[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1475 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1475

 To establish the position of National Nurse for Public Health, to be 
filled by the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of the 
                         Public Health Service.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2013

  Mr. Merkley introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To establish the position of National Nurse for Public Health, to be 
filled by the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of the 
                         Public Health Service.

    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 Nurse Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH.

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

``SEC. 1711. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH.

    ``(a) Establishment.--
            ``(1) In general.--An individual designated as the Chief 
        Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service under section 205 
        shall be designated by the Secretary as the National Nurse for 
        Public Health. Such Chief Nurse Office shall serve full-time 
        within the Office of the Surgeon General.
            ``(2) Designation.--Not later than 30 days after the date 
        of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall designate the 
        individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public 
        Health Service on such date as the first National Nurse for 
        Public Health. Subsequent designations shall occur in 
        accordance with Commissioned Corps Instruction CC23.4.6 
        (relating to Chief Professional Officer Nominations), as in 
        effect on February 13, 2008.
    ``(b) Rank and Grade.--The National Nurse for Public Health shall 
have the same rank and grade as the Deputy Surgeon General of the 
Public Health Service.
    ``(c) Duties.--The National Nurse for Public Health shall carry out 
the following:
            ``(1) Provide leadership and coordination of Public Health 
        Service nursing professional affairs for the Office of the 
        Surgeon General and other agencies of the Public Health 
        Service, including providing representation for the Government 
        of the United States at the Global Forum for Government Chief 
        Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as a member of the 
        Federal Nursing Service Council.
            ``(2) Represent the Surgeon General and the agencies of 
        Public Health Service in communications with groups and 
        societies concerned with nursing issues at the local, State, 
        national, and international levels.
            ``(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Surgeon General 
        and the Nurse Professional Advisory Committee on matters such 
        as standards, recruitment, retention, readiness, and career 
        development of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 
        of the Public Health Service.
            ``(4) Conduct outreach and education for purposes of 
        paragraphs (5) through (7).
            ``(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activities to 
        promote the public health, including encouraging nurses and 
        other health professionals to be volunteers and developing 
        projects that educate the public about and engage the public in 
        prevention practices to achieve better health.
            ``(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encourage nurses 
        to engage in furthering their education in order to conduct 
        nursing research, increase the awareness of evidence-based 
        practice, and educate future nurses.
            ``(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activities that 
        will increase public safety and emergency preparedness.
    ``(d) National Health Priorities--Healthy People 2020.--
            ``(1) In general.--The National Nurse for Public Health, in 
        cooperation with the Surgeon General of the Public Health 
        Service, heads of the agencies of the Public Health Service, 
        States, and organizations that represent health professionals, 
        shall participate in the identification of national health 
        priorities.
            ``(2) Addressing national health priorities.--The National 
        Nurse for Public Health, in addressing national health 
        priorities, shall encourage volunteerism of nurses and other 
        individuals, and strengthen the relationship between Government 
        agencies and health-related national organizations.
            ``(3) Community-based projects.--
                    ``(A) Implementation.--In addressing national 
                health priorities, the National Nurse for Public Health 
                shall--
                            ``(i) provide guidance and coordination on 
                        recommended activities to organizations;
                            ``(ii) acknowledge successful programs and 
                        encourage their replication;
                            ``(iii) promote the dissemination of 
                        evidence-based practice in educating the public 
                        on health promotion and disease prevention 
                        activities;
                            ``(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 
                        other health professionals, including retired 
                        health professionals and students enrolled in 
                        health professional programs, to participate in 
                        health promotion activities and replicate 
                        successful health promotion activities; and
                            ``(v) monitor activities being conducted 
                        through the collection and evaluation of data 
                        to determine if national health priorities are 
                        being addressed.
                    ``(B) Outreach and education.--The National Nurse 
                for Public Health shall ensure that outreach and 
                education conducted under subsection (c)(4) include 
                diverse approaches, including social media campaigns, 
                to address national health priorities.
                    ``(C) Evaluations.--The National Nurse for Public 
                Health shall participate in evaluating the national, 
                regional, and community-based activities encouraged by 
                the National Nurse for Public Health and conducted by 
                community- based, nonprofit organizations to determine 
                the extent to which such activities have succeeded in 
                carrying out national health priorities.
                    ``(D) Dissemination of information.--The National 
                Nurse for Public Health shall disseminate information 
                to governmental agencies, schools, and community-based, 
                nonprofit organizations interested in health promotion 
                and improving public health through community 
                action.''.
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