One Health Act of 2016

Summary: One Health Act of 2016 This bill requires the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to coordinate and support a One Health Program to: (1) address infectious diseases in animals and the environment, and (2) help prevent the transmission of infectious diseases between animal populations and human populations. The Office of Science and Technology Policy, in cooperation with the NSTC, must develop a framework for federal activities under the program. The framework must:  describe the activities of federal agencies and departments under the program, establish goals and priorities for advancing scientific understanding and for workforce development and describe activities to achieve these goals and priorities, identify and expand partnerships among federal agencies and others to develop new approaches for reducing hazards to human health from animal and environmental sources and to promote an integrated approach to addressing public health threats in a manner that prevents duplication, and provide recommendations for additional action or legislation to assist in establishing the program.  The program must establish an initiative to coordinate and implement federal research and field activities. Program members must support activities described in the framework, including by awarding grants to establish national centers of excellence to carry out those activities. The President must direct representatives of the United States to advocate that international bodies adopt approaches consistent with the initiative, provide technical assistance to governments to remove unnecessary barriers to investment in similar programs, and use certain targets to measure the effectiveness of such initiatives.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``One Health Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. INTERAGENCY ONE HEALTH PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--The President, acting through the National Science 
and Technology Council, shall coordinate and support a national, 
interagency One Health Program to address infectious diseases in 
animals and the environment, and to help prevent the transmission of 
known and emerging infectious diseases between animal populations and 
human populations.
    (b) National One Health Framework.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science 
        and Technology Policy, in cooperation with the National Science 
        and Technology Council, shall develop and submit to Congress a 
        One Health Framework (referred to in this section as the 
        ``framework'') for coordinated Federal activities under the One 
        Health Program.
            (2) Contents of framework.--The framework described in 
        paragraph (1) shall describe existing efforts and contain 
        recommendations for building upon and complementing the 
        activities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
        the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of 
        Agriculture, the United States Agency for International 
        Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National 
        Institutes of Health, the Department of Homeland Security, the 
        Department of the Interior, and other departments and agencies, 
        as appropriate, and shall--
                    (A) identify and describe, as appropriate, 
                activities of Federal agencies and departments under 
                the One Health Program;
                    (B) for the 10-year period beginning in the year 
                the framework is submitted, establish Federal goals and 
                priorities that most effectively advance--
                            (i) scientific understanding of the 
                        connections between human, animal, and 
                        environmental health; and
                            (ii) workforce development to prevent and 
                        respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks in 
                        animals and humans;
                    (C) describe specific activities required to 
                achieve the goals and priorities described in 
                subparagraph (B), such as competitive research grant 
                programs, training and support for scientists, 
                engagement of nongovernmental entities, and 
                participation in international collaborations and 
                research efforts;
                    (D) identify and expand partnerships among Federal 
                agencies, States, academic institutions, 
                nongovernmental organizations, and private entities in 
                order to develop new approaches for reducing hazards to 
                human health from animal and environmental sources and 
                to strengthen understanding of the value of an 
                integrated approach under the One Health Program to 
                addressing public health threats in a manner that 
                prevents duplication; and
                    (E) provide recommendations to Congress regarding 
                additional action or legislation that may be required 
                to assist in establishing the One Health Program.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL ONE HEALTH INITIATIVE.

    (a) Establishment.--As part of the interagency One Health Program, 
in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the 
United States Agency for International Development, the Environmental 
Protection Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of 
Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, and other 
departments and agencies, as appropriate, the President, acting through 
the One Health Program shall establish a One Health Initiative to 
coordinate and implement research and field activities of the Federal 
Government related to the role of animals and the environment in human 
health, as described in subsection (b).
    (b) Activities.--Under the One Health Initiative established under 
subsection (a), members of the One Health Program shall provide support 
for activities in furtherance of the goals and priorities under the One 
Health Framework described in section 2(b), including through--
            (1) entering into cooperative agreements with, and awarding 
        grants to, public or private entities, including States, 
        nongovernmental entities, academic institutions, nonprofit 
        organizations, and privately funded philanthropic organizations 
        in order to cover all or part of the costs associated with 
        establishing or strengthening efforts described in the One 
        Health Initiative; and
            (2) awarding grants to States for the purpose of 
        establishing One Health national centers of excellence, with 
        preference given to States that match Federal grant funds with 
        State funds or funds obtained through State partnerships with 
        private entities, academic institutions, or nonprofit 
        organizations.
    (c) One Health National Centers of Excellence.--Centers of 
excellence established under subsection (b)(2) shall carry out 
activities of the type described in the One Health Framework under 
section 2(b), including supporting One Health workforce training and 
bringing together the animal, environmental, and human health workforce 
to coordinate disease surveillance and prevention efforts.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--To carry out the One Health Initiative 
        under this section, there are authorized to be appropriated 
        $50,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2016 through 2020.
            (2) Allocation of funds.--Of the amounts appropriated under 
        paragraph (1), not less than 50 percent shall be allocated to 
        supporting the national centers of excellence under subsection 
        (b)(2).

SEC. 4. LEVERAGING INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT.

    In carrying out section 2, the President shall direct 
representatives of the United States to appropriate international 
bodies, including the multilateral development banks, the World Health 
Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United 
Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health, to use the 
influence of the United States, consistent with the broad development 
goals of the United States, to advocate that each such body--
            (1) commit to adopting approaches consistent with the One 
        Health Initiative under section 3 to address animal and 
        environmental sources of public health threats prior to their 
        introduction into human populations, including increased 
        coordination and collaboration between human, animal, and 
        environmental health officials;
            (2) provide technical assistance to the regulatory 
        authorities of governments to remove unnecessary barriers to 
        investment in programs similar to the One Health Initiative 
        programs under section 3; and
            (3) utilize clear, accountable, and metric-based targets, 
        consistent with the Global Health Security Agenda, to measure 
        the effectiveness of such initiatives.