1.Short
title; table of contents
(a)This Act may be cited
as the Accelerating the End of Breast
Cancer Act of 2012
.
(b)The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of
contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Establishment.
Sec. 4. Mission; duties.
Sec. 5. Membership.
Sec. 6. Chairperson; program managers.
Sec. 7. Coordination and nonduplication.
Sec. 8. Evaluation of the Commission.
Sec. 9. Authorization of funding.
Sec. 10. Termination.
2.Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)In the United
States, the chance of a woman developing breast cancer during her lifetime has
increased from 1 in 11 in 1975 to 1 in 8 today.
(2)Worldwide, breast
cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women with 1,300,000 cases
each year. Breast cancer is also the leading cause of cancer death in women,
with more than 500,000 women dying from the disease worldwide in 2010.
(3)More than 90
percent of deaths from breast cancer are caused by metastasis, which occurs
when cancerous cells spread to other organs or bone.
(4)The National
Cancer Institute estimated that breast cancer care in the United States cost
$16,500,000,000 in 2009, and cost the nation $12,100,000,000 in lost
productivity.
(5)Over the past 40
years, very little has improved the incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates
of breast cancer.
3.There shall be established a commission to
be known as the Commission to Accelerate the End of Breast Cancer (in this Act
referred to as the Commission
).
4.
(a)The
mission of the Commission shall be to help end breast cancer by January 1,
2020.
(b)The
Commission shall—
(1)identify
opportunities and ideas within the public and private sectors, basic and
applied sciences, and epidemiology that can be turned into real world
strategies to prevent breast cancer and breast cancer metastasis;
(2)recommend
projects to leverage such opportunities and ideas in the areas of—
(A)the primary
prevention of breast cancer; and
(B)the causes and
prevention of breast cancer metastasis;
(3)promote ideas
that are intellectually compelling and innovative;
(4)accelerate
potentially transformational scientific advances that are—
(A)not being
prioritized within the Federal Government but which can help to achieve the
mission described in subsection (a); and
(B)unlikely to be
achieved by the private sector due to technical and financial
uncertainty;
(5)identify
promising but underdeveloped areas of research that would benefit from a
cluster of support from government, industry, and academia to rapidly advance
knowledge into practice; and
(6)create
opportunities for transdisciplinary, cross-cutting collaborations.
(c)Not later than 6 months after the appointment of the
initial members of the Commission, the Commission shall submit to the President
and to the relevant authorizing and appropriations committees of Congress, a
description of the Commission’s strategic vision for its role in achieving the
mission described in subsection (a) by January 1, 2020.
(d)Not later than January 15, 2013, and annually thereafter,
the Commission shall submit an annual report to the President, Congress, and
the public describing—
(1)the Commission’s
activities under this section, including its progress in achieving the mission
described in subsection (a); and
(2)the amount of
funding expended by the Commission in the preceding year and the activities
carried out with such funds.
5.
(a)The Commission shall be composed of not more than 10
members who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate.
(b)
(1)Each member of the Commission shall be appointed to
represent one of the following 3 categories:
(A)Representatives
of varied disciplines within the biomedical research field.
(B)Representatives
of varied disciplines outside of the biomedical research field.
(C)Educated patient
advocates, including individuals who—
(i)represent a
patient-led, patient-centered organization with a patient constituency;
(ii)have been
personally affected by breast cancer; and
(iii)are trained,
knowledgeable, and prepared to participate in the decision-making process of
science and medicine.
(2)Representation
of membership categoriesOf the members of the Commission—
(A)at least 1, but
not more than 3, shall be appointed to represent the category described in
paragraph (1)(A);
(B)at least 1, but
not more than 3, shall be appointed to represent the category described in
paragraph (1)(B); and
(C)at least 2, but
not more than 4, shall be appointed to represent the category described in
paragraph (1)(C).
(c)The initial members of the Commission shall be appointed
not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(d)
(1)Each member of the Commission shall be appointed for a
term of 3 years and may be reappointed.
