[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 50 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. J. RES. 50

      Granting the consent of Congress to the Health Care Compact.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 2015

Mr. Collins of Georgia introduced the following joint resolution; which 
             was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
      Granting the consent of Congress to the Health Care Compact.

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

                         congressional consent

    Section 1. Except as provided in section 2, Congress hereby 
consents to the Health Care Compact. The Compact reads as follows:

``SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS.

    ``As used in this Compact, unless the context clearly indicates 
otherwise:
            ``(1) `Commission' means the Interstate Advisory Health 
        Care Commission.
            ``(2) `Effective Date' means the date upon which this 
        Compact shall become effective for purposes of the operation of 
        State and Federal law in a Member State, which shall be the 
        later of--
                    ``(A) the date upon which this Compact shall be 
                adopted under the laws of the Member State; or
                    ``(B) the date upon which this Compact receives the 
                consent of Congress pursuant to Article I, Section 10, 
                of the United States Constitution, after at least two 
                Member States adopt this Compact.
            ``(3) `Health Care' means care, services, supplies, or 
        plans related to the health of an individual and includes but 
        is not limited to--
                    ``(A) preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, 
                rehabilitative, maintenance, or palliative care and 
                counseling, service, assessment, or procedure with 
                respect to the physical or mental condition or 
                functional status of an individual or that affects the 
                structure or function of the body;
                    ``(B) sale or dispensing of a drug, device, 
                equipment, or other item in accordance with a 
                prescription; and
                    ``(C) an individual or group plan that provides, or 
                pays the cost of, care, services, or supplies related 
                to the health of an individual,
        except any care, services, supplies, or plans provided by the 
        United States Department of Defense and United States 
        Department of Veterans Affairs, or provided to Native 
        Americans.
            ``(4) `Member State' means a State that is signatory to 
        this Compact and has adopted it under the laws of that State.
            ``(5) `Member State Base Funding Level' means a number 
        equal to the total Federal spending on Health Care in the 
        Member State during Federal fiscal year 2010. On or before the 
        Effective Date, each Member State shall determine the Member 
        State Base Funding Level for its State, and that number shall 
        be binding upon that Member State.
            ``(6) `Member State Current Year Funding Level' means the 
        Member State Base Funding Level multiplied by the Member State 
        Current Year Population Adjustment Factor multiplied by the 
        Current Year Inflation Adjustment Factor.
            ``(7) `Member State Current Year Population Adjustment 
        Factor' means the average population of the Member State in the 
        current year less the average population of the Member State in 
        Federal fiscal year 2010, divided by the average population of 
        the Member State in Federal fiscal year 2010, plus 1. Average 
        population in a Member State shall be determined by the United 
        States Census Bureau.
            ``(8) `Current Year Inflation Adjustment Factor' means the 
        Total Gross Domestic Product Deflator in the current year 
        divided by the Total Gross Domestic Product Deflator in Federal 
        fiscal year 2010. Total Gross Domestic Product Deflator shall 
        be determined by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the United 
        States Department of Commerce.

``SEC. 2. PLEDGE.

    ``The Member States shall take joint and separate action to secure 
the consent of the United States Congress to this Compact in order to 
return the authority to regulate Health Care to the Member States 
consistent with the goals and principles articulated in this Compact, 
the Member States shall improve Health Care policy within their 
respective jurisdictions and according to the judgment and discretion 
of each Member State.

``SEC. 3. LEGISLATIVE POWER.

    ``The legislatures of the Member States have the primary 
responsibility to regulate Health Care in their respective States.

``SEC. 4. STATE CONTROL.

    ``Each Member State, within its State, may suspend by legislation 
the operation of all Federal laws, rules, regulations, and orders 
regarding Health Care that are inconsistent with the laws and 
regulations adopted by the Member State pursuant to this Compact. 
Federal and State laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding Health 
Care will remain in effect unless a Member State expressly suspends 
them pursuant to its authority under this Compact. For any Federal law, 
rule, regulation, or order that remains in effect in a Member State 
after the Effective Date, that Member State shall be responsible for 
the associated funding obligations in its State.

``SEC. 5. FUNDING.

