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110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 948 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize funding for the establishment of a program on children and the media within the National 

Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study the role 

and impact of electronic media in the development of children. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 21, 2007 

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. DURBIN, 

and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize funding 

for the establishment of a program on children and the 

media within the National Institute of Child Health and 

Human Development to study the role and impact of 

electronic media in the development of children. 

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 ‘‘Children and Media 

5 Research Advancement Act’’ or the ‘‘CAMRA Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 It is the purpose of this Act to enable the National 

3 Institute of Child Health and Human Development to— 

4 (1) examine the role and impact, both positive 

5 and negative, of electronic media in children’s and 

6 adolescents’ cognitive, social, emotional, physical, 

7 and behavioral development; and 

8 (2) provide for a report to Congress containing 

9 the empirical evidence and other results produced by 

10 the research funded through grants under this Act. 

11 SEC. 3. RESEARCH ON THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF ELEC12 TRONIC MEDIA IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 

13 CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS. 

14 Subpart 7 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 

15 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285g et seq.) is amended by adding 

16 at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 452H. RESEARCH ON THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF 

18 ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN THE DEVELOPMENT 

19 OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap21 propriations, the Secretary, acting through the Director 

22 of the Institute), shall enter into a contract with the Na23 tional Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Insti24 tute of Medicine or another appropriate entity to review, 

25 synthesize, and report on research, and establish research 

26 priorities, regarding the roles and impact of electronic 


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1 media (including television, motion pictures, DVD’s, inter2 active video games, digital music, the Internet, and cell 

3 phones) and exposures to such media on youth in the fol4 lowing core areas of development: 

5 ‘‘(1) COGNITIVE.—Cognitive areas such as lan6 guage development, attention span, problem solving 

7 skills (such as the ability to conduct multiple tasks 

8 or ‘multitask’), visual and spatial skills, reading, and 

9 other learning abilities. 

10 ‘‘(2) PHYSICAL.—Physical areas such as phys11 ical coordination, diet, exercise, sleeping and eating 

12 routines. 

13 ‘‘(3) SOCIO-BEHAVIORAL.—Socio-behavioral 

14 areas such as family activities and peer relationships 

15 including indoor and outdoor play time, interactions 

16 with parents, consumption habits, social relation17 ships, aggression, and positive social behavior. 

18 ‘‘(b) RESEARCH PROGRAM.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Taking into account the re20 port provided for under subsection (a), the Sec21 retary, acting through the Director, shall, subject to 

22 the availability of appropriations, award grants for 

23 research concerning the role and impact of electronic 

24 media on the cognitive, physical, and socio-behav25 ioral development of youth. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The research provided 

2 for under paragraph (1) shall comply with the fol3 lowing requirements: 

4 ‘‘(A) Such research shall focus on the im5 pact of factors such as media content (whether 

6 direct or indirect), format, length of exposure, 

7 age of youth, venue, and nature of parental in8 volvement. 

9 ‘‘(B) Such research shall not duplicate 

10 other Federal research activities. 

11 ‘‘(C) For purposes of such research, elec12 tronic media shall include television, motion pic13 tures, DVD’s, interactive video games, digital 

14 music, the Internet, and cell phones. 

15 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re16 ceive a grant under this subsection, an entity shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) prepare and submit to the Director 

18 an application at such time, in such manner, 

19 and containing such information as the Director 

20 shall require; and 

21 ‘‘(B) agree to use amounts received under 

22 the grant to carry out activities as described in 

23 this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(c) REPORTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.—Not later 

2 than 15 months after the date of the enactment of 

3 this section, the report provided for under subsection 

4 (a) shall be submitted to the Director and to the ap5 propriate committees of Congress. 

6 ‘‘(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

7 December 31, 2013, the Secretary, acting through 

8 the Director, shall prepare and submit to the appro9 priate committees of Congress a report that— 

10 ‘‘(A) synthesizes the results of— 

11 ‘‘(i) research carried out under the 

12 grant program under subsection (b); and 

13 ‘‘(ii) other related research, including 

14 research conducted by the private or public 

15 sector and other Federal entities; and 

16 ‘‘(B) outlines existing research gaps in 

17 light of the information described in subpara18 graph (A). 

19 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

21 $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, $15,000,000 for fiscal 

22 year 2009, $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, $25,000,000 

23 for fiscal year 2011, and $25,000,000 for fiscal year 

24 2012.’’. 

Æ 


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