[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1420 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1420

To reauthorize the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

               August 6 (legislative day, June 30), 1993

 Mr. Glenn (for himself, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Durenberger, Mr. Riegle, Mr. 
    Dodd, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Robb, Mr. DeConcini, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
 Hatfield, Mr. Nunn, Ms. Moseley-Braun, Mr. Chafee, and Mr. Bingaman) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                 Committee on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To reauthorize the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, 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 ``National Commission to Prevent 
Infant Mortality Reauthorization Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

    A reference in this Act to ``the Act'' shall be a reference to the 
National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C. 
285g note; Public Law 99-660; 100 Stat. 3752).

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) infant mortality is largely preventable with early, 
        regular, and comprehensive prenatal care, good nutrition, 
        healthy behaviors during pregnancy, and preventive well baby 
        care;
            (2) while the United States' infant mortality rate is 
        slowly improving, the Nation still lags behind most other 
        developed nations, and the advances that are being made 
        continue to be due mostly to improved technology that saves low 
        birthweight and otherwise at-risk newborns rather than making 
        sure all babies are born as healthy as possible in the first 
        place;
            (3) children born at low birthweight and otherwise at-risk 
        not only are more likely to die, but also are much more likely 
        to suffer long-term disabilities and require costly medical 
        interventions, special education, and other services;
            (4) in 1988, the National Commission to Prevent Infant 
        Mortality developed a strategic national plan to reduce infant 
        mortality, and submitted such plan to the Congress and the 
        President in a report entitled ``Death Before Life: The Tragedy 
        of Infant Mortality'';
            (5) the report's many recommendations centered on 
        fundamental solutions to the problem of infant mortality that 
        have existed for decades, including recommendations that all 
        pregnant women and infants must have universal access to the 
        range of necessary services, and that the health and well-being 
        of mothers and children must become a high national priority;
            (6) since issuing such report, the Commission has continued 
        to promote specific actions, based on the report's 
        recommendations, for Congress and all sectors of society to 
        take to improve the health and well-being of all infants, 
        children, and pregnant women;
            (7) despite considerable effort and success by many 
        throughout the Nation to improve the accessibility of services 
        and to raise awareness about healthy behaviors, numerous 
        financial and nonfinancial barriers still exist in the service 
        delivery system, the public continues to lack the information 
        and often motivation needed to make healthy choices, and the 
        infant mortality rate, low birthweight rate, and other 
        indicators continue to be far too high; and
            (8) to help assure that the Nation reaches the goal of 
        universal access to care and that the health and well-being of 
        all infants, children, and pregnant women becomes a high 
        national priority, the need for the Commission continues.

SEC. 4. COMPOSITION OF COMMISSION.

    Section 203(b) of the Act is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking out 
        ``fifteen members'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``sixteen 
        members'';
            (2) in paragraph (3) in the second sentence--
                    (A) by inserting ``directly'' before ``responsible 
                for administering the State medicaid program''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``directly'' before ``responsible 
                for administering the State maternal and child health 
                programs''; and
            (3) in paragraph (6) by striking out ``Six at large 
        members'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``Seven at large 
        members''.

SEC. 5. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

    Section 204 of the Act is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 204. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

    ``The Commission shall--
            ``(1) develop strategic plans to initiate and stimulate 
        action on the recommendations in the report submitted by the 
        Commission to the Congress and President in 1988 entitled, 
        ``Death Before Life: The Tragedy of Infant Mortality'';
            ``(2) inform the Congress and others, through reports, 
        conferences, briefings, public information campaigns, and other 
        means of the specific actions that can be taken to improve the 
        health and well-being of pregnant women, infants, and children;
            ``(3) serve as an information clearinghouse for the 
        Congress and other interested parties on domestic and 
        international model programs and cost effective strategies 
        for--
                    ``(A) improving the health and well-being of 
                pregnant women and children in the areas of Federal and 
                State legislation and program administration; and
                    ``(B) organizing and delivering local services, 
                raising public awareness, and conducting outreach to 
                populations in need;
            ``(4) annually report and make recommendations on the 
        demographic and related trends concerning the health of 
        pregnant women, infants, and children to the Congress and the 
        President; and
            ``(5) establish working relationships and networking 
        linkages with organizations and other entities within and 
        outside the Federal Government to promote the health and well-
        being of pregnant women, infants, and children.''.

SEC. 6. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.

    Section 205 of the Act is amended by redesignating subsection (d) 
as subsection (f) and inserting after subsection (c) the following new 
subsections:
    ``(d) Grants.--To carry out its activities, the Commission may 
accept and expend private sector funds from corporations, nonprofit 
foundations, or individuals. The Commission may also accept and expend 
interagency transfer funds from agencies of the United States 
Government. The Commission shall report all grant raising, acceptance, 
and expending activities and the amount of all funds related to such 
activities to the Appropriations Committees of the Senate and the House 
of Representatives on an annual basis.
    ``(e) Voluntary Services.--Notwithstanding section 1342 of title 
31, United States Code, the Commission may accept voluntary and 
uncompensated services.''.

SEC. 7. COMMISSION STAFF.

    Section 206 of the Act is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b) by striking out ``the rate payable 
        for GS-18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of such 
        title'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``the rate payable for a 
        position at level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 
        5315 of such title''; and
            (2) in subsection (d) by striking out ``the daily rate 
        payable for GS-18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of 
        such title'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``the daily rate 
        payable for a position at level IV of the Executive Schedule 
        under section 5315 of such title''.

SEC. 8. REAUTHORIZATION OF COMMISSION.

    Sections 208 and 209 of the Act are amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 208. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION.

    ``The Commission shall terminate on December 31, 1997.

``SEC. 209. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to the Commission 
$480,000 in fiscal year 1995, $480,000 in fiscal year 1996, and 
$600,000 in fiscal year 1997. Sums appropriated pursuant to this 
section shall remain available through December 31, 1997.''.

SEC. 9. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

    The matter under the heading ``national commission to prevent 
infant mortality'' under title IV of the Departments of Labor, Health 
and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations 
Act, 1989 (Public Law 100-436; 102 Stat. 1709) is amended by striking 
out the second and third sentences.

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