[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 624 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 624

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote organ donation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 14, 2001

Mr. Bilirakis (for himself, Mr. Barrett, Mr. Upton, Mr. Brown of Ohio, 
 Mr. Ehrlich, Mrs. Thurman, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Deutsch, and 
  Mr. Wynn) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to promote organ donation.

    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 ``Organ Donation Improvement Act of 
2001''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Public Awareness of Need for Organ Donation.--It is the sense 
of the Congress that the Federal Government should carry out programs 
to educate the public with respect to organ donation, including the 
need to provide for an adequate rate of such donations.
    (b) Family Discussions of Organ Donations.--The Congress recognizes 
the importance of families pledging to each other to share their lives 
as organ and tissue donors and acknowledges the importance of 
discussing organ and tissue donation as a family.
    (c) Living Donations of Organs.--The Congress--
            (1) recognizes the generous contribution made by each 
        living individual who has donated an organ to save a life; and
            (2) acknowledges the advances in medical technology that 
        have enabled organ transplantation with organs donated by 
        living individuals to become a viable treatment option for an 
        increasing number of patients.

SEC. 3. PAYMENT OF TRAVEL AND SUBSISTENCE EXPENSES INCURRED TOWARD 
              LIVING ORGAN DONATION.

    Section 377 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 274f) is 
amended to read as follows:

  ``payment of travel and subsistence expenses incurred toward living 
                             organ donation

    ``Sec. 377. (a) In General.--The Secretary may make awards of 
grants or contracts to States, transplant centers, qualified organ 
procurement organizations under section 371, or other public or private 
entities for the purpose of--
            ``(1) providing for the payment of travel and subsistence 
        expenses incurred by individuals toward making living donations 
        of their organs (in this section referred as `donating 
        individuals'); and
            ``(2) in addition, providing for the payment of such 
        incidental nonmedical expenses that are so incurred as the 
        Secretary determines by regulation to be appropriate.
    ``(b) Eligibility.--
            ``(1) In general.--Payments under subsection (a) may be 
        made for the qualifying expenses of a donating individual only 
        if--
                    ``(A) the State in which the donating individual 
                resides is a different State than the State in which 
                the intended recipient of the organ resides; and
                    ``(B) the annual income of the intended recipient 
                of the organ does not exceed $35,000 (as adjusted for 
                fiscal year 2001 and subsequent fiscal years to offset 
                the effects of inflation occurring after the beginning 
                of fiscal year 2000).
            ``(2) Certain circumstances.--Subject to paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary may in carrying out subsection (a) provide as 
        follows:
                    ``(A) The Secretary may consider the term `donating 
                individuals' as including individuals who in good faith 
                incur qualifying expenses toward the intended donation 
                of an organ but with respect to whom, for such reasons 
                as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, no 
                donation of the organ occurs.
                    ``(B) The Secretary may consider the term 
                `qualifying expenses' as including the expenses of 
                having one or more family members of donating 
                individuals accompany the donating individuals for 
                purposes of subsection (a) (subject to making payment 
                for only such types of expenses as are paid for 
                donating individuals).
    ``(c) Limitation on Amount of Payment.--
            ``(1) In general.--With respect to the geographic area to 
        which a donating individual travels for purposes of subsection 
        (a), if such area is other than the covered vicinity for the 
        intended recipient of the organ, the amount of qualifying 
        expenses for which payments under such subsection are made may 
        not exceed the amount of such expenses for which payment would 
        have been made if such area had been the covered vicinity for 
        the intended recipient, taking into account the costs of travel 
        and regional differences in the costs of living.
            ``(2) Covered vicinity.--For purposes of this section, the 
        term `covered vicinity', with respect to an intended recipient 
        of an organ from a donating individual, means the vicinity of 
        the nearest transplant center to the residence of the intended 
        recipient that regularly performs transplants of that type of 
        organ.
    ``(d) Relationship to Payments Under Other Programs.--An award may 
be made under subsection (a) only if the applicant involved agrees that 
the award will not be expended to pay the qualifying expenses of a 
donating individual to the extent that payment has been made, or can 
reasonably be expected to be made, with respect to such expenses--
            ``(1) under any State compensation program, under an 
        insurance policy, or under any Federal or State health benefits 
        program; or
            ``(2) by an entity that provides health services on a 
        prepaid basis.
    ``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) The term `covered vicinity' has the meaning given 
        such term in subsection (c)(2).
            ``(2) The term `donating individuals' has the meaning 
        indicated for such term in subsection (a)(1), subject to 
        subsection (b)(2)(A).
            ``(3) The term `qualifying expenses' means the expenses 
        authorized for purposes of subsection (a), subject to 
        subsection (b)(2)(B).
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for 
each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2005.''.

SEC. 4. PUBLIC AWARENESS; STUDIES AND DEMONSTRATIONS.

    Part H of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 273 
et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 377 the following 
section:

             ``public awareness; studies and demonstrations

    ``Sec. 377A. (a) Public Awareness.--The Secretary shall (directly 
or through grants or contracts) carry out a program to educate the 
public with respect to organ donation, including the need to provide 
for an adequate rate of such donations.
    ``(b) Studies and Demonstrations.--The Secretary may make grants to 
public and nonprofit private entities for the purpose of carrying out 
studies and demonstration projects with respect to providing for an 
adequate rate of organ donation.
    ``(c) Grants to States.--The Secretary may make grants to States 
for the purpose of assisting States in carrying out organ donor 
awareness, public education and outreach activities and programs 
designed to increase the number of organ donors within the State, 
including living donors. To be eligible, each State shall--
            ``(1) submit an application to the Department in the form 
        prescribed;
            ``(2) establish yearly benchmarks for improvement in organ 
        donation rates in the State;
            ``(3) develop, enhance or expand a State donor registry, 
        which shall be available to hospitals, organ procurement 
        organizations, and other States upon a search request; and
            ``(4) report to the Secretary on an annual basis a 
        description and assessment of the State's use of these grant 
        funds, accompanied by an assessment of initiatives for 
        potential replication in other States.
Funds may be used by the State or in partnership with other public 
agencies or private sector institutions for education and awareness 
efforts, information dissemination, activities pertaining to the State 
organ donor registry, and other innovative donation specific 
initiatives, including living donation.
    ``(d) Annual Report to Congress.--The Secretary shall annually 
submit to the Congress a report on the activities carried out under 
this section, including provisions describing the extent to which the 
activities have affected the rate of organ donation.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--For the purpose of carrying out this 
        section, there are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 
        for fiscal year 2000, and such sums as may be necessary for 
        each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2005. Such authorization 
        of appropriations is in addition to any other authorizations of 
        appropriations that is available for such purpose.
            ``(2) Studies and demonstrations.--Of the amounts 
        appropriated under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, the 
        Secretary may not obligate more than $2,000,000 for carrying 
        out subsection (b).''.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act take effect on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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