I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 501 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and enhance the 

poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and 

grant program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 11, 2019 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. DEGETTE, and Ms. 

HERRERA BEUTLER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and 

enhance the poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Poison Center Network 

5 Enhancement Act of 2019’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 501 IH

1 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS 

2 NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER. 

3 Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 300d–71) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1271. ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE 

6 NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER AND EN7 HANCED COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide co9 ordination and assistance to poison control centers for— 

10 ‘‘(1) the development, establishment, implemen11 tation, and maintenance of a nationwide toll-free 

12 phone number; and 

13 ‘‘(2) the enhancement of communications capa14 bilities, which may include text capabilities. 

15 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary may consult 

16 with nationally recognized professional organizations in 

17 the field of poison control to determine the best and most 

18 effective means of achieving the goals described in para19 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a). 

20 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—In assisting with 

21 public health emergencies, responses, or preparedness, 

22 nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict the 

23 work of poison control centers or the use of their resources 

24 by the Secretary or other governmental agencies. 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 501 IH

1 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $700,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE PUBLIC 

5 AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POI6 SON CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION. 

7 Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

8 U.S.C. 300d–72) is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 

10 TO PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER UTI11 LIZATION AND THEIR PUBLIC HEALTH EMER12 GENCY RESPONSE CAPABILITIES. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) carry out, and expand upon, a national 

15 public awareness campaign to educate the public and 

16 health care providers about— 

17 ‘‘(A) poisoning, toxic exposure, and drug 

18 misuse prevention; and 

19 ‘‘(B) the availability of poison control cen20 ter resources in local communities; and 

21 ‘‘(2) as part of such campaign, highlight the 

22 nationwide toll-free number and enhanced commu23 nications capabilities supported under section 1271. 

24 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out and expand25 ing upon the national campaign under subsection (a), the 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 501 IH

1 Secretary may consult with nationally recognized profes2 sional organizations in the field of poison control response 

3 for the purpose of determining the best and most effective 

4 methods for achieving public awareness. 

5 ‘‘(c) CONTRACT WITH ENTITY.—The Secretary may 

6 carry out subsection (a) by entering into contracts with 

7 one or more public or private entities, including nationally 

8 recognized professional organizations in the field of poison 

9 control and national media firms, for the development and 

10 implementation of the awareness campaign under sub11 section (a), which may include— 

12 ‘‘(1) the development and distribution of poi13 soning and toxic exposure prevention, poison control 

14 center, and public health emergency awareness and 

15 response materials; 

16 ‘‘(2) television, radio, internet, and newspaper 

17 public service announcements; and 

18 ‘‘(3) other means and activities to provide for 

19 public and professional awareness and education. 

20 ‘‘(d) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) establish baseline measures and bench22 marks to quantitatively evaluate the impact of the 

23 nationwide public awareness campaign carried out 

24 under this section; and 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 501 IH

1 ‘‘(2) on a biennial basis, prepare and submit to 

2 the appropriate committees of Congress an evalua3 tion of the nationwide public awareness campaign. 

4 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

6 $800,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CONTROL CEN8 TER GRANT PROGRAM. 

9 Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

10 U.S.C. 300d–73) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CEN12 TER GRANT PROGRAM. 

13 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary 

14 shall award grants to poison control centers accredited 

15 under subsection (c) (or granted a waiver under subsection 

16 (d)) and nationally recognized professional organizations 

17 in the field of poison control for the purposes of— 

18 ‘‘(1) preventing, and providing treatment rec19 ommendations for, poisonings and toxic exposures 

20 including opioid and drug misuse; 

21 ‘‘(2) assisting with public health emergencies, 

22 responses, and preparedness; and 

23 ‘‘(3) complying with the operational require24 ments needed to sustain the accreditation of the cen25 ter under subsection (c). 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 501 IH

1 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL USES OF FUNDS.—In addition to 

