[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3253 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 3253


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2002

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for the establishment 
within the Department of Veterans Affairs of improved emergency medical 
preparedness, research, and education programs to combat terrorism, 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 ``Department of Veterans Affairs 
Emergency Preparedness Research, Education, and Bio-Terrorism 
Prevention Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS CENTERS.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 73 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 7325. Medical emergency preparedness centers
    ``(a) Establishment of Centers.--(1) The Secretary shall establish 
at least four medical emergency preparedness centers in accordance with 
this section. Each such center shall be established at a Department 
medical center and shall be staffed by Department employees.
    ``(2) The Under Secretary for Health shall be responsible for 
supervising the operation of the centers established pursuant to this 
section. The Under Secretary shall provide for ongoing evaluation of 
the centers and their compliance with the requirements of this section.
    ``(3) The Under Secretary shall carry out the Under Secretary's 
functions under paragraph (2) in consultation with the Assistant 
Secretary for Veterans Affairs with responsibility for operations, 
preparedness, and security.
    ``(b) Mission.--The mission of the centers shall be--
            ``(1) to carry out research on and develop methods of 
        detection, diagnosis, vaccination, protection, and treatment 
        for chemical, biological, and radiological threats to the 
        public health and safety;
            ``(2) to provide education, training, and advice to health-
        care professionals, including health-care professionals outside 
        the Veterans Health Administration; and
            ``(3) to provide contingent rapid response laboratory 
        assistance and other assistance to local health care 
        authorities in the event of a national emergency.
    ``(c) Center Directors.--Each center shall have a Director with (1) 
expertise in managing organizations that deal with threats referred to 
in subsection (b), (2) expertise in providing care to populations 
exposed to toxic substances, or (3) significant research experience in 
those fields.
    ``(d) Selection of Centers.--(1) The Secretary shall select the 
sites for the centers on the basis of a competitive selection process 
and a finding under paragraph (2). The centers selected shall be 
located in different regions of the Nation, and any such center may be 
a consortium of efforts of more than one medical center. At least one 
of the centers shall be established to concentrate on chemical threats, 
at least one shall be established to concentrate on biological threats, 
and at least one shall be established to concentrate on radiological 
threats.
    ``(2) The finding referred to in paragraph (1) with respect to a 
proposal for designation of a site as a location of a center under this 
section is a finding by the Secretary, upon the recommendations of the 
Under Secretary for Health and the Assistant Secretary with 
responsibility for operations, preparedness, and security, that the 
facility or facilities submitting the proposal have developed (or may 
reasonably be anticipated to develop) each of the following:
            ``(A) An arrangement with a qualifying medical school and a 
        qualifying school of public health (or a consortium of such 
        schools) under which physicians and other persons in the health 
        field receive education and training through the participating 
        Department medical centers so as to provide those persons with 
        training in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses induced by 
        exposures to toxins, including chemical and biological 
        substances and nuclear ionizing radiation.
            ``(B) An arrangement with an accredited graduate program of 
        epidemiology under which students receive education and 
        training in epidemiology through the participating Department 
        facilities so as to provide such students with training in the 
        epidemiology of contagious and infectious diseases and chemical 
        and radiation poisoning in an exposed population.
            ``(C) An arrangement under which nursing, social work, 
        counseling, or allied health personnel and students receive 
        training and education in recognizing and caring for conditions 
        associated with exposures to toxins through the participating 
        Department facilities.
            ``(D) The ability to attract scientists who have made 
        significant contributions to the development of innovative 
        approaches to the detection, diagnosis, vaccination, 
        protection, or treatment of persons exposed to chemical, 
        biological, or radiological substances.
    ``(3) For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)--
            ``(A) a qualifying medical school is an accredited medical 
        school that provides education and training in toxicology and 
        environmental health hazards and with which one or more of the 
        participating Department medical centers is affiliated; and
            ``(B) a qualifying school of public health is an accredited 
        school of public health that provides education and training in 
        toxicology and environmental health hazards and with which one 
        or more of the participating Department medical centers is 
        affiliated.
    ``(e) Funding.--(1) Amounts appropriated for the activities of the 
centers shall be appropriated separately from amounts appropriated for 
the Department for medical care.
    ``(2) There are authorized to be appropriated for the centers under 
this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2003 through 2007.
    ``(3) In addition to funds appropriated for a fiscal year pursuant 
to the authorization of appropriations in paragraph (2), the Under 
Secretary for Health shall allocate to such centers from other funds 
appropriated for that fiscal year generally for the Department of 
Veterans Affairs medical care account and the Department of Veterans 
Affairs medical and prosthetics research account such amounts as the 
Under Secretary for Health determines appropriate to carry out the 
purposes of this section. Any determination by the Under Secretary 
under the preceding sentence shall be made in consultation with the 
Assistant Secretary with responsibility for operations, preparedness, 
and security.
    ``(f) Research Activities.--Each center shall conduct research on 
improved medical preparedness to protect the Nation from threats in the 
area of that center's expertise. Each center may seek research funds 
from public and private sources for such purpose.
    ``(g) Peer Review Panel.--(1) In order to provide advice to assist 
the Secretary and the Under Secretary for Health to carry out their 
responsibilities under this section, the Under Secretary shall 
establish a peer review panel to assess the scientific and clinical 
merit of proposals that are submitted to the Secretary for the 
designation of centers under this section. The peer review shall be 
established in consultation with the Assistant Secretary with 
responsibility for operations, preparedness, and security.
    ``(2) The peer review panel shall include experts in the fields of 
toxicological research, bio-hazards management education and training, 
radiology, clinical care of patients exposed to such hazards, and other 
persons as determined appropriate by the Secretary. Members of the 
panel shall serve as consultants to the Department.
    ``(3) The panel shall review each proposal submitted to the panel 
by the officials referred to in paragraph (1) and shall submit to the 
Under Secretary for Health its views on the relative scientific and 
clinical merit of each such proposal. The panel shall specifically 
determine with respect to each such proposal whether that proposal is 
among those proposals which have met the highest competitive standards 
of scientific and clinical merit.
    ``(4) The panel shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
    ``(h) Research Products.--(1) The Under Secretary for Health and 
the Assistant Secretary with responsibility for operations, 
preparedness, and security shall ensure that information produced by 
the research, education and training, and clinical activities of 
centers established under this section is made available, as 
appropriate, to health-care providers in the United States. 
Dissemination of such information shall be made through publications, 
through programs of continuing medical and related education provided 
through regional medical education centers under subchapter VI of 
chapter 74 of this title, and through other means. Such programs of 
continuing medical education shall receive priority in the award of 
funding.
    ``(2) The Secretary shall ensure that the work of the centers is 
conducted in close coordination with other Federal departments and 
agencies and that research products or other information of the centers 
shall be coordinated and shared with other Federal departments and 
agencies.
    ``(i) Assistance to Other Agencies.--The Secretary may provide 
assistance requested by appropriate Federal, State, and local civil and 
criminal authorities in investigations, inquiries, and data analyses as 
necessary to protect the public safety and prevent or obviate 
biological, chemical, or radiological threats.
    ``(j) Detail of Employees From Other Agencies.--Upon approval by 
the Secretary, the Director of a center may request the temporary 
assignment or detail to the center, on a nonreimbursable basis, of 
employees from other Departments and agencies of the United States who 
have expertise that would further the mission of the center. Any such 
employee may be so assigned or detailed on a nonreimbursable basis 
pursuant to such a request. The duration of any such assignment or 
detail shall be subject to approval by the Office of Personnel 
Management.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
7324 the following new item:

