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<BillSummaries>
<item congress="113" measure-type="s" measure-number="50" measure-id="id113s50" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2013-01-22" update-date="2013-02-07">
<title>Strengthening Protections for Children and Communities From Disease Clusters Act</title>
<summary summary-id="id113s50v00" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2013-02-07">
<action-date>2013-01-22</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in Senate</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p>Strengthening Protections for Children and Communities From Disease Clusters Act - Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) develop, publish, and update guidelines on an approach to investigate suspected or potential disease clusters, environmental pollutants or toxic substances associated with such clusters, or potential causes of such clusters; (2) establish and operate Regional Disease Cluster Information and Response Centers and Regional Disease Cluster Information and Response Teams; (3) ensure that the Office of Children's Health Protection has a prominent role in developing and updating such guidelines and in establishing and operating such Centers and Teams; (4) establish Community Disease Cluster Advisory Committees to provide oversight, guidance, and advice relating to such investigations; (5) provide support to individuals on such Teams and Committees through grants and cooperative agreements with institutions of higher education; (6) compile and update a publicly available, online database that provides information relating to disease clusters; and (7) use available authorities and programs to compile, research, and analyze information generated by actions authorized under this Act.</p> <p>Authorizes any person to submit a petition to the EPA Administrator, the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences that requests that a Response Team conduct an investigation or take action to address the potential causes of disease clusters.</p> <p>Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to any group of individuals that may be affected by such clusters.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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