[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4458 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4458

To grant the authority for States to enter into interstate compacts or 
        agreements for the purpose of procuring COVID-19 tests.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 5, 2020

  Mr. Cassidy (for himself, Ms. Smith, Mr. Tillis, Mr. King, and Mr. 
    Carper) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To grant the authority for States to enter into interstate compacts or 
        agreements for the purpose of procuring COVID-19 tests.

    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 ``Suppress COVID-19 Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. INTERSTATE COMPACTS AND AGREEMENTS.

    (a) Establishment and Purposes.--The consent of Congress is hereby 
given to States and Indian Tribes to enter into compacts, not in 
conflict with any law of the United States, for cooperative effort and 
mutual assistance in procuring COVID-19 tests and supplies for such 
tests, or cooperative agreements (referred to in this section as 
``agreements'') for cooperative effort and mutual assistance in 
procuring COVID-19 tests and supplies through memoranda of 
understanding.
    (b) Assistance.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
(referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall--
            (1) take all possible steps to encourage and assist States 
        and Indian Tribes entering into interstate compacts or 
        agreements under this section;
            (2) cooperate with such compacts and agreements;
            (3) cooperate with States and Indian Tribes forming 
        cooperative agreements for cooperative effort and mutual 
        assistance in procuring COVID-19 tests and supplies for such 
        tests, through memoranda of understanding instead of compacts; 
        and
            (4) encourage cooperative activities of Federal departments 
        and agencies with such compacts or agreements.
    (c) Funding.--
            (1) Appropriation.--
                    (A) In general.--Effective on the date that is 30 
                days after the date of enactment of this Act, there are 
                authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary, and 
                there are hereby appropriated, out of amounts in the 
                Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $25,000,000,000, 
                for purposes of supporting testing procurement. Of such 
                amount--
                            (i) $20,000,000,000 shall be made available 
                        to States and Indian Tribes on the date that is 
                        30 days after such date of enactment, which 
                        States or Indian Tribes may forward to 
                        interstate compacts or agreements authorized 
                        under this section; and
                            (ii) $5,000,000,000 shall be reserved for 
                        States and Indian Tribes that enter into 
                        compacts authorized or agreements recognized 
                        under this section.
                    (B) Reservation of amounts.--Of the amounts 
                appropriated under subparagraph (A), not less than 
                $667,000,000 shall be reserved for awards to Indian 
                Tribes that shall be distributed by the Secretary in 
                consultation with the Indian Health Service.
                    (C) Emergency designation.--
                            (i) In general.--The amounts provided by 
                        this paragraph are designated as an emergency 
                        requirement pursuant to section 4(g) of the 
                        Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 
                        933(g)).
                            (ii) Designation in senate.--In the Senate, 
                        this paragraph is designated as an emergency 
                        requirement pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. 
                        Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent 
                        resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018.
            (2) Allotments.--
                    (A) Funds for states.--Out of amounts appropriated 
                under paragraph (1) and allocated for the purpose 
                described in paragraph (1)(A)(i) and not reserved under 
                paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall allot to each 
                State an amount that bears the same relationship to the 
                total amount so allocated under paragraph (1)(A)(i) and 
                not so reserved that the amount allotted to such State 
                under the State's Public Health Emergency Preparedness 
                cooperative agreement for fiscal year 2019 bears to the 
                total amount appropriated to the Public Health 
                Emergency Preparedness program for fiscal year 2019 for 
                purposes of making allocations to States.
                    (B) Allocations for states entering into compacts 
                or agreements.--The Secretary, not later than 45 days 
                after the date of enactment of this Act, shall allocate 
                the amounts appropriated under paragraph (1) and 
                allocated for the purposes described in paragraph 
                (1)(A)(ii) to eligible States and Indian Tribes that 
                have entered into a compact or agreement under this 
                section or stated their intent to enter into such a 
                compact or agreement, according to a formula 
                established by the Secretary that provides a base 
                amount to each such State and Indian Tribe, plus an 
                additional amount based on population.
    (d) Eligibility for Certain Funding.--A State or Indian Tribe is 
eligible for an allocation under subsection (c)(2)(B) only if the 
compact or agreement that the State or Indian Tribe has joined meets 
all of the following requirements:
            (1) Transparency provisions.--The compact or agreement 
        shall publicly disclose all contract sums, terms, requests for 
        proposals, and recipients of contracts on a quarterly basis, 
        and shall publicly disclose, on a quarterly basis, key 
        performance indicators of, with respect to COVID-19 testing 
        used by the compact or agreement, the price, volume, speed to 
        market, and test turnaround time. With respect to new 
        contracts, compacts and agreements shall give priority to 
        contracting entities that can guarantee fulfillment of existing 
        contracts with States or Indian Tribes.
            (2) Procurement governing structure.--The compact or 
        agreement shall demonstrate having consulted with, for purposes 
        of developing contracts for testing procurement, medical 
        professionals, individuals with a background in public health, 
        business, biotechnology, logistics, manufacturing, or 
        procurement.
            (3) Anti-corruption provisions.--The compact or agreement 
        shall have in place anti-corruption requirements that prohibit 
        anyone who is overseeing the development of the compact or 
        agreement from personally benefitting from any contract the 
        compact or agreement enters.
            (4) Timely testing.--The compact or agreement shall have as 
        a goal testing turnaround times of under 24 hours.
    (e) Expiration.--Amounts appropriated under this section and made 
available to States and Indian Tribes for testing procurement shall 
remain available until the later of December 31, 2021, or the date that 
is 90 days after the public health emergency declared by the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services under section 319 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), on January 31, 2020, with respect to 
COVID-19 expires, and, on such applicable date, any such funds that 
remain unobligated shall be remitted to the Treasury of the United 
States.

SEC. 3. STATE PLANS.

    (a) In General.--
            (1) In general.--Effective on the date that is 30 days 
        after the date of enactment of this Act, there are hereby 
        appropriated to the Public Health and Social Services Emergency 
        Fund, out of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise 
        appropriated, $18,000,000,000, to remain available until 
        expended, to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19, 
        domestically or internationally, for necessary expenses 
        undertaken by States and Tribal authorities to implement COVID-
        19 testing, contact tracing, and supporting isolation programs, 
        and to otherwise monitor and suppress COVID-19.
            (2) Reservation of amounts.--Of the amounts appropriated 
        under subparagraph (A), not less than $600,000,000 shall be 
        reserved for awards to Indian Tribes that shall be distributed 
        by the Secretary in consultation with the Indian Health 
        Service.
            (3) Emergency designation.--
                    (A) In general.--The amounts provided by this 
                subsection are designated as an emergency requirement 
                pursuant to section 4(g) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go 
                Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 933(g)).
                    (B) Designation in senate.--In the Senate, this 
                subsection is designated as an emergency requirement 
                pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th 
                Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for 
                fiscal year 2018.
    (b) Allocation to States and Indian Tribes.--
            (1) In general.--Of the amount appropriated under 
        subsection (a), $9,000,000,000 shall be allocated to States and 
        Indian Tribes for contact tracing personnel, $4,000,000,000 
        shall be allocated to States and Indian Tribes for voluntary 
        self-isolation, income support for individuals in isolation, or 
        other isolation supports, $4,500,000,000 shall be allocated to 
        States for Tribal and local health offices, and $500,000,000 
        shall be allocated to States and Indian Tribes for data 
        modernization in Tribal and local health offices. States and 
        Indian Tribes may apply for a waiver from the Federal 
        Government to use amounts received under this paragraph for a 
        different purpose than as originally disbursed, provided that 
        any such other use is consistent with the purposes of this 
        section. States and Indian Tribes shall take all possible steps 
        to distribute funding received under this subsection to Tribal 
        and local health offices as promptly as possible.
            (2) Allocations to states.--Amounts appropriated under 
        subsection (a)(1) and not reserved under subsection (a)(2) 
        shall be allotted to each State in an amount that bears the 
        same relationship to the total amount appropriated under 
        subsection (a)(1) and not so reserved that the amount that the 
        State received pursuant to the Public Health Emergency 
        Preparedness cooperative agreement in fiscal year 2019 bears to 
        the total amount appropriated under such cooperative agreement 
        for such fiscal year.
            (3) State plans.--To be eligible for an allocation under 
        paragraph (1), a State or Indian Tribe shall submit to the 
        Secretary a testing, tracing, and supported isolation plan it 
        intends to follow to achieve suppression of COVID-19 to levels 
        at or below the low incidence plateau set forth by the Centers 
        for Disease Control and Prevention. Such plan shall be 
        developed in consultation with State, local, and Tribal public 
        health departments, include key performance indicators tied to 
        field best practices for contact tracing and supported 
        isolation as well as testing, and be submitted as an addendum 
        to any similar plan a State or Indian Tribe previously 
        submitted to the Secretary, as required pursuant to the 
        Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act 
        (Public Law 116-139). The Secretary shall make each plan 
        submitted under this paragraph publicly available 60 days after 
        submission.
    (c) Expiration.--Amounts appropriated under this section and made 
available to States and Indian Tribes for testing procurement shall 
remain available until the later of December 31, 2021, or the date that 
