[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3034 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3034

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the National Bone 
             Marrow Donor Registry, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 5, 2003

   Mr. Young of Florida (for himself, Mr. Bilirakis, and Mr. Towns) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the National Bone 
             Marrow Donor Registry, 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 Bone Marrow Donor Registry 
Reauthorization Act''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRY.

    (a) National Registry.--Section 379 of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 274k) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``except that'' 
                and all that follows and inserting ``except that--
                    ``(A) such limitations shall not apply to the Chair 
                of the board (or the Chair-elect) or to the member of 
                the board who most recently served as the Chair; and
                    ``(B) 1 additional consecutive 2-year term may be 
                served by any member of the board who has no 
                employment, governance, or financial affiliation with 
                any donor center, recruitment group, transplant center, 
                or cord blood bank.'';
                    (B) in paragraph (4)--
                            (i) by striking ``the Naval Medical 
                        Research and Development Command'' and 
                        inserting ``Department of Defense Marrow Donor 
                        Recruitment and Research Program operated by 
                        the Department of the Navy''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``Organ'' after ``Division 
                        of'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``at least'' 
                before ``annually'';
                    (B) in paragraph (7), by striking ``and comparisons 
                of transplant centers regarding search and other costs 
                that prior to transplantation are charged to patients 
                by transplant centers; and'';
                    (C) in paragraph (8), by inserting ``and outreach'' 
                after ``and demonstration'';
                    (D) at the end of paragraph (8), by striking the 
                period and inserting a semicolon;
                    (E) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (8) as 
                paragraphs (4) through (9);
                    (F) by inserting after paragraph (2), the 
                following:
            ``(3) maintain and expand medical emergency contingency 
        response capabilities in concert with Federal programs for 
        response to threats of use of terrorist or military weapons 
        that can damage marrow, such as ionizing radiation or chemical 
        agents containing mustard, so that the capability of supporting 
        patients with marrow damage from disease can be used to support 
        casualties with marrow damage;''; and
                    (G) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(10) conduct and support research to improve the 
        availability, efficiency, safety, and cost of transplants from 
        unrelated donors and the effectiveness of Registry operations;
            ``(11) increase the number of umbilical cord blood units 
        listed in the Registry and assist cord blood banks in the 
        Registry program in accordance with subsection (c); and
            ``(12) establish bylaws and procedures--
                    ``(A) to prohibit any member of the board of 
                directors of the Registry who has an employment, 
                governance, or financial affiliation with a donor 
                center, recruitment group, transplant center, or cord 
                blood bank from participating in any decision that 
                materially affects the center, recruitment group, or 
                cord blood bank; and
                    ``(B) to limit the number of members of the board 
                with any such affiliation.'';
            (3) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in clause (ii) of paragraph (2)(A), by striking 
                ``, including providing updates''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``the 
                availability, as a potential treatment option, of 
                receiving a transplant of bone marrow from an unrelated 
                donor'' and inserting ``transplants from unrelated 
                donors as a treatment option and resources for 
                identifying and evaluating other therapeutic 
                alternatives'';
            (4) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)(C), by inserting ``and assist 
                with information regarding third party payor matters'' 
                after ``ongoing search for a donor'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(F)--
                            (i) by redesignating clause (v) as clause 
                        (vi); and
                            (ii) by inserting after clause (iv) the 
                        following:
                            ``(v) Information concerning issues that 
                        patients may face after a transplant regarding 
                        continuity of care and quality of life.''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (3)(B), by striking ``Office may'' 
                and inserting ``Office shall'';
            (5) in subsection (g), by striking ``the bone marrow donor 
        program of the Department of the Navy'' and inserting 
        ``Department of Defense Marrow Donor Recruitment and Research 
        Program operated by the Department of Navy'';
            (6) in subsection (h)--
                    (A) by striking ``Application.--'' and inserting 
                ``Contracts.--'';
                    (B) by striking ``To be eligible'' and inserting 
                the following: ``(1) Application.--To be eligible''; 
                and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Considerations.--In awarding contracts under this 
        section, the Secretary shall give substantial weight to the 
        continued safety of donors and patients and other factors 
        deemed appropriate by the Secretary.'';
            (7) in subsection (i), by striking ``include'' and 
        inserting ``be''; and
            (8) by striking subsection (l).
    (b) Bone Marrow Scientific Registry.--Section 379A of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 274l) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``The scientific registry shall participate in medical research 
        that has the potential to improve transplant outcomes.'';
            (2) in subsection (c), by striking ``Each such report shall 
        in addition include the data required in section 379(l) 
        (relating to pretransplant costs)''; and
            (3) adding after subsection (c):
    ``(d) Publicly Available Data.--The scientific registry shall make 
relevant scientific information not containing personal identifiers 
available to the public in the form of summaries and data sets to 
encourage medical research and to provide information to transplant 
programs, physicians, and patients.''
    (c) Bone Marrow and Marrow Defined.--Part I of title III of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 274k et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating section 379B as section 379C; and
            (2) by inserting after section 379A the following:

``SEC. 379B. BONE MARROW AND MARROW DEFINED.

    ``For purposes of this part, the terms `bone marrow' and `marrow' 
include bone marrow and any other source of hematopoietic progenitor 
cells the acquisition or use of which is not inconsistent with Federal 
law.''.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 379C of the Public 
Health Service Act, as redesignated by subsection (c), is amended to 
read as follows:

``SEC. 379C. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--For the purpose of carrying out this part, there 
are authorized to be appropriated $32,000,000 for fiscal year 2004, and 
such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 
2008.
    ``(b) Emergency Contingency Response Capabilities.--In addition to 
any amounts authorized to be appropriated under subsection (a), there 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for the 
maintenance and expansion of emergency contingency response 
capabilities under section 379(b)(3).''.
                                 <all>