I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9796 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary 

of Housing and Urban Development to jointly award grants for the 

purposes of improving access to, developing, or expanding services that 

provide an individual with transportation to or from substance use disorder treatment or supportive services. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Mr. BACON, and Mr. VALADAO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and 

the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to 

jointly award grants for the purposes of improving access 

to, developing, or expanding services that provide an 

individual with transportation to or from substance use 

disorder treatment or supportive services. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Connections to Health 

3 Infrastructure and Emergency Recovery Services Act of 

4 2024’’ or the ‘‘CHIERS Act of 2024’’. 

5 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR TRANSPORTATION TO SUBSTANCE 

6 USE DISORDER TREATMENT OR SUPPORTIVE 

7 SERVICES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 1 year 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries 

10 shall jointly award grants to eligible entities for the pur11 poses of improving access to, developing, or expanding 

12 services that provide a covered individual with transpor13 tation, including first and last mile transportation, to or 

14 from substance use disorder treatment or supportive serv15 ices at no cost to such individual. 

16 (b) USE OF FUNDS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded under this 

18 section may be used for the following purposes: 

19 (A) To provide the transportation services 

20 described in subsection (a) on a prescheduled or 

21 on-demand basis. 

22 (B) To acquire a motor vehicle for the 

23 transportation services described in subsection 

24 (a). 

25 (C) To assist personnel who provide the 

26 transportation services described in subsection 


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1 (a) in obtaining any license that may be re2 quired to provide such services. 

3 (D) To provide training and professional 

4 development for personnel who provide the 

5 transportation services described in subsection 

6 (a). 

7 (E) To raise awareness about the transpor8 tation services described in subsection (a), in9 cluding through expanding street outreach ac10 tivities. 

11 (F) For ridesharing or taxi services that 

12 provide the transportation services described in 

13 subsection (a) on an on-demand basis. 

14 (G) For such other activities as the Secre15 taries determine appropriate. 

16 (2) EXCLUSIONS.—A grant awarded under this 

17 section may not be used— 

18 (A) for transporting an individual to re19 ceive involuntary treatment; or 

20 (B) by law enforcement personnel. 

21 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity seeking a grant 

22 under this section shall submit to the Secretaries an appli23 cation including— 


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1 (1) a description of the activities the eligible en2 tity plans to carry out using grant funds under this 

3 section; 

4 (2) the identity of each entity that the eligible 

5 entity plans to partner with to conduct such activi6 ties, including the activities the identified entity 

7 plans to carry out using grant funds under this sec8 tion; and 

9 (3) performance measures the eligible entity in10 tends to use to measure the effectiveness of the ac11 tivities carried out using grant funds under this sec12 tion in reducing cancelled or missed appointments. 

13 (d) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this section 

14 shall be for a period of not less than 1 year. 

15 (e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A recipient of a 

16 grant under this section shall use the grant to supplement, 

17 not supplant, the level of State or local funds that would 

18 be made available for the activities funded under this sec19 tion in the absence of the receipt of a grant under this 

20 section. 

21 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after receiving 

22 a grant under this section, a grantee shall submit to the 

23 Secretaries a report including such information as the Sec24 retaries determine necessary to evaluate the performance 

25 of the grantee under the grant. 


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1 (g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretaries— 

2 (1) shall jointly provide technical assistance, 

3 publish best practices, and conduct outreach to 

4 grantees and eligible entities under this section; and 

5 (2) to the extent amounts are made available in 

6 advance in appropriation Acts, may make available 

7 not more than 2 percent of the funds made available 

8 pursuant to this section for the purposes of para9 graph (1). 

10 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 

12 individual’’ means an individual with a substance 

13 use disorder who— 

14 (A) is experiencing homelessness; 

15 (B) resides in a low-income community, as 

16 such term is defined in section 45D of the In17 ternal Revenue Code of 1986; or 

18 (C) resides in a community in which trans19 portation poses a barrier to health care access, 

20 as determined by the Secretaries. 

21 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti22 ty’’ means— 

23 (A) a nonprofit organization that has expe24 rience in providing— 

25 (i) substance use disorder treatment; 


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1 (ii) services to individuals experiencing 

2 homelessness; or 

3 (iii) services to a population that ex4 periences disparities in health status and 

5 health care access; 

6 (B) a State or county governmental entity, 

7 or any other local or regional governmental en8 tity, including a public health agency; 

9 (C) an Indian Tribe or Tribal organization, 

10 as such terms are defined in section 4 of the 

11 Indian Self-Determination and Education As12 sistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304); 

13 (D) a continuum of care established and 

14 operating for a geographic area for purposes of 

15 the Continuum of Care Program under subtitle 

16 C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

17 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.); 

18 (E) a Federally qualified health center, as 

19 such term is defined in section 1861(aa) of the 

20 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(aa)); 

21 (F) a comprehensive opioid recovery center 

22 funded by a grant under section 552 of the 

23 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290ee–7); 

24 (G) an entity conducting street outreach 

25 funded by a grant under the emergency soluVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:11 Oct 08, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9796.IH H9796

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1 tions grants program authorized under subtitle 

2 B of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

3 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11371 et seq.); 

4 (H) a consortium of 2 or more entities de5 scribed in this paragraph; and 

6 (I) such other entities as the Secretaries 

7 determine appropriate. 

8 (3) FIRST AND LAST MILE TRANSPORTATION.— 

9 The term ‘‘first and last mile transportation’’ 

10 means, for purposes of the travel of a covered indi11 vidual to and from substance use disorder treatment 

12 or supportive services, the provision of such trans13 portation services as may be necessary to ensure 

14 that the individual has transportation for the entire 

15 route to be traveled, including transportation to and 

16 from a source of public transit. 

17 (4) LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL.—The 

18 term ‘‘law enforcement personnel’’ has the meaning 

19 given such term in section 884(g) of the Homeland 

20 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 464(g)). 

21 (5) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

22 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization that 

23 is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev24 enue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under 

25 section 501(a) of such Code. 


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1 (6) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

2 means— 

3 (A) the Secretary of Health and Human 

4 Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary 

5 for Mental Health and Substance Use; and 

6 (B) the Secretary of Housing and Urban 

7 Development, acting through the Director of 

8 the Office of Special Needs Assistance Pro9 grams. 

10 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

11 the several States, the District of Columbia, and any 

12 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 

13 States. 

14 (8) SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER.—The term 

15 ‘‘substance use disorder’’ has the meaning given 

16 such term in section 1934 of the Public Health 

17 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x–34). 

18 (9) SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT.— 

19 The term ‘‘substance use disorder treatment’’— 

20 (A) has the meaning given such term in 

21 section 702 of the Office of National Drug Con22 trol Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998 (21 

23 U.S.C. 1701); and 

24 (B) includes— 


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1 (i) an overdose prevention program; 

2 and 

3 (ii) detoxification services. 

4 (10) SUPPORTIVE SERVICES.—The term ‘‘sup5 portive services’’ has the meaning given such term in 

6 section 401 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist7 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360). 

Æ 


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