I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2736 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to provide 

comprehensive HIV/AIDS services to racial and ethnic minorities, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 15, 2007 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ (for herself, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. FORTUN ̃O) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants 

to provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS services to racial 

and ethnic minorities, 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 ‘‘HIV Emergency Local 

5 Partnership Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) Since AIDS cases were first reported more 

9 than 25 years ago, approximately 1.7 million people 

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1 in the United States have been diagnosed with HIV 

2 and 500,000 of them have died. 

3 (2) Racial minorities have been disproportion4 ately affected by this epidemic. Of the 1,200,000 

5 United States HIV cases reported, there are 

6 500,000 African-Americans and 200,000 Latinos liv7 ing with the disease. 

8 (3) It is estimated that 50 percent of all AIDS 

9 patients are African Americans and 19 percent are 

10 Latinos. The African-American community is 12 

11 percent of the general United States population, and 

12 Latinos are 14 percent of the population. 

13 (4) Ten States and the Commonwealth of Puer14 to Rico account for 71 percent of the Nation’s AIDS 

15 cases. 

16 (5) Within the top 10 States and territories 

17 with the highest concentration of people living with 

18 HIV/AIDS, large Latino and African-American pop19 ulations reside in 7 of them: New York, California, 

20 Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, and Pennsyl21 vania. African Americans comprise large percentages 

22 of people living with this disease in Georgia, Mary23 land, and the District of Columbia. Latinos comprise 

24 large percentages of people living with HIV/AIDS in 

25 Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico. 

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1 (6) Programs funded through title XXVI of the 

2 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300ff–11 et 

3 seq.; as amended by the ‘‘Ryan White HIV/AIDS 

4 Treatment Modernization Act of 2006’’) are essen5 tial to people who are HIV/AIDS positive, particu6 larly those who are low income or from an ethnic or 

7 minority community. Although recent changes to 

8 these programs address the problem of reaching mi9 nority populations in this country, more needs to be 

10 done as the epidemic continues to impact those com11 munities more severely. 

12 (7) People who live with HIV/AIDS not only 

13 need assistance to take care of their immediate 

14 physical condition, but also require information and 

15 education about how to address other consequences 

16 associated with the disease. A holistic approach is 

17 necessary to address not just the immediate physical 

18 health of an individual in the community, but also 

19 to educate on preventing the spread of the disease 

20 in high-risk neighborhoods. 

21 (8) Capable non-profit entities are essential to 

22 providing a comprehensive approach and reaching 

23 more individuals in their local communities. 

24 (9) There is an urgent need for providing fund25 ing to entities that not only serve minority popumstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 lations, but also provide services through partner2 ships at the local level in high-risk communities. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to estab4 lish and authorize funding for a pilot grant program with5 in the Minority AIDS Initiative that will encourage quali6 fied community health entities to cooperate with each 

7 other to provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS services for ra8 cial and ethnic minorities in the local community where 

9 the entities are located. 

10 SEC. 3. PRIORITIZING HIV/AIDS SERVICES BY LOCAL ENTI11 TIES TO MINORITIES. 

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Section 2693 of 

13 the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300ff–101) is 

14 amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (a)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘$135,100,000 for fiscal 

17 year 2008’’ and inserting ‘‘$185,100,000 for 

18 fiscal year 2008’’; and 

19 (B) by striking ‘‘$139,100,000 for fiscal 

20 year 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘$189,100,000 for 

21 fiscal year 2009’’; and 

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

23 ‘‘(d) PRIORITIZING HIV/AIDS SERVICES BY LOCAL

24 ENTITIES TO MINORITIES.— 

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1 ‘‘(1) RESERVATION.—For carrying out this 

2 subsection, the Secretary shall, of the amount appro3 priated under subsection (a) for each of fiscal years 

4 2008 and 2009, reserve not less than $25,000,0000 

5 and not more than $50,000,000. 

6 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—In carrying out the purpose de7 scribed in subsection (a)— 

8 ‘‘(A) the Secretary shall award grants to 

9 eligible entities that are located in a community 

10 described in paragraph (4)(C) (or are in part11 nership with an entity that is located in a com12 munity described in paragraph (4)(C)) to pro13 vide comprehensive HIV/AIDS services to racial 

14 and ethnic minorities in such community; and 

15 ‘‘(B) sections 2604(c)(1), 2612(b)(1), and 

16 2651(c)(1) (requiring the use of at least 75 per17 cent of available funds to provide core medical 

18 services) shall not apply. 

