II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3877 

To establish or expand programs to improve health equity regarding COVID– 

19 and reduce or eliminate inequities in the prevalence and health outcomes of COVID–19. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 3, 2020 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. BENNET, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. 

WARREN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. CORTEZ

MASTO, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish or expand programs to improve health equity 

regarding COVID–19 and reduce or eliminate inequities 

in the prevalence and health outcomes of COVID–19. 

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 ‘‘Community Solutions 

5 for COVID–19 Act’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 3877 IS

1 SEC. 2. ADDRESSING COVID–19 HEALTH INEQUITIES AND 

2 IMPROVING HEALTH EQUITY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 

5 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec6 retary’’), acting through the Director of the Centers for 

7 Disease Control and Prevention, shall award grants to eli8 gible entities to establish or expand programs to improve 

9 health equity regarding COVID–19 and reduce or elimi10 nate inequities, including racial and ethnic inequities, in 

11 the incidence, prevalence, and health outcomes of COVID– 

12 19. 

13 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

14 under subsection (a), an entity shall— 

15 (1) be a nongovernmental entity or consortium 

16 of entities that works to improve health and health 

17 equity in populations or communities disproportion18 ately affected by adverse health outcomes, includ19 ing— 

20 (A) racial and ethnic minority commu21 nities; 

22 (B) Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, 

23 and urban Indian organizations; 

24 (C) people with disabilities; 

25 (D) English language learners; 

26 (E) older adults; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 3877 IS

1 (F) low-income communities; 

2 (G) justice-involved communities; 

3 (H) immigrant communities; and 

4 (I) communities on the basis of their sex5 ual orientation or gender identity; 

6 (2) have demonstrated experience in success7 fully working in and partnering with such commu8 nities, and have an established record of accomplish9 ment in improving health outcomes or preventing, 

10 reducing or eliminating health inequities, including 

11 racial and ethnic inequities, in those communities; 

12 (3) communicate with State, local, and Tribal 

13 health departments to coordinate grant activities, as 

14 appropriate; and 

15 (4) submit to the Secretary an application at 

16 such time, in such manner, and containing such in17 formation as the Secretary may require. 

18 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity shall use amounts re19 ceived under grant under this section to establish, improve 

20 upon, or expand programs to improve health equity re21 garding COVID–19 and reduce or eliminate inequities, in22 cluding racial and ethnic inequities, in the incidence, prev23 alence, and health outcomes of COVID–19. Such uses may 

24 include— 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 3877 IS

1 (1) acquiring and distributing medical supplies, 

2 such as personal protective equipment, to commu3 nities that are at an increased risk of COVID–19; 

4 (2) helping people enroll in a health insurance 

5 plan that meets minimum essential coverage; 

6 (3) increasing the availability of COVID–19 

7 testing and any future COVID–19 treatments or 

8 vaccines in communities that are at an increased 

9 risk of COVID–19; 

10 (4) aiding communities and individuals in fol11 lowing guidelines and best practices in regards to 

12 COVID–19, including physical distancing guidelines; 

13 (5) helping communities and COVID–19 sur14 vivors recover and cope with the long-term health 

15 impacts of COVID–19; 

16 (6) addressing social determinants of health, 

17 such as transportation, nutrition, housing, discrimi18 nation, health care access, including mental health 

19 care and substance use disorder prevention, treat20 ment, and recovery, health literacy, employment sta21 tus, and working conditions, education, income, and 

22 stress, that impact COVID–19 incidence, prevalence, 

23 and health outcomes, and facilitating or providing 

24 access to needed services; 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 3877 IS

1 (7) the provision of anti-racism and implicit 

2 and explicit bias training for health care providers 

3 and other relevant professionals; 

4 (8) creating and disseminating culturally in5 formed, linguistically appropriate, accessible, and 

6 medically accurate outreach and education regarding 

7 COVID–19; 

8 (9) acquiring, retaining, and training a diverse 

9 workforce; and 

10 (10) improving the accessibility to health care, 

11 including accessibility to health care providers, men12 tal health care, and COVID–19 testing for people 

13 with disabilities. 

14 (d) ADMINISTRATION.— 

15 (1) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

16 section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible 

17 entities that are a community-based organization or 

18 have an established history of successfully working 

19 in and partnering with the community or with popu20 lations which the entity intends to provide services 

21 under the grant. The Secretary shall also utilize 

22 available demographic data to give priority to eligible 

23 entities working with populations or communities 

24 disproportionately affected by COVID–19. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 3877 IS

1 (2) GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY.—The Secretary 

2 shall seek to ensure geographical diversity among 

3 grant recipients. 

4 (3) REDUCTION OF BURDENS.—In admin5 istering the grant program under this section, the 

6 Secretary shall make every effort to minimize unnec7 essary administrative burdens on eligible entities re8 ceiving such grants. 

9 (4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

10 shall provide technical assistance to eligible entities 

11 on best practices for applying grants under this sec12 tion. 

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

14 shall be for a period of 3 years. 

15 (f) REPORTING.— 

16 (1) BY GRANTEE.—Not later than 180 days 

17 after the end of a grant period under this section, 

18 the grantee shall submit to the Secretary a report on 

19 the activities conducted under the grant, including— 

20 (A) a description of the impact of grant 

21 activities, including on— 

22 (i) outreach and education related to 

23 COVID–19; and 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 3877 IS

1 (ii) improving public health activities 

2 related to COVID–19, including physical 

3 distancing; 

4 (B) the number of individuals reached by 

5 the activities under the grant and, to the extent 

6 known, the disaggregated demographic data of 

7 such individuals, such as by race, ethnicity, sex 

8 (including sexual orientation and gender iden9 tity), income, disability status, or primary lan10 guage; and 

11 (C) any other information the Secretary 

12 determines is necessary. 

13 (2) BY SECRETARY.—Not later than 1 year 

14 after the end of the grant program under this sec15 tion, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

16 on the grant program, including a summary of the 

17 information gathered under paragraph (1). 

18 (g) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Grants awarded 

19 under this Act shall be used to supplement and not sup20 plant any other Federal funds made available to carry out 

21 the activities described in this Act. 

22 (h) FUNDING.—Out of funds in the Treasury not oth23 erwise appropriated, there are appropriated to carry out 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 3877 IS

1 this section, $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 

2 through 2022. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS