[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 115 (Wednesday, July 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3272-S3274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. BENNET:
S. 4513. A bill to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
Act of 1968 to provide funding or innovations in community policing,
mental health care, and community safety, and for other purposes; to
the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, a few years ago, a police officer in
Pueblo, CO, was kind enough to let me join him in a squad car for a few
hours to get a sense of what his daily beat was like. It was in the
middle of the night. It didn't take very long to appreciate that our
country asks law enforcement to do a lot more than simply enforce the
law.
Washington has underinvested in the American people year after year
after year in areas like housing, education, and mental health. It has
left law enforcement to pick up the pieces. It has put them in a
position wherein they are not only having to serve as law enforcement
officers but also as social workers, as mental health professionals,
and as responders for issues like homelessness or drug addiction, even
though nobody has trained them for it necessarily.
That result has been really tough for officers on the ground in
Colorado and across the country. It strains their resources, adds to
the workload, and accelerates burnout. It has also been hard for
communities. It diverts law enforcement from violent crime, and it
means we are forcing officers to address mental health issues and
problems instead of dealing with the underlying issues that produce
many 9-1-1 calls in the first place.
I am sad to say that all of these underlying issues that everybody is
familiar with have gotten worse during the pandemic. It is one reason
there has been a spike in crime that started in 2020, before the
current administration, and it has continued ever since. In 2020,
murders rose nearly 30 percent. Aggravated assault was up 12 percent.
Motor vehicle theft was up 12 percent. Again, this was in 2020, before
the current administration, but, sadly, many of these trends have
continued. In a survey of small businesses, 54 percent of American
small businesses reported an increase in shoplifting last year.
To deal with this rise in crime, we need to increase funding for the
COPS Program, which I strongly support, so we can hire more officers
and strengthen community police. I think we should pass a bill that I
am introducing today, called the SMART Community Policing Act. The bill
is based on 28 highly successful programs across Colorado, in places
like Denver and Grand Junction.
As I mentioned, you know, a lot of 9-1-1 calls involve lower risk
situations that don't always require a police officer, but some
combination of an EMT, a mental health specialist, or a social worker
can get the job done, allowing law enforcement to focus on violent
crime, but in most of the country, law enforcement has to answer every
one of those 9-1-1 calls.
The SMART Community Policing Act creates resources for law
enforcement to partner with local organizations and service providers
so they send the right responder depending on what the problem actually
is. That lets law enforcement focus on violent crime and lets other
responders with the right training deal with lower risk situations,
like when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis or a severe
drug withdrawal. These trained professionals can deescalate the
situation. They can connect people with the right resources and do the
comprehensive followup to keep them from requiring emergency services
again and again and again.
Grand Junction's Co-Responder Unit has answered over 3,200 calls
since the program began in 2018. Denver's STAR Program has responded to
almost 4,600 calls since 2020.
I had a chance to hear about the STAR Program from Denver's police
chief, Paul Pazen, 2 years ago. He told me about a mom who had called
9-1-1 because she was having a lot of trouble with her child. You don't
need a police
[[Page S3273]]
officer for that, so they sent responders from STAR, who deescalated
the situation and saved law enforcement precious time.
If you add it all up, those are thousands of hours that officers in
Denver and Grand Junction and across Colorado could spend focusing on
violent crime instead of on issues that other people might have greater
expertise to deal with, people with the right training in nonviolent
situations. It allows us to reduce the strain on the system.
None of this is speculation. When Stanford University studied
Denver's program, they found that in neighborhoods patrolled by STAR,
reports of less serious crimes dropped by more than a third and that
the program saved a lot of money, a ton of money. It cost about $150
when STAR responded to an offense compared to nearly $650 when the
Denver PD responded on their own.
I can appreciate what these savings would mean for a local police
department. My colleagues may remember that before I was in the Senate,
one of my jobs was serving as chief of staff to John Hickenlooper, who
was then the mayor of Denver. I don't know what became of him, but he
was a very good mayor for the city and county of Denver. In that job, I
heard all the time from community leaders as to how they wished there
were resources beyond law enforcement for situations that were better
suited for a social worker or a mental health expert.
I would have loved to have had the STAR Program when I was working
for the city and county of Denver, and I would have loved it when I was
the superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, where a lot of my job
was working with the Denver Police Department to keep our schools safe
and to reduce the ticketing of kids so they weren't cycling through the
criminal justice system prematurely.
All of this experience led me to write this bill, and I view this as
one more area wherein Colorado offers a model for the country to take
on the rise in crime in a smart and thoughtful way.
Americans have a reasonable expectation--a reasonable expectation--
that Washington cares as much about their safety as they do, and they
expect the people they send to Washington to actually come up with
useful solutions. I think this bill meets that test. It responds to the
needs of law enforcement and to the needs of communities. I don't know
how anybody here could object to it.
If you want to reduce violent crime, you should support this bill. If
you want trained experts responding to nonviolent 9-1-1 calls instead
of police officers, you should support this bill. If you want to save
taxpayers money, you should support this bill. So I hope my colleagues
on both sides of the aisle will take a look at this proposal, and I
gladly welcome their support.
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By Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Mr. Blumenthal):
S. 4520. A bill to establish the Food Safety Administration to
protect the public health by ensuring the safety of food, preventing
foodborne illness, maintaining safety reviews and reassessments of food
additives, enforcing pesticide residue tolerances, improving the
surveillance of foodborne pathogens, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There begin no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record as follows:
S. 4520
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 ``Food Safety Administration
Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the
Food Safety Administration established under section
101(a)(1).
(2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of Food Safety appointed under section
101(a)(2).
(3) Facility.--The term ``facility'' means any factory,
warehouse, or establishment that is subject to the
requirements of section 415 or 419 of the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 350d; 350h).
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act, including the amendments made by this Act, shall
take effect 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. FUNDING.
(a) Transfer of Funds.--The appropriations, allocations,
and other funds that relate to the authorities, functions and
agencies transferred under section 102 shall be transferred
to the Administration.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this section, such sums as
may be necessary for fiscal year 2023 and each fiscal year
thereafter.
TITLE I--ESTABLISHMENT OF FOOD SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF FOOD SAFETY ADMINISTRATION.
(a) Establishment.--
(1) In general.--There is established within the Department
of Health and Human Services an agency to be known as the
``Food Safety Administration''.
(2) Head of administration.--The Administration shall be
headed by the Administrator of Food Safety, who shall have
food safety expertise, and be appointed by the President, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(3) Effect.--The Federal Food and Drug Administration shall
be renamed ``Federal Drug Administration'' and retain
responsibility for carrying out its responsibilities related
to drugs, cosmetics, devices, biological products, color
additives, and tobacco. The Commissioner of Food and Drugs
shall be renamed the ``Commissioner of Drugs'', and shall
retain the responsibilities of the Commissioner of Food and
Drugs, except such responsibilities that relate to food,
which shall be assumed by the Administrator of Food Safety.
Each reference in statute to the ``Food and Drug
Administration'' shall be deemed a reference to the ``Federal
Drug Administration'', and each reference in statute to the
``Commissioner of Food and Drugs'' shall be deemed a
reference to the ``Commissioner of Drugs''.
(b) Duties of the Administrator.--The Administrator shall--
(1) administer and enforce all authorities under chapter IV
of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 341 et
seq.);
(2) serve as a representative to international food safety
bodies and discussions;
(3) promulgate and enforce regulations to ensure the
security of the food supply from all forms of contamination,
including intentional contamination; and
(4) oversee--
(A) implementation of Federal food safety;
(B) inspection, labeling, enforcement, and research efforts
to protect the public health;
(C) development of consistent and science-based standards
for safe food;
(D) safety reviews and reassessments of food additives;
(E) establishment and enforcement of tolerances for
poisonous or deleterious substances;
(F) monitoring and enforcement of pesticide residue
tolerances in or on foods;
(G) coordination and prioritization of food safety research
and education programs with other Federal agencies;
(H) prioritization of Federal food safety efforts and
deployment of Federal food safety resources to achieve the
greatest benefit in reducing foodborne illness;
(I) coordination of the Federal response to foodborne
illness outbreaks with other Federal and State agencies;
(J) integration of Federal food safety activities with
State and local agencies; and
(K) assignment of tolerances for animal drugs used in food-
producing animals.
SEC. 102. TRANSFER OF AUTHORITY, FUNCTIONS AND AGENCIES.
(a) Transfer of Authority.--The Agency shall assume
responsibility for carrying out chapter IV of the Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 341 et seq.) and
maintain all enforcement authorities with respect to food
held by the Food and Drug Administration on the date of
enactment of this Act.
(b) Transfer of Functions.--For each Federal agency,
office, and center specified in subsection (c), there are
transferred to the Administration all functions that the head
of the Federal agency exercised on the day before the date of
enactment of this Act (including all related functions of any
officer or employee of the Federal agency) that relate to
administration or enforcement of the food safety law, as
determined by the President.
(c) Transferred Agencies.--The Federal agencies referred to
in subsection (b) are--
(1) the resources and facilities of the Center for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition of the Food and Drug
Administration that administer chapter IV of the Federal
Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (21 U.S.C. 341 et seq.);
(2) the resources and facilities of the Office of
Regulatory Affairs of the Food and Drug Administration that
administer and conduct inspections of food and feed
facilities and imports;
(3) the resources and facilities of the Center for
Veterinary Medicine of the Food and Drug Administration that
administer chapter IV of the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetics Act (21 U.S.C. 341 et seq.);
(4) the Office of Food Policy and Response of the Food and
Drug Administration; and
(5) such other offices, services, or agencies as the
President designates by Executive order to carry out this
Act.