    ``(a) Each Federal fiscal year, each Member State shall have the 
right to Federal monies up to an amount equal to its Member State 
Current Year Funding Level for that Federal fiscal year, funded by 
Congress as mandatory spending and not subject to annual appropriation, 
to support the exercise of Member State authority under this Compact. 
This funding shall not be conditional on any action of or regulation, 
policy, law, or rule being adopted by the Member State.
    ``(b) By the start of each Federal fiscal year, Congress shall 
establish an initial Member State Current Year Funding Level for each 
Member State, based upon reasonable estimates. The final Member State 
Current Year Funding Level shall be calculated, and funding shall be 
reconciled by the United States Congress based upon information 
provided by each Member State and audited by the United States 
Government Accountability Office.

``SEC. 6. INTERSTATE ADVISORY HEALTH CARE COMMISSION.

    ``(a) The Interstate Advisory Health Care Commission is 
established. The Commission consists of members appointed by each 
Member State through a process to be determined by each Member State. A 
Member State may not appoint more than two members to the Commission 
and may withdraw membership from the Commission at any time. Each 
Commission member is entitled to one vote. The Commission shall not act 
unless a majority of the members are present, and no action shall be 
binding unless approved by a majority of the Commission's total 
membership.
    ``(b) The Commission may elect from among its membership a 
Chairperson. The Commission may adopt and publish bylaws and policies 
that are not inconsistent with this Compact. The Commission shall meet 
at least once a year, and may meet more frequently.
    ``(c) The Commission may study issues of Health Care regulation 
that are of particular concern to the Member States. The Commission may 
make non-binding recommendations to the Member States. The legislatures 
of the Member States may consider these recommendations in determining 
the appropriate Health Care policies in their respective States.
    ``(d) The Commission shall collect information and data to assist 
the Member States in their regulation of Health Care, including 
assessing the performance of various State Health Care programs and 
compiling information on the prices of Health Care. The Commission 
shall make this information and data available to the legislatures of 
the Member States. Notwithstanding any other provision in this Compact, 
no Member State shall disclose to the Commission the health information 
of any individual, nor shall the Commission disclose the health 
information of any individual.
    ``(e) The Commission shall be funded by the Member States as agreed 
to by the Member States. The Commission shall have the responsibilities 
and duties as may be conferred upon it by subsequent action of the 
respective legislatures of the Member States in accordance with the 
terms of this Compact.
    ``(f) The Commission shall not take any action within a Member 
State that contravenes any State law of that Member State.

``SEC. 7. CONGRESSIONAL CONSENT.

    ``This Compact shall be effective on its adoption by at least two 
Member States and consent of the United States Congress. This Compact 
shall be effective unless the United States Congress, in consenting to 
this Compact, alters the fundamental purposes of this Compact, which 
are--
            ``(1) to secure the right of the Member States to regulate 
        Health Care in their respective States pursuant to this Compact 
        and to suspend the operation of any conflicting Federal laws, 
        rules, regulations, and orders within their States; and
            ``(2) to secure Federal funding for Member States that 
        choose to invoke their authority under this Compact, as 
        prescribed by Section 5 above.

``SEC. 8. AMENDMENTS.

    ``The Member States, by unanimous agreement, may amend this Compact 
from time to time without the prior consent or approval of Congress and 
any amendment shall be effective unless, within one year, the Congress 
disapproves that amendment. Any State may join this Compact after the 
date on which Congress consents to the Compact by adoption into law 
under its State Constitution.

``SEC. 9. WITHDRAWAL; DISSOLUTION.

    ``Any Member State may withdraw from this Compact by adopting a law 
to that effect, but no such withdrawal shall take effect until six 
months after the Governor of the withdrawing Member State has given 
notice of the withdrawal to the other Member States. A withdrawing 
State shall be liable for any obligations that it may have incurred 
prior to the date on which its withdrawal becomes effective. This 
Compact shall be dissolved upon the withdrawal of all but one of the 
Member States.''.

               agencies for which consent is not granted

    Sec. 2.  (a) In General.--Notwithstanding the consent to the Health 
Care Compact granted under section 1, the powers granted to Member 
States under sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Health Care Compact shall not 
apply with regard to the agencies listed under subsection (b), and the 
Member State Base Funding Level and Member State Current Year Funding 
Level shall not include funds spent by such agencies.
    (b) Excluded Agencies.--The agencies to which subsection (a) 
applies are as follows:
            (1) The National Institutes for Health.
            (2) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
            (3) The Food and Drug Administration.
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