II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 696 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of 

the Public Health Service as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 7, 2019 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse 

Officer of the Public Health Service as the National 

Nurse for Public Health. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Nurse Act 

5 of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

7 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

8 U.S.C. 300u et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

9 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 1712. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The same individual des3 ignated as the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health 

4 Service under section 205 shall also be designated by the 

5 Secretary as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

6 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—The National Nurse for Public 

7 Health shall have the authority and flexibility to carry out 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

10 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

11 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

12 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro13 viding representation for the Government of the 

14 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

15 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

16 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

17 ‘‘(2) Represent the Surgeon General and the 

18 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

19 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

20 issues at the local, State, national, and international 

21 levels. 

22 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur23 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

24 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit25 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 


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1 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

2 of the Public Health Service. 

3 ‘‘(4) Conduct outreach and education for pur4 poses of paragraphs (5) through (7). 

5 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi6 ties to promote the public health, including encour7 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

8 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

9 public about and engage the public in prevention 

10 practices to achieve better health. 

11 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour12 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 

13 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

14 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

15 future nurses. 

16 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi17 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

18 preparedness. 

19 ‘‘(8) Prepare and publish a biennial report on 

20 the state of the Commissioned Corps of the Public 

21 Health Service Nurse Category. 

22 ‘‘(c) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—NATIONAL

23 PREVENTION STRATEGY.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The National Nurse for 

25 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon GenVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:04 Mar 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S696.IS S696

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1 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen2 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga3 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

4 continue to participate in the identification of na5 tional health priorities. 

6 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR7 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

8 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

9 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

10 strengthen the relationship between Government 

11 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

12 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

14 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

15 for Public Health shall— 

16 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

17 on recommended activities to organiza18 tions; 

19 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

20 and encourage their replication; 

21 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

22 evidence-based practice in educating the 

23 public on health promotion and disease 

24 prevention activities; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

2 other health professionals, including retired 

3 health professionals and students enrolled 

4 in health professional programs, to partici5 pate in health promotion activities and rep6 licate successful health promotion activities 

7 in their local communities; and 

8 ‘‘(v) collaborate with Federal agencies 

9 to monitor activities being conducted 

10 through the collection and evaluation of 

11 data to determine if national health prior12 ities are being addressed. 

13 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—In 

14 conducting outreach and education under sub15 section (b)(4), the National Nurse for Public 

16 Health shall give priority to the inclusion of di17 verse approaches, including social media cam18 paigns, to address national health priorities. 

19 ‘‘(C) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

20 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis21 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

22 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga23 nizations interested in health promotion and 


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1 improving public health through community ac2 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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