(d) Conforming Amendment.--Subchapter A of chapter VII of
the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 371 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
[[Page S3274]]
``SEC. 703. REGULATION OF FOOD.
``Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act,
beginning on the date that is 180 days after the date of
enactment of the Food Safety Administration Act of 2022, any
authority under this Act that relates to food shall be under
the authority of the Food Safety Administration, and shall be
carried out by the Administrator of Food Safety. Any
reference in this Act to authorities related to food held by
the Secretary shall be deemed to be references to authorities
held by the Administrator of Food Safety.''.
SEC. 103. ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE ADMINISTRATION.
(a) Officers and Employees.--The Administrator may--
(1) appoint officers and employees for the Administration
in accordance with the provisions of title 5, United States
Code, relating to appointment in the competitive service; and
(2) fix the compensation of those officers and employees in
accordance with chapter 51 and with subchapter III of chapter
53 of that title, relating to classification and General
Schedule pay rates.
(b) Experts and Consultants.--The Administration may--
(1) procure the services of temporary or intermittent
experts and consultants as authorized by section 3109 of
title 5, United States Code; and
(2) pay in connection with those services the travel
expenses of the experts and consultants, including
transportation and per diem in lieu of subsistence while away
from the homes or regular places of business of the
individuals, as authorized by section 5703 of that title.
(c) Bureaus, Offices, and Divisions.--The Administrator may
establish within the Administration such bureaus, offices,
and divisions as the Administrator determines are necessary
to perform the duties of the Administrator.
(d) Advisory Committees.--
(1) In general.--The Administrator shall establish advisory
committees that consist of representative of scientific
expert bodies, academics, industry specialists, and
consumers.
(2) Duties.--The duties of an advisory committee
established under paragraph (1) may include developing
recommendations with respect to the development of regulatory
science and processes, research, communications, performance
standards, and inspection.
TITLE II--ADMINISTRATION OF FOOD SAFETY PROGRAM
SEC. 201. ESTABLISHMENT OF INSPECTION PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Administrator shall establish an
inspection program, which shall include inspections of food
facilities subject to subsection (b) and in accordance with
section 202.
(b) Facility Categories.--Not later than 6 months after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall issue
formal guidance defining the criteria by which food
facilities will be divided into ``high-risk,'' ``intermediate
risk,'' and ``low-risk'' facilities.
(c) Inspection Frequencies.--Frequency of inspections of
food facilities under this Act shall be based on the
categories defined pursuant to subjection (b) and in
accordance with section 202.
SEC. 202. INSPECTIONS OF FOOD FACILITIES.
(a) Frequency of Inspections.--
(1) High-risk facilities.--The Administrator shall inspect
high-risk facilities not less than once per a year.
(2) ``intermediate-risk facilities .--The Administrator
shall inspect intermediate-risk facilities not less than once
every 2 years.
(3) ``low-risk facilities.--The Administrator shall inspect
low risk facilities, which shall include warehouses or
similar facilities that engage in packaging or distribution,
and pose very minimal public health risk, not less than once
every 3 years.
(b) Infant Formula Manufacturing Facilities.--The
Administrator shall inspect the facilities of each
manufacturer of infant formula not less than every 6 months.
(c) Federal and State Cooperation.--The Administrator shall
contract with State officials to carry out half of the safety
inspections required under this section.
SEC. 203. COMPLIANCE CHECKS.
Not later than 30 days after issuing a form that is
equivalent to an FDA Form 483 to a facility, pursuant to an
inspection under section 704 of Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 374), the Administrator shall conduct
a follow-up compliance check with the facility.
SEC. 204. TRACEABILITY RULE.
Not later than November 7, 2022, the Administrator shall
promulgate a final rule that is based on the proposed rule
issued by the Food and Drug Administration titled,
``Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for
Certain Foods'' (85 Fed. Reg. 59984 (Sept. 23, 2021)).
SEC. 205. NOTICE OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT COULD LEAD TO A
SHORTAGE.
Chapter IV of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21
U.S.C. 341 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 424. NOTICE OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT COULD LEAD TO A
SHORTAGE.
``(a) Notice Requirement.--Not later than 5 business days
after a manufacturer of infant formula or essential medical
food becomes aware of circumstances that could lead to a
shortage of infant formula or essential medical food in the
United States, such manufacturer shall give written notice of
such circumstances to the Administrator.
``(b) Fines.--If the Administrator finds that a
manufacturer of infant formula or essential medical food is
in violation of the requirement of this section to give
written notice, such violation shall be treated as an
infraction for purposes of imposing a fine in accordance with
title 18, United States Code.
``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `Administrator' means the Administrator of
Food Safety.
``(2) The term `essential medical food' means a food that--
``(A) is formulated to be consumed or administered
enterally under the supervision of a physician;
``(B) is intended for the specific dietary management of a
disease or condition for which distinctive nutritional
requirements, based on recognized scientific principles, are
established by medical evaluation; and
``(C) is identified by the Administrator as being essential
for any urgent medical condition.''.
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