19 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—Comprehensive HIV/ 

20 AIDS services provided by an eligible entity pursu21 ant to this subsection shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) include not less than 3 types of HIV/ 

23 AIDS services authorized under part A, B, C, 

24 or D of this title or section 2692; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) give special consideration to minority 

2 capacity staff building which reflects the target 

3 population. 

4 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a 

5 grant under this section, an entity shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) be a nonprofit private entity; 

7 ‘‘(B) be located, or apply for the grant in 

8 partnership with an entity that is located, in 

9 one of the 10 States and territories with the 

10 highest concentration of people living with HIV/ 

11 AIDS, as determined by the Centers for Dis12 ease Control and Prevention; and 

13 ‘‘(C) be located, or apply for the grant in 

14 partnership with an entity that is located, in a 

15 community in which racial and ethnic minorities 

16 comprise a majority of the population, as identi17 fied by United States census data. 

18 ‘‘(5) DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTS.—The Sec19 retary shall award grants under this subsection for 

20 HIV/AIDS services in not less than 5 of the States 

21 and territories described in paragraph (4)(B). 

22 ‘‘(6) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under 

23 this subsection, the Secretary shall give preference 

24 to eligible entities that demonstrate each of the fol25 lowing: 

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1 ‘‘(A) The eligible entity is located (and not 

2 merely in partnership with another entity that 

3 is located) in a State or territory described in 

4 paragraph (4)(B) and a community described in 

5 paragraph (4)(C). 

6 ‘‘(B) In providing HIV/AIDS services 

7 through the grant, the eligible entity will part8 ner with one or more local entities in the com9 munity to be served. 

10 ‘‘(C) The eligible entity will use the grant 

11 to provide innovative approaches to HIV test12 ing, prevention, and treatment. 

13 ‘‘(D) The staff of the eligible entity reflects 

14 the community to be served. 

15 ‘‘(E) The members of the governing body 

16 of the eligible entity are representative of the 

17 community to be served.’’. 

18 (b) REPORT.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1, 

20 2009, the Secretary of Human and Health Services 

21 shall submit a report to the Congress describing the 

22 status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic across the Nation. 

23 (2) CONTENTS.—The report submitted under 

24 this subsection shall— 

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1 (A) give special emphasis to the 10 States 

2 and territories with the highest concentration of 

3 people living with HIV/AIDS, as determined by 

4 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 

5 (B) include the comments submitted pur6 suant to paragraph (3); 

7 (C) analyze the effectiveness of the grant 

8 program established under section 2693(d) of 

9 the Public Health Service Act, as added by sub10 section (a); and 

11 (D) recommend any appropriate changes 

12 for improving such program. 

13 (3) COMMENTS.—In preparing the report re14 quired by this subsection, the Secretary shall solicit 

15 comments from the general public and each entity 

16 receiving a grant under section 2693(d) of the Pub17 lic Health Service Act, as added by subsection (a). 

18 SEC. 4. TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF MINORITY HIV/AIDS 

19 INITIATIVES FUNDING. 

20 The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

21 continue to fund grants awarded through the Minority 

22 HIV/AIDS Initiatives of the Health Resources and Serv23 ices Administration, as in effect on the day before the date 

24 of the enactment of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment 

25 Modernization Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109–415), until the 

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1 Secretary begins to provide funds to entities through sec2 tion 2693 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 300ff–121), as added by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS 

4 Treatment Modernization Act of 2006. 

5 SEC. 5. EXEMPTION FROM MEDICAID TERRITORIAL FUND6 ING LIMITATION FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE 

7 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH HIV/AIDS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1108(g) of the Social Se9 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1308(g)) is amended by adding at 

10 the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(4) DISREGARDING MEDICAL ASSISTANCE CAP

12 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH HIV/AIDS.—Funding limita13 tions under this subsection and subsection (f) shall 

14 not apply to amounts expended for medical assist15 ance for individuals with HIV/AIDS (as defined in 

16 section 2688(7) of the Public Health Service Act).’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

18 subsection (a) shall apply to fiscal years beginning with 

19 fiscal year 2007. 

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