Hazard Pay for Health Care Heroes Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1767 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for emergency grants to safeguard essential health care workers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 31 (legislative day, MAY 30), 2023 Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Ms. WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for emergency 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hazard Pay for Health 4 Care Heroes Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:10 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1767.IS S1767 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1767 IS SEC. 2. SAFEGUARDING ESSENTIAL HEALTH CARE WORK- 1 ERS. 2 The Public Health Service Act is amended by insert- 3 ing after section 319D–1 (42 U.S.C. 247d–4b) the fol- 4 lowing: 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; 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; 18 ‘‘(C) a national emergency declared by the 19 President under the National Emergencies Act; 20 ‘‘(D) a public health emergency declared 21 under section 319; and 22 ‘‘(E) a State, local, territorial, or Tribal 23 emergency or disaster, as declared by the appli- 24 cable State, local, territorial, or Tribal govern- 25 ment. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:10 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1767.IS S1767 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1767 IS ‘‘(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 03:10 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1767.IS S1767 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1767 IS ‘‘(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 03:10 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1767.IS S1767 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1767 IS 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 03:10 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1767.IS S1767 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS