II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5378 

To establish a grant program to facilitate nationwide accessibility and coordination of 211 services relating to developmental disabilities, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2024 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

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

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to facilitate nationwide accessibility and coordination of 211 services relating to developmental disabilities, 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 ‘‘Enhancing Access to 

5 Support and Emergency Services for Individuals with De6 velopmental Disabilities through 211’’ or the ‘‘EASE with 

7 211 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM FACILITATING NATIONWIDE AC2 CESSIBILITY AND COORDINATION OF 211 

3 SERVICES RELATING TO DEVELOPMENTAL 

4 DISABILITIES. 

5 (a) 211 GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Health 

6 and Human Services (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec7 retary’’), shall carry out a program under which the Sec8 retary awards grants to improve the capacity of 211 serv9 ices to support individuals with developmental disabilities. 

10 (b) APPLICATIONS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 

12 grant under this section shall submit an application 

13 to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 

14 containing such information as the Secretary may 

15 require, including a description of an advisory coun16 cil that the eligible entity will establish for purposes 

17 of advising on the implementation and oversight of 

18 the eligible entity that will be supported by the 

19 grant. 

20 (2) ADVISORY COUNCIL.— 

21 (A) MEMBERS.—An advisory council de22 scribed in paragraph (1) shall be comprised of 

23 individuals selected by the eligible entity, in24 cluding— 

25 (i) individuals with developmental dis26 abilities; 


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1 (ii) family members and caregivers of 

2 individuals with developmental disabilities; 

3 (iii) representatives of stakeholder 

4 groups with experience administering 211 

5 services, such as United Way Worldwide; 

6 and 

7 (iv) representatives of other relevant 

8 stakeholder groups, including relevant non9 profit and advocacy groups such as State 

10 developmental disabilities councils, centers 

11 of excellence on developmental disabilities 

12 of institutions of higher education, protec13 tion and advocacy systems, centers for 

14 independent living, parent training and in15 formation centers, and family-to-family 

16 health information centers. 

17 (B) DUTIES.—An advisory council de18 scribed in paragraph (1) shall advise the eligible 

19 entity receiving the grant with respect to— 

20 (i) developing training standards for 

21 211 specialists; 

22 (ii) compiling reports required under 

23 subsection (f), and policy improvement rec24 ommendations; 


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1 (iii) increasing the awareness and ef2 fectiveness of 211 services in all commu3 nities of the area served; 

4 (iv) developing accessible resource ma5 terials and making accessibility improve6 ments to phone, text, and other commu7 nication interfaces and systems; and 

8 (v) other appropriate topics. 

9 (C) PRIORITY.—In selecting members for 

10 an advisory council described in paragraph (1), 

11 an eligible entity shall prioritize selecting mem12 bers described in subparagraph (A)(i). 

13 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity shall use 

14 amounts awarded under this section to carry out any of 

15 the following: 

16 (1) Establishing, improving, or maintaining the 

17 211 database of the eligible entity with respect to 

18 developmental disability resources. 

19 (2) Hiring and training 211 specialists to assist 

20 individuals with developmental disabilities in navi21 gating services. 

22 (3) Developing and implementing data collec23 tion protocols ensuring that data is disaggregated by 

24 race and type of disability. 


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1 (4) Upgrading technology and data manage2 ment systems to track and analyze service referrals. 

3 (5) Conducting resource mapping to identify 

4 gaps in resources relating to developmental disabil5 ities in the area served. 

6 (6) Conducting accessible outreach and public 

7 awareness campaigns targeting individuals with de8 velopmental disabilities and their families and care9 givers regarding the availability and use of 211 serv10 ices for such individuals, families, and caregivers. 

11 (d) DATA COLLECTION.—The Secretary shall estab12 lish data collection protocols for use by eligible entities in 

13 monitoring the use of 211 services by individuals with de14 velopmental disabilities, including with respect to the col15 lection of— 

16 (1) information on referral outcomes and bar17 riers encountered; and 

18 (2) disaggregated and deidentified data on race 

19 and type of disability to identify disparities in serv20 ice access and quality. 

21 (e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary, in con22 sultation with other applicable Federal agencies, shall— 

23 (1) award 1 or more grants to entities, deter24 mined by the Secretary to be qualified for such 

25 grants, to establish technical assistance centers; and 


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1 (2) work in coordination with each entity car2 rying out such a center to provide technical assist3 ance to recipients of awards under subsection (a) to 

4 facilitate the planning, development, and implemen5 tation of activities described in subsection (c). 

