II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4919 

To provide for a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 

and Medicine on the potential benefits on population health outcomes 

of incorporating into the Federal legislative process tools that measure 

the impacts of proposed legislation (including in areas outside of health 

care) on health and health disparities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2020 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BROWN, Ms. SMITH, Ms. CORTEZ

MASTO, Mr. BOOKER, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide for a study by the National Academies of 

Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the potential 

benefits on population health outcomes of incorporating 

into the Federal legislative process tools that measure 

the impacts of proposed legislation (including in areas 

outside of health care) on health and health disparities, 

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, 


ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4919 IS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Assimilating Health 

3 and Equity Assessments into Decision-making of 2020’’ 

4 or ‘‘AHEAD Act of 2020’’. 

5 SEC. 2. STUDY TO ASSESS THE VALUE OF USING TOOLS TO 

6 MEASURE THE IMPACTS OF PROPOSED FED7 ERAL LEGISLATION ON HEALTH AND HEALTH 

8 DISPARITIES. 

9 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Health and Human 

10 Services (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 

11 shall enter into an arrangement with the National Acad12 emies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (or, if the 

13 National Academies decline to enter into such arrange14 ment, with another appropriate entity such as the Na15 tional Academy of Public Administration) under which, 

16 not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this 

17 Act, the National Academies (or other appropriate entity) 

18 will complete a study— 

19 (1) to examine the potential benefits on popu20 lation health outcomes of incorporating into the Fed21 eral legislative process tools that measure the im22 pacts of proposed legislation (including in areas out23 side of health care) on health and health disparities; 

24 (2) to formulate recommendations on inte25 grating such tools into the Federal legislative proc26 ess to achieve better population health outcomes; 


ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4919 IS

1 (3) to formulate recommendations on how be2 havioral and nudge research on the health and eq3 uity effects of policies may translate into evaluative 

4 tools for policymakers; and 

5 (4) in consultation with the Comptroller Gen6 eral of the United States, the Director of the Con7 gressional Budget Office, and the Director of the 

8 Congressional Research Service, to formulate rec9 ommendations on how such tools should be incor10 porated into the Federal legislative process. 

11 (b) TOOLS TO BE CONSIDERED.—The tools consid12 ered under the study under subsection (a) shall include 

13 health impact assessments, and may include any other 

14 tools of analysis that analyze the potential impacts on 

15 health and health disparities of incorporating the findings 

16 of such reviews and analyses of proposed Federal legisla17 tion and accompanying budgetary scores. 

18 (c) SPECIFIC POPULATIONS TO BE CONSIDERED.— 

19 The study under subsection (a) shall consider the impacts 

20 described in such subsection on health and health dispari21 ties within specific populations, including racial and ethnic 

22 minority groups (as defined in section 1707(g) of the Pub23 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–6(g))), youth, 

24 women, older adults, sexual and gender minorities, individ25 uals living in rural communities, individuals living in rural 


ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4919 IS

1 Tribal or urban Indian communities, individuals living in 

2 regions with persistent poverty, individuals with co-morbid 

3 conditions, individuals with disabilities, individuals who 

4 are homeless, and individuals involved with the criminal 

5 justice system, among others. 

6 (d) CONGRESSIONAL AND REGULATORY PROCESS

7 OPTIONS.—The study under subsection (a) shall consider 

8 how assessments of potential population health outcomes 

9 could be incorporated into Federal legislative and regu10 latory processes, including by evaluating options with re11 spect to— 

12 (1) methodological tools for evaluating evi13 dentiary standards across multiple disciplines and 

14 the potential benefits and negative effects of a pro15 posed policy; 

16 (2) the processes and considerations for pre17 paring a population health outcomes report including 

18 time, resources, community consultation, and com19 petencies required to review relevant scientific lit20 erature; 

21 (3) entities that conduct population health out22 comes reports by comparing the experiences of State 

23 and local jurisdictions that have incorporated health 

24 impacts assessments in legislative or regulatory 

25 processes; and 


ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4919 IS

1 (4) potential uses of a population health out2 comes report in the Federal legislative and regu3 latory processes. 

4 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a re6 port to Congress on the results of the study under sub7 section (a). 

Æ 


ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with BILLS