is 90 days after the public health emergency declared by the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services under section 319 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d), on January 31, 2020, with respect to 
COVID-19 expires, and, on such applicable date, any such funds that 
remain unobligated shall be remitted to the Treasury of the United 
States.
    (d) Coordination.--The Secretary shall develop a plan to coordinate 
and provide guidance to States and Indian Tribes in drafting their 
testing plans described in this section and seek to support the 
development of shared indicators for all States and Indian Tribes.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) The terms ``COVID-19 test'', ``COVID-19 testing'', and 
        ``testing'' mean a viral or serological in vitro diagnostic 
        test defined in section 809.3 of title 21, Code of Federal 
        Regulations (or successor regulations) for the detection of 
        SARS-CoV-2 or the diagnosis of the virus that causes COVID-19, 
        and the administration of such test, that--
                    (A) is approved, cleared, or authorized under 
                section 510(k), 513, 515, or 564 of the Federal Food, 
                Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360(k), 360c, 360e, 
                360bbb-3);
                    (B) the developer has requested, or intends to 
                request, emergency use authorization under section 564 
                of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 
                360bbb-3), unless and until the emergency use 
                authorization request under such section 564 has been 
                denied or the developer of such test does not submit a 
                request under such section within a reasonable 
                timeframe;
                    (C) is developed in and authorized by a State that 
                has notified the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
                of its intention to review tests intended to diagnose 
                COVID-19; or
                    (D) is another test that the Secretary determines 
                appropriate in guidance.
            (2) The term ``Indian Tribe'' means an Indian tribe or a 
        tribal organization, as such terms are defined in section 4 of 
        the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
        U.S.C. 5304).
            (3) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Health 
        and Human Services.
            (4) The term ``State'' has the meaning given such term in 
        section 2 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201).

SEC. 5. USE OF OTHER APPROPRIATED AMOUNTS.

    (a) In General.--Out of any amounts remaining unobligated on the 
date of enactment of this Act of the additional amount of 
$25,000,000,000 appropriated to the Public Health and Social Services 
Emergency Fund under the heading ``Public Health and Social Services 
Emergency Fund'' under the heading ``Office of the Secretary'' under 
the heading ``Department of Health and Human Services'' in division B 
of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act 
(Public Law 116-139) for the purpose of developing, purchasing, 
administering, processing, and analyzing COVID-19 tests, including 
support for workforce, epidemiology, use by employers or in other 
settings, scale up of testing by public health, academic, commercial, 
and hospital laboratories, and community-based testing sites, health 
care facilities, and other entities engaged in COVID-19 testing, 
conduct surveillance, trace contacts, and other related activities 
related to COVID-19 testing, $7,000,000,000 shall be allocated for the 
purposes described in subsection (b).
    (b) Allocations.--Of the $7,000,000,000 reallocated under 
subsection (a), $234,000,000 shall be proportionately allocated to 
Indian Tribes, and $6,766,000,000 shall be proportionately allocated to 
States, together with other amounts allocated to such Indian Tribes and 
States under section 3, for the same purposes described in such 
sections and in accordance with the same requirements applicable with 
respect to allocations of amounts appropriated under such sections.

SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    The Secretary shall report to Congress not later than 30 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act on how the Secretary intends to 
distribute funds provided under this Act, including a timeline of 
distribution of such funds.
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