6 (f) RECIPIENT REPORTS.—Each recipient of an 

7 award under this section shall submit an annual report 

8 to the Secretary on activities carried out under this sec9 tion, for the duration of the award. 

10 (g) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

11 after the end of the grant program under this section, the 

12 Secretary shall issue a report containing information re13 garding— 

14 (1) best practices for States desiring to expand 

15 their 211 services, including how to make the serv16 ices more accessible; 

17 (2) the most common needs relating to develop18 mental disabilities for which individuals use 211 

19 services; 

20 (3) how many individuals and families are as21 sisted by the 211 service helplines; 

22 (4) the demographics, including age, race, lan23 guage, and support needs, of individuals with devel24 opmental disabilities utilizing the 211 service 


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1 helpline, or on whose behalf such helpline is utilized; 

2 and 

3 (5) best practices for establishing a resource 

4 database with resources relating to developmental 

5 disabilities. 

6 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) 211 SERVICE.—The term ‘‘211 service’’ 

8 means a service providing residents with information 

9 and referrals with respect to health and human serv10 ices and other provider agencies— 

11 (A) via voice telephone, text telephone, 

12 short message service, text, internet phone, or 

13 other telecommunication methods; or 

14 (B) by utilizing the 211 public-facing, on15 line social service directory. 

16 (2) DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY.—The term 

17 ‘‘developmental disability’’ has the meaning given 

18 such term in section 102 of the Developmental Dis19 abilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 

20 (42 U.S.C. 15002). 

21 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti22 ty’’ means— 

23 (A) a State; or 

24 (B) a local or regional entity, or other enti25 ty, providing a 211 service for a State. 


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1 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

2 the several States of the United States and the Dis3 trict of Columbia. 

4 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

5 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

6 $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. 

7 SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY PEER AND FAMILY 

8 NAVIGATOR GRANT PROGRAM. 

9 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall 

10 carry out a program under which the Secretary awards 

11 grants to eligible entities described in subsection (b), to 

12 enable the eligible entities to provide peer or family navi13 gators to help individuals with developmental disabilities 

14 and families and caregivers providing support for such in15 dividuals to access services and resources relating to devel16 opmental disabilities. The navigators shall take a person17 centered approach in providing services under this section. 

18 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An eligible entity de19 scribed in this subsection shall be a State, Tribal, or local 

20 health or human services department, or a nonprofit entity 

21 that is family-led, disabled peer-led, or disabled family22 staffed. 

23 (c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

24 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 

25 Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, 


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1 and containing such information as the Secretary may re2 quire. 

3 (d) PRIORITIZATION.—In making grants under this 

4 section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 

5 that indicate in their applications an intention to provide 

6 services to underserved or underrepresented communities 

7 or to secondary schools underperforming in providing 

8 transition planning described in subsection (e)(2). 

9 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity receiving a 

10 grant under this section— 

11 (1) shall provide peer or family navigators to 

12 help individuals with developmental disabilities and 

13 families and caretakers providing services or support 

14 for such individuals to connect to, and access, appro15 priate resources and services; and 

16 (2) may be used to coordinate with local edu17 cational agencies (as defined in section 8101 of the 

18 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

19 (20 U.S.C. 7801)) for purposes of transition plan20 ning with respect to individuals with developmental 

21 disabilities, such as planning for— 

22 (A) postsecondary education and employ23 ment; 

24 (B) housing; 


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1 (C) legal and financial matters (such as 

2 supported decisions-making and alternatives to 

3 guardianship); 

4 (D) use of Federal benefit programs and 

5 eligibility; 

6 (E) self-direction and self-advocacy; 

7 (F) health and behavioral health, including 

8 home and community-based services; 

9 (G) building and maintaining community 

10 ties and friendships; 

11 (H) planning and visioning a life course; 

12 and 

13 (I) disaster and emergency preparedness 

14 and safety. 

15 (f) REPORT.—An eligible entity that receives a grant 

16 under this section shall, not later than 1 year after the 

17 activities carried out under the grant are completed, sub18 mit to the Secretary a report that contains data on how 

19 the grant funds were used. 

20 (g) DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY.—In this section, 

21 the term ‘‘developmental disability’’ has the meaning given 

22 such term in section 2. 


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1 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

2 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

3 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029. 

Æ 


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