II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1106 

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 

MAY 11, 2017 

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 2017’’. 

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. 1711. 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) DUTIES.—The National Nurse for Public 

7 Health shall carry out the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

9 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

10 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

11 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro12 viding representation for the Government of the 

13 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

14 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

15 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

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

17 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

18 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

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

20 levels. 

21 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur22 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

23 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit24 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

25 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

26 of the Public Health Service. 


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1 ‘‘(4) Conduct outreach and education for pur2 poses of paragraphs (5) through (7). 

3 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi4 ties to promote the public health, including encour5 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

6 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

7 public about and engage the public in prevention 

8 practices to achieve better health. 

9 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour10 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 

11 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

12 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

13 future nurses. 

14 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi15 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

16 preparedness. 

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

18 the state of the Commissioned Corps of the Public 

19 Health Service Nurse Category. 

20 ‘‘(c) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—NATIONAL

21 PREVENTION STRATEGY.— 

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

23 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen24 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen25 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orgaVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 May 13, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1106.IS S1106

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1 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

2 continue to participate in the identification of na3 tional health priorities. 

4 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR5 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

6 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

7 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

8 strengthen the relationship between Government 

9 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

10 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

12 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

13 for Public Health shall— 

14 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

15 on recommended activities to organiza16 tions; 

17 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

18 and encourage their replication; 

19 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

20 evidence-based practice in educating the 

21 public on health promotion and disease 

22 prevention activities; 

23 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

24 other health professionals, including retired 

25 health professionals and students enrolled 


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1 in health professional programs, to partici2 pate in health promotion activities and rep3 licate successful health promotion activities 

4 in their local communities; and 

5 ‘‘(v) collaborate with Federal agencies 

6 to monitor activities being conducted 

7 through the collection and evaluation of 

8 data to determine if national health prior9 ities are being addressed. 

10 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—In 

11 conducting outreach and education under sub12 section (b)(4), the National Nurse for Public 

13 Health shall give priority to the inclusion of di14 verse approaches, including social media cam15 paigns, to address national health priorities. 

16 ‘‘(C) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

17 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis18 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

19 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga20 nizations interested in health promotion and 

21 improving public health through community ac22 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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