``7325. Medical emergency preparedness centers.''.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--(1) Subchapter II of chapter 73 of title 38, 
United States Code, is amended by adding after section 7325, as added 
by section 2(a), the following new section:
``Sec. 7326. Emergency health and medical education
    ``(a) Education Program.--The Secretary shall carry out a program 
to develop and disseminate a series of model education and training 
programs on the medical responses to the consequences of terrorist 
activities.
    ``(b) Implementing Entity.--The program shall be carried out 
through the Under Secretary for Health, in consultation with the 
Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs with responsibility for 
operations, preparedness, and security.
    ``(c) Content of Programs.--The education and training programs 
developed under the program shall be modelled after programs 
established at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine of the Uniformed 
Services University of the Health Sciences and shall include, at a 
minimum, training for health care professionals in the following:
            ``(1) Recognition of chemical, biological, and radiological 
        agents that may be used in terrorist activities.
            ``(2) Identification of the potential symptoms of those 
        agents.
            ``(3) Understanding of the potential long-term health 
        consequences, including psychological effects, resulting from 
        exposure to those agents.
            ``(4) Emergency treatment for exposure to those agents.
            ``(5) An appropriate course of followup treatment, 
        supportive care, and referral.
            ``(6) Actions that can be taken while providing care for 
        exposure to those agents to protect against contamination.
            ``(7) Information on how to seek consultative support and 
        to report suspected or actual use of those agents.
    ``(d) Potential Trainees.--In designing the education and training 
programs under this section, the Secretary shall ensure that different 
programs are designed for health-care professionals at various levels. 
The programs shall be designed to be disseminated to health professions 
students, graduate health and medical education trainees, and health 
practitioners in a variety of fields.
    ``(e) Consultation.--In establishing the education and training 
program under this section, the Secretary shall consult with 
appropriate representatives of accrediting, certifying, and 
coordinating organizations in the field of health professions 
education.''.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7325, as added 
by section 2(b), the following new item:

``7326. Emergency health and medical education.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
implement section 7326 of title 38, United States Code, as added by 
subsection (a), not later than the end of the 90-day period beginning 
on the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. INCREASE IN NUMBER OF ASSISTANT SECRETARIES OF VETERANS 
              AFFAIRS.

    (a) Increase.--Subsection (a) of section 308 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by striking ``six'' in the first sentence and 
inserting ``seven''.
    (b) Functions.--subsection (b) of such section is amended by adding 
at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(11) Operations, preparedness, security, and law 
        enforcement functions.''.
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 5315 of title 5, United States 
Code, is amended by striking ``(6)'' after ``Assistant Secretaries, 
Department of Veterans Affairs'' and inserting ``(7)''.

            Passed the House of Representatives May 20, 2002.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.