2 the purposes described in subsection (a), a poison center 

3 or professional organization awarded a grant under such 

4 subsection may also use amounts received under such 

5 grant— 

6 ‘‘(1) to research, establish, implement, and 

7 evaluate best practices in the United States for poi8 soning prevention, poison control center outreach, 

9 opioid and drug misuse information and response, 

10 and public health emergency, response, and pre11 paredness programs; 

12 ‘‘(2) to research, develop, implement, revise, 

13 and communicate standard patient management 

14 guidelines for commonly encountered toxic expo15 sures; 

16 ‘‘(3) to improve national toxic exposure and 

17 opioid misuse surveillance by enhancing cooperative 

18 activities between poison control centers in the 

19 United States and the Centers for Disease Control 

20 and Prevention and other governmental agencies; 

21 ‘‘(4) to research, improve, and enhance the 

22 communications and response capability and capac23 ity of the Nation’s network of poison control centers 

24 to facilitate increased access to the centers through 

25 the integration and modernization of the current 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 501 IH

1 poison control centers communications and data sys2 tem, including enhancing the network’s telephony, 

3 internet, data, and social networking technologies; 

4 ‘‘(5) to develop, support, and enhance tech5 nology and capabilities of nationally recognized pro6 fessional organizations in the field of poison control 

7 to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence, and 

8 related public health data; 

9 ‘‘(6) to develop initiatives to foster the en10 hanced public health utilization of national poison 

11 data collected by such organizations; 

12 ‘‘(7) to support and expand the toxicologic ex13 pertise within poison control centers; and 

14 ‘‘(8) to improve the capacity of poison control 

15 centers to answer high volumes of contacts and 

16 internet communications, and to sustain and en17 hance the poison control center’s network capability 

18 to respond during times of national crisis or other 

19 public health emergencies. 

20 ‘‘(c) ACCREDITATION.—Except as provided in sub21 section (d), the Secretary may award a grant to a poison 

22 control center under subsection (a) only if— 

23 ‘‘(1) the center has been accredited by a nation24 ally recognized professional organization in the field 

25 of poison control, and the Secretary has approved 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 501 IH

1 the organization as having in effect standards for 

2 accreditation that reasonably provide for the protec3 tion of the public health with respect to poisoning; 

4 or 

5 ‘‘(2) the center has been accredited by a State 

6 government, and the Secretary has approved the 

7 State government as having in effect standards for 

8 accreditation that reasonably provide for the protec9 tion of the public health with respect to poisoning. 

10 ‘‘(d) WAIVER OF ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may grant a 

12 waiver of the accreditation requirements of sub13 section (c) with respect to a nonaccredited poison 

14 control center that applies for a grant under this 

15 section if such center can reasonably demonstrate 

16 that the center will obtain such an accreditation 

17 within a reasonable period of time as determined ap18 propriate by the Secretary. 

19 ‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a 

20 waiver under paragraph (1). 

21 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not, 

22 after the date of enactment of the Poison Control 

23 Network Enhancement Act of 2019, grant to a poi24 son control center waivers or renewals that total 

25 more than 5 years. 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 501 IH

1 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts made 

2 available to a poison control center under this section shall 

3 be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, 

4 State, or local funds provided for such center. 

5 ‘‘(f) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—A poison control 

6 center, in utilizing the proceeds of a grant under this sec7 tion, shall maintain the annual recurring expenditures of 

8 the center for its activities at a level that is not less than 

9 80 percent of the average level of such recurring expendi10 tures maintained by the center for the preceding 3 fiscal 

11 years for which a grant is received. 

12 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

14 $28,600,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 

15 The Secretary may utilize an amount not to exceed 6 per16 cent of the amount appropriated pursuant to the pre17 ceding sentence for each fiscal year for coordination, dis18 semination, technical assistance, program evaluation, data 

19 activities, and other program administration functions, 

20 which are determined by the Secretary to be appropriate 

21 for carrying out the program under this section.’’. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS