[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 501 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 501

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and enhance the 
 poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and 
                 grant program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 11, 2019

 Mr. Engel (for himself, Mrs. Brooks of Indiana, Ms. DeGette, and Ms. 
 Herrera Beutler) 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 and enhance the 
 poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and 
                 grant program, 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 ``Poison Center Network Enhancement 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS NATIONAL TOLL-FREE 
              NUMBER.

    Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-71) 
is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 1271. ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE NATIONAL TOLL-FREE 
              NUMBER AND ENHANCED COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall provide coordination and 
assistance to poison control centers for--
            ``(1) the development, establishment, implementation, and 
        maintenance of a nationwide toll-free phone number; and
            ``(2) the enhancement of communications capabilities, which 
        may include text capabilities.
    ``(b) Consultation.--The Secretary may consult with nationally 
recognized professional organizations in the field of poison control to 
determine the best and most effective means of achieving the goals 
described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a).
    ``(c) Rule of Construction.--In assisting with public health 
emergencies, responses, or preparedness, nothing in this section shall 
be construed to restrict the work of poison control centers or the use 
of their resources by the Secretary or other governmental agencies.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $700,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2020 through 2024.''.

SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO 
              PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION.

    Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-72) 
is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POISON 
              CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION AND THEIR PUBLIC HEALTH 
              EMERGENCY RESPONSE CAPABILITIES.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall--
            ``(1) carry out, and expand upon, a national public 
        awareness campaign to educate the public and health care 
        providers about--
                    ``(A) poisoning, toxic exposure, and drug misuse 
                prevention; and
                    ``(B) the availability of poison control center 
                resources in local communities; and
            ``(2) as part of such campaign, highlight the nationwide 
        toll-free number and enhanced communications capabilities 
        supported under section 1271.
    ``(b) Consultation.--In carrying out and expanding upon the 
national campaign under subsection (a), the Secretary may consult with 
nationally recognized professional organizations in the field of poison 
control response for the purpose of determining the best and most 
effective methods for achieving public awareness.
    ``(c) Contract With Entity.--The Secretary may carry out subsection 
(a) by entering into contracts with one or more public or private 
entities, including nationally recognized professional organizations in 
the field of poison control and national media firms, for the 
development and implementation of the awareness campaign under 
subsection (a), which may include--
            ``(1) the development and distribution of poisoning and 
        toxic exposure prevention, poison control center, and public 
        health emergency awareness and response materials;
            ``(2) television, radio, internet, and newspaper public 
        service announcements; and
            ``(3) other means and activities to provide for public and 
        professional awareness and education.
    ``(d) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall--
            ``(1) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to 
        quantitatively evaluate the impact of the nationwide public 
        awareness campaign carried out under this section; and
            ``(2) on a biennial basis, prepare and submit to the 
        appropriate committees of Congress an evaluation of the 
        nationwide public awareness campaign.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, $800,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2020 through 2024.''.

SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CONTROL CENTER GRANT PROGRAM.

    Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d-73) 
is amended to read as follows:

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

    ``(a) Authorization of Program.--The Secretary shall award grants 
to poison control centers accredited under subsection (c) (or granted a 
waiver under subsection (d)) and nationally recognized professional 
organizations in the field of poison control for the purposes of--
            ``(1) preventing, and providing treatment recommendations 
        for, poisonings and toxic exposures including opioid and drug 
        misuse;
            ``(2) assisting with public health emergencies, responses, 
        and preparedness; and
            ``(3) complying with the operational requirements needed to 
        sustain the accreditation of the center under subsection (c).
    ``(b) Additional Uses of Funds.--In addition to the purposes 
described in subsection (a), a poison center or professional 
organization awarded a grant under such subsection may also use amounts 
received under such grant--
            ``(1) to research, establish, implement, and evaluate best 
        practices in the United States for poisoning prevention, poison 
        control center outreach, opioid and drug misuse information and 
        response, and public health emergency, response, and 
        preparedness programs;
            ``(2) to research, develop, implement, revise, and 
        communicate standard patient management guidelines for commonly 
        encountered toxic exposures;
            ``(3) to improve national toxic exposure and opioid misuse 
        surveillance by enhancing cooperative activities between poison 
        control centers in the United States and the Centers for 
        Disease Control and Prevention and other governmental agencies;
            ``(4) to research, improve, and enhance the communications 
        and response capability and capacity of the Nation's network of 
        poison control centers to facilitate increased access to the 
        centers through the integration and modernization of the 
        current poison control centers communications and data system, 
        including enhancing the network's telephony, internet, data, 
        and social networking technologies;
            ``(5) to develop, support, and enhance technology and 
        capabilities of nationally recognized professional 
        organizations in the field of poison control to collect 
        national poisoning, toxic occurrence, and related public health 
        data;
            ``(6) to develop initiatives to foster the enhanced public 
        health utilization of national poison data collected by such 
        organizations;
            ``(7) to support and expand the toxicologic expertise 
        within poison control centers; and
            ``(8) to improve the capacity of poison control centers to 
        answer high volumes of contacts and internet communications, 
        and to sustain and enhance the poison control center's network 
        capability to respond during times of national crisis or other 
        public health emergencies.
    ``(c) Accreditation.--Except as provided in subsection (d), the 
Secretary may award a grant to a poison control center under subsection 
(a) only if--
            ``(1) the center has been accredited by a nationally 
        recognized professional organization in the field of poison 
        control, and the Secretary has approved the organization as 
        having in effect standards for accreditation that reasonably 
        provide for the protection of the public health with respect to 
        poisoning; or
            ``(2) the center has been accredited by a State government, 
        and the Secretary has approved the State government as having 
        in effect standards for accreditation that reasonably provide 
        for the protection of the public health with respect to 
        poisoning.
    ``(d) Waiver of Accreditation Requirements.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may grant a waiver of the 
        accreditation requirements of subsection (c) with respect to a 
        nonaccredited poison control center that applies for a grant 
        under this section if such center can reasonably demonstrate 
        that the center will obtain such an accreditation 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.--The Secretary may not, after the date of 
        enactment of the Poison Control Network Enhancement Act of 
        2019, grant to a poison control center waivers or renewals that 
        total more than 5 years.
    ``(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 annual 
recurring expenditures of the center for its activities at a level that 
is not less than 80 percent of the average level of such recurring 
expenditures maintained by the center for the preceding 3 fiscal years 
for which a grant is received.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section, $28,600,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2020 through 2024. The Secretary may utilize an amount not to 
exceed 6 percent of the amount appropriated pursuant to the preceding 
sentence for each fiscal year for coordination, dissemination, 
technical assistance, program evaluation, data activities, and other 
program administration functions, which are determined by the Secretary 
to be appropriate for carrying out the program under this section.''.
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