To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish emergency grants to safeguard essential health care workers, and for other purposes.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3645 To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish emergency grants to safeguard essential health care workers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 24, 2023 Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania (for herself, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BROWN, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. BUSH, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. CASAR, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. DELUZIO, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Mr. FROST, Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mrs. MCCLELLAN, Mr. MFUME, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. STRICKLAND, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, and Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish emer- gency grants to safeguard essential health care workers, 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 03:03 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3645.IH H3645 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3645 IH SECTION 1. SAFEGUARDING ESSENTIAL HEALTH CARE 1 WORKERS. 2 Title III of the Public Health Service Act is amended 3 by inserting after section 319D–1 (42 U.S.C. 247d–4b) 4 the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 319D–2. EMERGENCY GRANTS TO SAFEGUARD ESSEN- 6 TIAL HEALTH CARE WORKERS. 7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 ‘‘(1) EMERGENCY OR DISASTER.—The term 9 ‘emergency or disaster’ means— 10 ‘‘(A) a major disaster declared by the 11 President under section 401 of the Robert T. 12 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 13 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); 14 ‘‘(B) an emergency declared by the Presi- 15 dent under section 501 of the Robert T. Staf- 16 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 17 Act (42 U.S.C. 5191); 18 ‘‘(C) a national emergency declared by the 19 President under the National Emergencies Act 20 (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.); 21 ‘‘(D) a public health emergency declared 22 under section 319; and 23 ‘‘(E) a State or local emergency or dis- 24 aster, as declared by the applicable State or 25 local government. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3645.IH H3645 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3645 IH ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE HEALTH CARE WORKER.—The 1 term ‘eligible health care worker’ means an essential 2 health care worker whose work cannot be conducted 3 remotely. 4 ‘‘(3) ESSENTIAL HEALTH CARE WORKER.—The 5 term ‘essential health care worker’ means— 6 ‘‘(A) a health care provider, including a di- 7 rect care worker (as defined in section 799B); 8 ‘‘(B) a medical technologist; 9 ‘‘(C) a public health worker; 10 ‘‘(D) an orderly (as defined in the 2010 11 Standard Occupational Classifications of the 12 Department of Labor under the code for Order- 13 lies (31–1015)); 14 ‘‘(E) an environmental service, janitorial, 15 or custodial worker in a health care setting; and 16 ‘‘(F) any other professional role that the 17 Secretary determines is essential to the care of 18 patients or the maintenance of public health. 19 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make 21 grants to public or private nonprofit health care fa- 22 cilities and home health agencies for use in accord- 23 ance with paragraph (2). 24 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3645.IH H3645 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3645 IH ‘‘(A) HAZARDOUS DUTY COMPENSATION.— 1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The recipient of a 2 grant under paragraph (1) shall use the 3 grant funds to provide hazardous duty 4 compensation to eligible health care work- 5 ers for work performed during the period 6 of an emergency or disaster in cases in 7 which the Secretary determines that— 8 ‘‘(I) the performance of the work 9 by the eligible health care worker for 10 the applicable health care facility or 11 home health agency is hazardous; or 12 ‘‘(II) the commute of the eligible 13 health care worker is hazardous. 14 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT.— 15 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to 16 subclause (II), the amount of haz- 17 ardous duty compensation under 18 clause (i) shall be not more than $13 19 per hour, which shall be in addition to 20 the wages or remuneration the eligible 21 health care worker otherwise receives 22 for the work. 23 ‘‘(II) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The 24 total amount of hazardous duty com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3645.IH H3645 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3645 IH pensation received by any 1 eligible 1 health care worker under this sub- 2 paragraph may not exceed $25,000 3 per year. 4 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL USES.—The recipient of 5 a grant under paragraph (1) may use the grant 6 funds to provide safety measures to safeguard 7 and protect eligible health care workers from 8 hazards due to the applicable emergency or dis- 9 aster, including alternative transit options, per- 10 sonal protective equipment, and other safety 11 measures. 12 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 13 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 14 such sums as may be necessary.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:03 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3645.IH H3645 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS