I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1649

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the prevention of

fetal alcohol syndrome, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 16, 1995

Mr. RICHARDSON (for himself, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. KENNEDY

of Massachusetts, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. NORTON, Mr. FRAZER, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. FROST, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr.

SERRANO, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. MORAN, Ms. RIVERS,

Mrs. KELLY, and Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for

the prevention of fetal alcohol syndrome, 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 ‘‘Comprehensive Fetal

5 Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PREVENTION OF FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME; PRO2 GRAM OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL

3 ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM.

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

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

6 at the end the following section:

7 ‘‘FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME

8 ‘‘SEC. 464K. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the

9 Institute shall establish a program for the conduct and

10 support of research and training, the dissemination of

11 health information, and other programs with respect to

12 the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of fetal al13 cohol syndrome and the related condition known as fetal

14 alcohol effects (which syndrome and effects are referred

15 to collectively in this section as ‘fetal alcohol conditions’).

16 ‘‘(b) INTERAGENCY COORDINATING COMMITTEE.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (6),

18 the Secretary shall establish a committee to be

19 known as the Interagency Coordinating Committee

20 on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (in this subsection re21 ferred to as the ‘Coordinating Committee’).

22 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—With respect to fetal alcohol

23 conditions, the Coordinating Committee shall—

24 ‘‘(A) coordinate the activities of the Na25 tional Institutes of Health; and
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1 ‘‘(B) coordinate the aspects of all Federal

2 health programs and activities relating to such

3 conditions in order to assure the adequacy and

4 technical soundness of such programs and ac5 tivities, and in order to provide for the full com6 munication and exchange of information nec7 essary to maintain adequate coordination of

8 such programs and activities.

9 ‘‘(3) COMPOSITION.—The Coordinating Com10 mittee shall be composed of—

11 ‘‘(A) the directors of each of the national

12 research institutes, and the heads of other

13 agencies of the National Institutes of Health,

14 that are involved in research on fetal alcohol

15 conditions; and

16 ‘‘(B) representatives of all other Federal

17 departments and agencies whose programs in18 volve health functions or responsibilities rel19 evant to such conditions.

20 ‘‘(4) CHAIR.—The Secretary shall designate a

21 member of the Coordinating Committee to serve as

22 the chair of the Committee. The Committee shall

23 meet at the call of the Chair, but not less than four

24 times a year.

25 ‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORT.—
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1 ‘‘(A) In carrying out paragraph (2), the

2 Coordinating Committee shall comply with the

3 following:

4 ‘‘(i) Identify and monitor all activities

5 regarding fetal alcohol conditions that are

6 conducted or supported by the Department

7 of Health and Human Services and other

8 Federal departments or agencies.

9 ‘‘(ii) Identify the goals expected to be

10 achieved through the activities.

11 ‘‘(iii) Conduct evaluations of the ex12 tent to which the activities have been effec13 tive in achieving such goals.

14 ‘‘(iv) Determine the extent to which

15 the activities have been coordinated with

16 each other.

17 ‘‘(v) Make recommendations on the

18 activities that should be carried out, on

19 priorities among the activities, and on the

20 coordination of the activities.

21 ‘‘(B) Subject to paragraph (6)(B), the Co22 ordinating Committee shall, for each fiscal year,

23 prepare and submit to the Congress a report

24 detailing the activities of the Committee in car25 rying out the duties of the Committee for the
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1 fiscal year. The Coordinating Committee shall

2 submit copies of each such report to the Sec3 retary, the Director of NIH, the officials speci4 fied in paragraph (3)(A), and the advisory

5 council for the Institute. Except as provided in

6 paragraph (6)(B), each such report shall be

7 submitted not later than February 1 of the fis8 cal year following the fiscal year for which the

9 report is prepared.

