention, or patient care infrastructure. 6 ‘‘(b) QUALIFYING CANCER CENTER AND OTHER 7 DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 ‘‘(1) The term ‘qualifying cancer center’ means 9 an entity that is designated as a comprehensive can- 10 cer center by the National Cancer Institute. 11 ‘‘(2) The term ‘project for the improvement of 12 research, prevention, or patient care infrastructure’ 13 means— 14 ‘‘(A) the expansion, remodeling, ren- 15 ovating, or altering of an existing clinical, pre- 16 vention, or research facility; or 17 ‘‘(B) the construction of a new clinical, 18 prevention, or research facility. 19 ‘‘(3) The term ‘intended use’ means the pur- 20 poses for which the infrastructure improvements 21 were made. 22 ‘‘(4) The term ‘shovel ready’ means, with re- 23 spect to a project, that construction of the project 24 will be completed within 5 years of the date on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9049.IH H9049 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 9049 IH which a grant for such project is provided under this 1 section. 2 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION; QUALIFICATIONS; TERMS OF 3 GRANTS.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No grant may be awarded 5 under this section to a qualifying cancer center ex- 6 cept pursuant to an application that is submitted 7 and approved in a time, manner, and form specified 8 by the Secretary. 9 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—A grant may not be 10 provided under this section for a project for a quali- 11 fying cancer center unless the applicant— 12 ‘‘(A) provides assurances satisfactory to 13 the Secretary that— 14 ‘‘(i) the project— 15 ‘‘(I) is for the improvement of re- 16 search, prevention, or patient care in- 17 frastructure of the center; 18 ‘‘(II) is shovel ready; and 19 ‘‘(III) will expand the applicant’s 20 capacity for research, prevention or 21 patient care, or is necessary to im- 22 prove or maintain the quality of the 23 applicant’s research, prevention, or 24 patient care; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9049.IH H9049 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 9049 IH ‘‘(ii) the applicant will— 1 ‘‘(I) have sufficient funds to meet 2 the non-Federal share of the cost of 3 the infrastructure improvement; 4 ‘‘(II) use the facility improved or 5 resulting from the project for its in- 6 tended use for a period of at least 20 7 years after completion of the project 8 and has sufficient funds available to 9 demonstrate effective use of such fa- 10 cility for its intended use; 11 ‘‘(III) facilitate reasonable depth 12 and breadth of research activities in 13 each of the three major areas of lab- 14 oratory research, clinical research, 15 and population-based research, with 16 substantial transdisciplinary research 17 that bridges these scientific areas; 18 ‘‘(IV) initiate and conduct inves- 19 tigator-initiated, early phase, innova- 20 tive clinical trials; 21 ‘‘(V) perform community service, 22 outreach, dissemination, and edu- 23 cation and training of biomedical re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9049.IH H9049 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 9049 IH searchers and health care profes- 1 sionals; and 2 ‘‘(VI) develop and implement 3 strategies or activities designed to re- 4 duce racial or ethnic, gender, age, or 5 socioeconomic health disparities in 6 cancer research, cancer care, cancer 7 patient outcomes, or directly in the 8 communities in which the center is lo- 9 cated; and 10 ‘‘(B) provides an estimate of the number 11 of jobs that will be created by such project. 12 ‘‘(3) NO FURTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 13 retary shall not promulgate any further require- 14 ments or restrictions on a qualifying cancer center 15 to obtain assistance under this section other than 16 those specified in this section. 17 ‘‘(4) TERMS OF GRANTS.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Grants under this sec- 19 tion shall be made consistent with the require- 20 ments of this section. 21 ‘‘(B) LIMITATIONS ON GRANTS.—The max- 22 imum, aggregate amount of grants that may be 23 made under this section (and for which reim- 24 bursement may be provided under subsection 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9049.IH H9049 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 9049 IH (d)(2)) for a qualifying cancer center is 75 per- 1 cent of the total project costs, but not to exceed 2 $25,000,000. 3 ‘‘(d) FUNDING.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this section, 5 there are appropriated out of amounts in the Treas- 6 ury not otherwise appropriated, $900,000,000. 7 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—For the admin- 8 istration of this section, Secretary may not use more 9 than $1,000,000 from the funds made available 10 under paragraph (1) for fiscal years 2021 through 11 2023. 12 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated 13 under this section shall be available for obligation 14 and obligated during the period beginning on Octo- 15 ber 1, 2020, and ending on September 30, 2023. 16 ‘‘(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 3 years 17 after the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec- 18 retary shall submit to Congress a report on the projects 19 for which grants are provided under this section and a 20 recommendation as to whether the Congress should au- 21 thorize the Secretary to continue grants under this section 22 beyond fiscal year 2023. For each applicant awarded a 23 grant under this section, such report shall include an eval- 24 uation of whether such applicant has performed the ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9049.IH H9049 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 9049 IH tions described in each of subclauses (II) through (VI) of 1 subsection (c)(1)(A)(ii), including whether such applicant 2 has developed and implemented strategies or activities de- 3 signed to reduce racial or ethnic, gender, age, or socio- 4 economic health disparities in cancer research, cancer 5 care, cancer patient outcomes, or directly in the commu- 6 nities in which the center is located.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Jan 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H9049.IH H9049 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS