[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3468 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3468

   To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to employment 
 opportunities at the National Institutes of Health for women who are 
                  scientists, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 8, 1993

Ms. Slaughter introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to employment 
 opportunities at the National Institutes of Health for women who are 
                  scientists, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``NIH Women Scientist Employment 
Opportunity Act''.

SEC. 2. WOMEN'S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT.

    Part A of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 281 
et seq.), as amended by section 209 of Public Law 103-43 (107 Stat. 
149), is amended by adding at the end the following section:

                    ``women's scientific employment

    ``Sec. 404F. (a) In General.--The Director of NIH shall--
            ``(1) establish policies for the National Institutes of 
        Health on matters relating to the employment by the National 
        Institutes of Health of women as scientists; and
            ``(2) monitor the extent of compliance with such policies 
        and take appropriate action in cases in which the Director 
        determines that the policies have been violated.
    ``(b) Certain Functions.--In carrying out subsection (a), the 
Director of NIH shall provide for the following:
            ``(1) Implementing the recommendations of the group known 
        as the Task Force on the Status of NIH Intramural Women 
        Scientists.
            ``(2) Determining the concerns of intramural women 
        scientists.
            ``(3) Developing a policy defining the standard tenure 
        process for employment at the National Institutes of Health.
            ``(4) Determining the reason for departure from such 
        Institutes by interviewing women and men scientists as they 
        leave.
            ``(5) Distributing yearly to all employees of such 
        Institutes the policy of such Institutes on flexible family 
        leave.
            ``(6) Monitoring the number of women, including minority 
        women, included on the committees, panels, and other working 
        groups (and in meetings) of such Institutes.
            ``(7) Making efforts to recruit minority women, based on 
        the small numbers of tenured minority women scientists.
            ``(8) Developing additional goals related to women and 
        minority women scientists at such Institutes.
    ``(c) Inclusion of Women on Intramural and Extramural Conferences 
and Other Groups.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Director of NIH shall establish a 
        policy at the National Institutes of Health of requiring 
        inclusion of women scientists in greater numbers on or in 
        intramural and extramural conferences, workshops, meetings, 
        international congresses, and other groups funded or sponsored 
        by such Institutes. Such policy shall provide for the inclusion 
        of not less than one woman scientist in each such group, except 
        as provided in paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Exclusion; written explanation.--The policy 
        established in paragraph (1) may provide that no woman 
        scientist will be included in a group for purposes of such 
        paragraph if the Director of NIH provides a waiver of the 
        requirement. The Director may grant such a waiver only if--
                    ``(A) the individual with the chief responsibility 
                for the group involved submits to the Director a 
                written request for the waiver and the request provides 
                an explanation of the reasons underlying the need for 
                the waiver; and
                    ``(B) the Director makes a determination that 
                extraordinary circumstances justify providing the 
                waiver.
    ``(d) Study on Pay Equity.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Director of NIH shall provide for 
        study to identify any pay differences among men and women 
        scientists employed by the National Institutes of Health, both 
        tenured and untenured. The study shall include recommendations 
        on measures to adjust any disparities or inequities, and shall 
        identify a program to communicate information on salary ranges 
        to all employees.
            ``(2) Report.--Not later than 240 days after the date of 
        the enactment of the NIH Women Scientist Employment Opportunity 
        Act, the Director of NIH shall complete the study required in 
        paragraph (1) and submit to the Committee on Energy and 
        Commerce of the House of Representatives, and to the Committee 
        on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate, a report describing 
        the findings made as a result of the study.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as 
may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1994 through 1996.''.

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