I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4870 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the Public Health 

Service Corps. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 28, 2019 

Mr. BURGESS (for himself and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to 

the Public Health Service Corps. 

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 ‘‘United States Public 

5 Health Service Modernization Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) COMMISSIONED CORPS AND READY RESERVE

8 CORPS.—Section 203 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 204) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘ a Ready 

2 Reserve Corps for service in time of national emer3 gency’’ and inserting ‘‘, for service in time of a pub4 lic health or national emergency, a Ready Reserve 

5 Corps’’; and 

6 (2) in subsection (c)— 

7 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘RE8 SEARCH’’ and inserting ‘‘RESERVE CORPS’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘during 

10 public health or national emergencies’’ before 

11 the period; 

12 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

13 (i) in the matter preceding subpara14 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘, consistent with 

15 paragraph (1)’’ after ‘‘shall’’; 

16 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 

17 ‘‘during such emergencies’’ after ‘‘mem18 bers’’; and 

19 (iii) in subparagraph (D), by inserting 

20 ‘‘, consistent with subparagraph (C)’’ be21 fore the period; and 

22 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(3) STATUTORY REFERENCES TO RESERVE.— 

24 A reference in any Federal statute, except in the 

25 case of subsection (b), to the ‘Reserve Corps’ of the 


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1 Public Health Service or to the ‘reserve’ of the Pub2 lic Health Service shall be deemed to be a reference 

3 to the Ready Reserve Corps.’’. 

4 (b) DEPLOYMENT READINESS.—Section 

5 203A(a)(1)(B) of the Public Health Service Act (42 

6 U.S.C. 204a(a)(1)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘Active Re7 serves’’ and inserting ‘‘Ready Reserve Corps’’. 

8 (c) RETIREMENT OF COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.— 

9 Section 211 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 212) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘(in the case of an officer in the 

12 Reserve Corps)’’ each place it appears; 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘the Service’’ each place it ap14 pears and inserting ‘‘the Regular Corps’’; 

15 (3) in subsection (c)— 

16 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘or an officer of the 

18 Reserve Corps’’; and 

19 (ii) by inserting ‘‘or under section 

20 221(a)(19)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’; and 

21 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘Regular 

22 or Reserve Corps’’ and inserting ‘‘Regular 

23 Corps or Ready Reserve Corps’’; and 

24 (4) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘the Regular 

25 or Reserve Corps of’’. 


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1 (d) RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES, ETC. OF OFFICERS AND

2 SURVIVING BENEFICIARIES.—Section 221 of the Public 

3 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 213a) is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(19) Chapter 1223, Retired Pay for Non-Reg7 ular Service. 

8 ‘‘(20) Section 12601, Compensation: Reserve on 

9 active duty accepting from any person. 

10 ‘‘(21) Section 12684, Reserves: separation for 

11 absence without authority or sentence to imprison12 ment.’’; and 

13 (2) in subsection (b)— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘Secretary of Health, Edu15 cation, and Welfare or his designee’’ and insert16 ing ‘‘Secretary of Health and Human Services 

17 or the designee of such secretary’’; 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘(b) The authority vested’’ 

19 and inserting the following: 

20 ‘‘(b)(1) The authority vested’’; 

21 (C) by striking ‘‘For purposes of’’ and in22 serting the following: 

23 ‘‘(2) For purposes of’’; and 

24 (D) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) For purposes of paragraph (19) of subsection 

2 (a), the terms ‘Military department’, ‘Secretary con3 cerned’, and ‘Armed forces’ in such title 10 shall be 

4 deemed to include, respectively, the Department of Health 

5 and Human Services, the Secretary of Health and Human 

6 Services, and the Commissioned Corps.’’. 

7 (e) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—Title II of the Pub8 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 202 et seq.) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) in sections 204, 207(c), and 208(a), by 

11 striking ‘‘Regular or Reserve Corps’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘Regular Corps or Ready Reserve Corps’’; and 

13 (2) in sections 205(c), 206(c), 210, and 219, 

14 and in subsections (a), (b), and (d) of section 207, 

15 by striking ‘‘Reserve Corps’’ each place it appears 

16 and inserting ‘‘Ready Reserve Corps’’. 

Æ 


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