(2)Any
member of the Commission appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the
expiration of the term for which the member’s predecessor was appointed shall
be appointed only for the remainder of that term. A member may serve after the
expiration of that member’s term until a successor has taken office. A vacancy
in the Commission shall be filled in the manner in which the original
appointment was made.
(e)Three
members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum.
6.Chairperson;
program managers
(a)
(1)Of
the members of the Commission appointed under section 5(a), the President shall
at the time of the appointment, designate one such member who meets the
qualification requirement of paragraph (2) to serve as the Chairperson of the
Commission.
(2)To
be selected as Chairperson under paragraph (1), a member shall be an individual
who, by reason of professional background and experience, is especially
qualified to manage areas of study pertaining to ending breast cancer by
January 1, 2020.
(3)The
responsibilities of the Chairperson shall include—
(A)approving areas
of study of the Commission based on innovation, impact, and scientific and
technical merit;
(B)developing
criteria (including milestones) for assessing, and overseeing the assessment
of, the success of areas of study of the Commission;
(C)terminating areas
of study of the Commission that are not achieving the mission described in
section 4(a); and
(D)appointing staff
as necessary to aid in carrying out the mission described in section
4(a).
(b)
(1)The Chairperson of the Commission may designate members
of the Commission who may act as program managers to oversee one or more areas
of study of the Commission.
(2)A
member designated under paragraph (1) shall, with respect to one or more areas
of study, be responsible for—
(A)recommending
novel proposals, projects, and collaborations based on scientific and technical
merit to achieve the mission described in section 4(a) with a focus on
strategies for the primary prevention of breast cancer, and methods to prevent
breast cancer metastasis;
(B)identifying
innovative ideas and opportunities to achieve the mission described in section
4(a), including such ideas and opportunities not being prioritized for breast
cancer relevance within Federal agencies or programs or the private
sector;
(C)working with
other relevant Federal agencies to identify areas of concurrent interests in
order to maximize Federal investment and stimulate collaborative
projects;
(D)creating
opportunities for transdisciplinary, cross-cutting collaborations;
(E)using the
authorized funds of the Commission, subject to the approval of the
Chairperson—
(i)to
convene workshops and confer with experts in both the public and private
sector;
(ii)to
build collaborations for identifying areas of study;
(iii)to identify all
areas where resources could be leveraged; and
(iv)to
carry out other functions of the Commission that are approved by the
Chairperson and necessary to carry out the mission described in section 4(a);
and
(F)to monitor the
progress of areas of study and recommend restructure or termination.
7.Coordination and
nonduplicationTo the maximum
extent practicable, the Commission shall ensure that the activities of the
Commission are coordinated with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, programs
and laboratories of other government agencies.
8.Evaluation of
the Commission
(a)The President shall enter into an agreement with the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences under which the
Institute, after the Commission has been in operation for 3 years, shall
complete an evaluation of how well the Commission is making progress towards
achieving the mission described in section 4(a).
(b)The
evaluation under subsection (a) shall include—
(1)a recommendation
on whether the Commission should be continued or terminated; and
(2)a description of
lessons learned from operation of the Commission.
(c)On
completion of the evaluation under subsection (a), the Commission shall make
the evaluation available to the Congress and the public.
9.
(a)There
is established in the Treasury of the United States a fund, to be known as the
Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer Fund
, which shall be
administered by the Chairperson, as defined in section 6(a), for the purpose of
carrying out this section.
(b)Authorization
of appropriationsThere are authorized to be appropriated to the
Chairperson for deposit in the Fund, without fiscal year limitation—
(1)$8,000,000 for
fiscal year 2012;
(2)$12,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2013 and 2014; and
(3)such sums as may
be necessary for each fiscal year thereafter until the Commission is
terminated.
(c)None
of the amounts appropriated for a fiscal year under subsection (b) shall be
used for the operation or construction of any laboratories or pilot
plants.
10.The Commission shall terminate on June 1,
2020.