[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3615 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3615

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of 
    Health and Human Services to make grants to designated eligible 
entities to train school nurses as ``first responders'' in the event of 
             a biological or chemical attack on the Nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2002

  Mr. Israel introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of 
    Health and Human Services to make grants to designated eligible 
entities to train school nurses as ``first responders'' in the event of 
             a biological or chemical attack on the Nation.

    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 ``Protecting Our Schools Homeland 
Defense Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) There are more than 47,000 nurses in the Nation's 
        elementary and secondary schools.
            (2) Some children spend up to 10 hours in school each day.
            (3) School nurses are the only professional health care 
        providers in many schools.
            (4) If a child becomes sick or arrives at school sick, a 
        school nurse is often the first medical professional to see, 
        assess, and treat the child.
            (5) In the event of a biological or chemical attack on the 
        United States, school nurses would be among the first medical 
        professionals to respond, would put themselves at risk, and 
        would be responsible for a school's children and teachers, 
        including those not subject to the attack.
            (6) School children, including a large number of 
        mainstreamed children with disabilities, may be more vulnerable 
        to biological or chemical attack, and therefore show symptoms 
        sooner than the general population.
            (7) School nurses must be prepared for the kind of response 
        that would be necessary if a biological or chemical attack 
        occurs.
            (8) The proper training of school nurses could provide for 
        early detection and dramatically slow the spread of disease.
            (9) If school nurses were trained to respond to biological 
        or chemical attacks, school nurses could serve as critical 
        ``first responders'' in the event of such an emergency.
            (10) School nurses would perform a valuable service by 
        recognizing a disease early and alerting local public health 
        officials.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to provide for grants to train school 
nurses as ``first responders'' in the event of a biological or chemical 
attack on the Nation.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

    Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

        ``PART H--TRAINING NURSES FOR RESPONDING TO BIOTERRORISM

``SEC. 851. GRANTS FOR BIOTERRORISM RESPONSE.

    ``(a) Authorization.--The Secretary shall award grants to 
designated eligible entities to train nurses to respond to an act of 
biological or chemical terrorism.
    ``(b) Use of Funds.--A designated eligible entity that receives a 
grant under this section shall use funds under such grant to train 
nurses to respond to an act of biological or chemical terrorism.
    ``(c) Reservation.--From the total amount appropriated to carry out 
this section each fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve at least 
$20,000,000 for grants under subsection (a) to local educational 
agencies.
    ``(d) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) Designated eligible entity.--The term `designated 
        eligible entity' means an eligible entity that is a State 
        educational agency, local educational agency, or professional 
        organization.
            ``(2) State educational agency; local educational agency.--
        The terms `State educational agency' and `local educational 
        agency' have the meanings given to those terms in section 9101 
        of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.''.
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