10 ‘‘(6) INITIAL INTRADEPARTMENTAL STATUS OF

11 COMMITTEE.—

12 ‘‘(A) During fiscal years 1996 and 1997,

13 the Secretary shall ensure that individuals ap14 pointed to the Coordinating Committee under

15 paragraph (3)(B) include only officers or em16 ployees of the Department of Health and

17 Human Services, and that the duties of the Co18 ordinating Committee are carried out only with

19 respect to such Department.

20 ‘‘(B) The first report under subparagraph

21 (B) of paragraph (5) shall concern fiscal years

22 1996 and 1997, and shall consist of the find23 ings and recommendations made by the Coordi24 nating Committee in applying subparagraph (A)

25 of such paragraph to the Department of Health
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1 and Human Services. Such report shall be sub2 mitted not later than February 1, 1998.

3 ‘‘(7) PREVENTION ACTIVITIES.—With respect

4 to activities for the prevention of fetal alcohol condi5 tions—

6 ‘‘(A) the Coordinating Committee shall, as

7 soon as is practicable after the date on which

8 this section takes effect, develop recommenda9 tions under paragraph (5)(A) regarding the De10 partment of Health and Human Services; and

11 ‘‘(B) such Committee shall, as soon as is

12 practicable after October 1, 1997, develop rec13 ommendations under such paragraph regarding

14 other departments and agencies of the Federal

15 Government.

16 ‘‘(c) CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Activities under subsection

18 (a) regarding fetal alcohol conditions shall include

19 conducting and supporting basic and applied re20 search, including epidemiological research; dem21 onstrations; the training of health professionals, in22 cluding the development of professional practice

23 standards for detecting and preventing such condi24 tions in pregnant women and for counseling such

25 women; the evaluation of programs, including train-
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1 ing programs; and the dissemination of diagnostic

2 criteria. Activities under such subsection shall in3 clude the provision of technical assistance to public

4 and nonprofit private entities that carry out such

5 programs.

6 ‘‘(2) PREVENTION; PUBLIC AWARENESS.—

7 ‘‘(A) With respect to the prevention of

8 fetal alcohol conditions, each of the require9 ments of paragraph (1) regarding the conduct

10 and support of various types of activities shall

11 be carried out, except to the extent inapplicable

12 to prevention activities. Activities conducted or

13 supported pursuant to the preceding sentence

14 shall include carrying out a comprehensive pro15 gram to educate health professionals and the

16 general public, and shall include programs di17 rected toward at-risk populations. Programs

18 under this paragraph that are directed toward

19 particular populations shall be provided in the

20 language and cultural context most appropriate

21 for the population involved.

22 ‘‘(B) In the conduct and support of activi23 ties under subparagraph (A), special emphasis

24 shall be placed upon the utilization of collabo-
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1 rative efforts with both the public and private

2 sectors for the purpose of—

3 ‘‘(i) increasing the awareness and

4 knowledge of health professionals and the

5 public regarding the prevention of fetal al6 cohol conditions; and

7 ‘‘(ii) developing and disseminating to

8 health professionals, patients and patient

9 families, and the public information de10 signed to encourage individuals to adopt

11 healthful practices concerning the preven12 tion of such conditions.

13 ‘‘(d) UNIFORM CRITERIA FOR COLLECTION AND RE14 PORTING OF DATA.—In order to provide for the com15 parability of data on fetal alcohol conditions, the Secretary

16 shall, to the extent practicable, develop uniform criteria

17 for the collection and reporting of such data by or through

18 the National Institutes of Health and the other agencies

19 of the Department of Health and Human Services. The

20 Secretary shall encourage the States to utilize such cri21 teria.

22 ‘‘(e) COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary

23 may require that an activity under this section be carried

24 out in collaboration with or through one or more of the

25 other agencies of the Department of Health and Human
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1 Services, and amounts made available under subsection (f)

2 are available to the Secretary for such purpose.

3 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

4 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized

5 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for

6 each of the fiscal years 1996 through 2000.’’.

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