To establish the National Center on Liver Disease Research, and for other purposes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Liver Research Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) An estimated 25,000,000 people in the United States are 
        affected by a liver or liver-related disease.
            (2) In excess of $5,500,000,000 is spent annually to 
        provide medical care for people in the United States with liver 
        disease.
            (3) There are over 4,000,000 people in the United States 
        who are or have been infected with hepatitis C, 2,700,000 of 
        whom are chronically infected.
            (4) Due to limited research, current treatments for 
        hepatitis C are effective in fewer than 50 percent of the 
        cases.
            (5) A vaccine has not been developed for hepatitis C.
            (6) There are 8,000 to 10,000 deaths each year due to 
        hepatitis C, and the annual death total is projected to 
        increase to 30,000 each year absent increased public health and 
        research interventions.
            (7) Chronic infection with hepatitis B or C is associated 
        with an increased incidence of primary liver cancer, once a 
        rare malignancy in the United States.
            (8) There are 1,250,000 people in the United States who 
        have been infected with hepatitis B.
            (9) Up to 15 percent of Asian and Pacific-Islander 
        Americans are chronically infected with hepatitis B.
            (10) Fifteen out of every 100,000 people in the United 
        States are affected by a chronic, life-threatening disease 
        known as primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), and 95 percent of 
        those affected are women.
            (11) There is an emerging obesity-related chronic liver 
        disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which may 
        affect as many as 1 in every 4 adults over the age of 18.
            (12) There are 15,000 children hospitalized in the United 
        States each year due to liver disease.
            (13) The only option for many individuals with liver 
        disease is a liver transplant.
            (14) There are over 17,500 people in the United States on 
        the waiting list for a liver transplant, but because of the 
        limited supply of livers available for transplantation only 
        approximately 5,100 transplants are performed each year.
            (15) There are 1,300 people in the United States who die 
        each year waiting for a liver transplant, and that number is 
        expected to increase.
            (16) To address the public health threat posed by liver 
        disease, there is a need for the establishment of a National 
        Center on Liver Disease Research to provide dedicated 
        scientific leadership, to create a research action plan, and to 
        ensure the funding of the scientific opportunities identified 
        by the plan.

SEC. 3. NATIONAL CENTER ON LIVER DISEASE RESEARCH.

    Subpart 3 of part C of title IV of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 285c, et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

              ``national center on liver disease research

    ``Sec. 434B. (a) Establishment.--There is established the National 
Center on Liver Disease Research (hereafter in this section referred to 
as the `Center') in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive 
and Kidney Diseases.
    ``(b) Director.--The Center shall be headed by a Director, who 
shall be appointed by the Director of the Institute, in consultation 
with the Director of NIH, from among individuals with the highest 
scientific credentials. The Director of the Center shall report 
directly to the Director of the Institute.
    ``(c) Duties.--To ensure the development of increased understanding 
of and better treatments and cures for liver diseases through a 
dedicated scientific leadership and an adequate allocation of 
resources, the Director shall--
            ``(1) assist the Liver Disease Research Advisory Board to 
        develop the Liver Disease Research Action Plan; and
            ``(2) encourage and coordinate the implementation of the 
        Plan by the national research institutes, including by issuing 
        research solicitations and by using all other available 
        mechanisms.
    ``(d) Liver Disease Research Advisory Board.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Director of NIH shall 
        establish a board to be known as the Liver Disease Research 
        Advisory Board (hereafter in this section referred to as the 
        ``Advisory Board'').
            ``(2) Duties.--The Advisory Board shall advise and assist 
        the Director of the Center concerning matters relating to liver 
        disease research, including by developing and revising the 
        Liver Disease Research Action Plan in accordance with 
        subsection (e).
            ``(3) Voting members.--The Advisory Board shall be composed 
        of 18 voting members appointed by the Director of NIH, in 
        consultation with the Director of the Institute, of whom 12 
        shall be eminent scientists and 6 shall be lay persons. The 
        Director of NIH, in consultation with the Director of the 
        Institute, shall select 1 of the members to serve as the Chair 
        of the Advisory Board.
            ``(4) Ex officio members.--The Director of NIH shall 
        appoint each director of a national research institute that 
        funds liver disease research to serve as a nonvoting, ex 
        officio member of the Advisory Board. The Director of NIH shall 
        invite 1 representative of the Centers for Disease Prevention 
        and Control, 1 representative of the Food and Drug 
        Administration, and 1 representative of the Department of 
        Veterans Affairs to serve as such a member. Each ex officio 
        member of the Advisory Board may appoint an individual to serve 
        as that member's representative on the Advisory Board.
    ``(e) Liver Disease Research Action Plan.--
            ``(1) Development.--Not later than 15 months after the date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Advisory Board shall develop 
        (with appropriate support from the Director and staff of the 
        Center) a comprehensive plan for the conduct and support of 
        liver disease research to be known as the Liver Disease 
        Research Action Plan. The Advisory Board shall submit the Plan 
        to the Director of NIH and the head of each institute or center 
        within the National Institutes of Health that funds liver 
        disease research.
            ``(2) Content.--The Liver Disease Research Action Plan 
        shall identify scientific opportunities and priorities of liver 
        disease research necessary to increase understanding of and to 
        prevent, cure, and develop better treatment protocols for liver 
        diseases.
            ``(3) Revision.--The Advisory Board shall revise every 3 
        years the Liver Disease Research Action Plan, but shall meet 
        annually to review progress and to amend the Plan as may be 
        appropriate because of new scientific discoveries.
    ``(f) Allocation of Funds.--Subject to the availability of 
appropriations, the Director of each institute or center within the 
National Institutes of Health shall allocate to liver disease research 
through peer-reviewed methods, the amounts necessary to fund existing 
scientific research opportunities and, subject to completion and 
subsequent updates of the Liver Disease Research Action Plan, amounts 
adequate to carry out the recommendations of the Plan.''.

Summary: Liver Research Enhancement Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish the National Center on Liver Disease Research in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Establishes the Liver Disease Research Advisory Board to help the Director of the Center develop the Liver Disease Research Action Plan identifying scientific opportunities and priorities of liver disease research. Requires the Director to coordinate the Plan's implementation by the national research institutes, which shall allocate adequate funds for same.