[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 686 Engrossed Amendment House (EAH)]


  1st Session

                                 S. 686

_______________________________________________________________________

                               AMENDMENT
                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                     November 20, 2003.

    Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 686) entitled ``An Act to 
provide assistance for poison prevention and to stabilize the funding of 
regional poison control centers'', do pass with the following

                               AMENDMENT:

            Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Poison Control Center Enhancement 
and Awareness Act Amendments of 2003''.

 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Poison control centers are our Nation's primary defense 
        against injury and deaths from poisoning. Twenty-four hours a 
        day, the general public as well as health care practitioners 
        contact their local poison centers for help in diagnosing and 
        treating victims of poisoning and other toxic exposures.
            (2) Poisoning is the third most common form of 
        unintentional death in the United States. In any given year, 
        there will be between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 poison exposures. 
        More than 50 percent of these exposures will involve children 
        under the age of 6 who are exposed to toxic substances in their 
        home. Poisoning accounts for 285,000 hospitalizations, 
        1,200,000 days of acute hospital care, and 13,000 fatalities 
        annually.
            (3) Stabilizing the funding structure and increasing 
        accessibility to poison control centers will promote the 
        utilization of poison control centers, and reduce the 
        inappropriate use of emergency medical services and other more 
        costly health care services.
            (4) The tragic events of September 11, 2001, and the 
        anthrax cases of October 2001, have dramatically changed our 
        Nation. During this time period, poison centers in many areas 
        of the country were answering thousands of additional calls 
        from concerned residents. Many poison centers were relied upon 
        as a source for accurate medical information about the disease 
        and the complications resulting from prophylactic antibiotic 
        therapy.
            (5) The 2001 Presidential Task Force on Citizen 
        Preparedness in the War on Terrorism recommended that the 
        Poison Control Centers be used as a source of public 
        information and public education regarding potential 
        biological, chemical, and nuclear domestic terrorism.
            (6) The increased demand placed upon poison centers to 
        provide emergency information in the event of a terrorist event 
        involving a biological, chemical, or nuclear toxin will 
        dramatically increase call volume.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT.

    Title XII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

                        ``Part G--Poison Control

``SEC. 1271. MAINTENANCE OF A NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall provide coordination and 
assistance to regional poison control centers for the establishment of 
a nationwide toll-free phone number to be used to access such centers.
    ``(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed as prohibiting the establishment or continued operation of 
any privately funded nationwide toll-free phone number used to provide 
advice and other assistance for poisonings or accidental exposures.
    ``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $2,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2000 through 2009. Funds appropriated under this 
subsection shall not be used to fund any toll-free phone number 
described in subsection (b).

``SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER 
              UTILIZATION.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish a national media 
campaign to educate the public and health care providers about poison 
prevention and the availability of poison control resources in local 
communities and to conduct advertising campaigns concerning the 
nationwide toll-free number established under section 1271.
    ``(b) Contract With Entity.--The Secretary may carry out subsection 
(a) by entering into contracts with 1 or more nationally recognized 
media firms for the development and distribution of monthly television, 
radio, and newspaper public service announcements.
    ``(c) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall--
            ``(1) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to 
        quantitatively evaluate the impact of the nationwide media 
        campaign established under this section; and
            ``(2) prepare and submit to the appropriate congressional 
        committees an evaluation of the nationwide media campaign on an 
        annual basis.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $600,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2000 through 2005 and such sums as may be necessary for each of 
fiscal years 2006 through 2009.

``SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Regional Poison Control Centers.--The Secretary shall award 
grants to certified regional poison control centers for the purposes of 
achieving the financial stability of such centers, and for preventing 
and providing treatment recommendations for poisonings.
    ``(b) Other Improvements.--The Secretary shall also use amounts 
received under this section to--
            ``(1) develop standardized poison prevention and poison 
        control promotion programs;
            ``(2) develop standard patient management guidelines for 
        commonly encountered toxic exposures;
            ``(3) improve and expand the poison control data collection 
        systems, including, at the Secretary's discretion, by assisting 
        the poison control centers to improve data collection 
        activities;
            ``(4) improve national toxic exposure surveillance by 
        enhancing activities at the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease 
        Registry;
            ``(5) expand the toxicologic expertise within poison 
        control centers; and
            ``(6) improve the capacity of poison control centers to 
        answer high volumes of calls during times of national crisis.
    ``(c) Certification.--Except as provided in subsection (d), the 
Secretary may make a grant to a center under subsection (a) only if--
            ``(1) the center has been certified by a professional 
        organization in the field of poison control, and the Secretary 
        has approved the organization as having in effect standards for 
        certification that reasonably provide for the protection of the 
        public health with respect to poisoning; or
            ``(2) the center has been certified by a State government, 
        and the Secretary has approved the State government as having 
        in effect standards for certification that reasonably provide 
        for the protection of the public health with respect to 
        poisoning.
    ``(d) Waiver of Certification Requirements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may grant a waiver of the 
        certification requirement of subsection (c) with respect to a 
        noncertified poison control center or a newly established 
        center that applies for a grant under this section if such 
        center can reasonably demonstrate that the center will obtain 
        such a certification within a reasonable period of time as 
        determined appropriate by the Secretary.
            ``(2) Renewal.--The Secretary may renew a waiver under 
        paragraph (1).
            ``(3) Limitation.--In no instance may the sum of the number 
        of years for a waiver under paragraph (1) and a renewal under 
        paragraph (2) exceed 5 years. The preceding sentence shall take 
        effect as if enacted on February 25, 2000.
    ``(e) Supplement Not Supplant.--Amounts made available to a poison 
control center under this section shall be used to supplement and not 
supplant other Federal, State, or local funds provided for such center.
    ``(f) Maintenance of Effort.--A poison control center, in utilizing 
the proceeds of a grant under this section, shall maintain the 
expenditures of the center for activities of the center at a level that 
is not less than the level of such expenditures maintained by the 
center for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the 
grant is received.
    ``(g) Matching Requirement.--The Secretary may impose a matching 
requirement with respect to amounts provided under a grant under this 
section if the Secretary determines appropriate.
    ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $25,000,000 for each of the 
fiscal years 2000 through 2004 and $27,500,000 for each of fiscal years 
2005 through 2009.

``SEC. 1274. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    ``Nothing in this part may be construed to ease any restriction in 
Federal law applicable to the amount or percentage of funds 
appropriated to carry out this part that may be used to prepare or 
submit a report.''.

SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

    The Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act (42 U.S.C. 
14801 et seq.) is hereby repealed.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.