I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8400 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve children’s vision and 

eye health through grants to States, territories, and Tribal organizations, 

and the provision of technical assistance to support those efforts. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2024 

Mr. VEASEY (for himself and Mr. BILIRAKIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to improve children’s vision and eye health through grants to States, 

territories, and Tribal organizations, and the provision 

of technical assistance to support those efforts. 

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 ‘‘Early Detection of Vi5 sion Impairments for Children Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATEWIDE EARLY VISION DETECTION AND INTER2 VENTION PROGRAMS AND SYSTEMS RELATED 

3 TO CHILDREN’S VISION AND EYE HEALTH. 

4 Part Q of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

5 (42 U.S.C. 280h et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 399Z–3. STATEWIDE EARLY VISION DETECTION AND 

8 INTERVENTION PROGRAMS AND SYSTEMS 

9 RELATED TO CHILDREN’S VISION AND EYE 

10 HEALTH. 

11 ‘‘(a) GRANTS OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 

13 through the Administrator of the Health Resources 

14 and Services Administration, shall make awards of 

15 grants or cooperative agreements to eligible entities 

16 to develop and implement statewide early detection 

17 and intervention programs and systems related to 

18 children’s vision and eye health. 

19 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a 

20 grant or cooperative agreement under paragraph (1), 

21 an entity shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) be a State, territory, Indian Tribe or 

23 Tribal organization, or Urban Indian organiza24 tion, including a State or community depart25 ment of children and families, health, or public 

26 health, or a State educational agency; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) submit to the Secretary an applica2 tion at such time, in such manner, and con3 taining such information as the Secretary may 

4 require. 

5 ‘‘(3) USE OF AWARDS.—Amounts provided 

6 under a grant or cooperative agreement under para7 graph (1) shall be used for three or more of the fol8 lowing activities: 

9 ‘‘(A) Implementing early detection prac10 tices (such as vision screening) and intervention 

11 initiatives for the purpose of identifying vision 

12 concerns in children as they engage in the med13 ical, home, public educational, or early learning 

14 setting, promoting referrals to eye care, and 

15 promoting the use of evidence-based and age16 appropriate standards guided by nationally rec17 ognized and uniform guidelines. 

18 ‘‘(B) Developing an integrated approach to 

19 State-level data collection and management to 

20 advance State-based performance improvement 

21 systems and uniform children’s vision and eye 

22 health guidelines across relevant and appro23 priate State-level jurisdictions. 

24 ‘‘(C) Identifying strategies to improve eye 

25 health outcomes, expand access to care, and reVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 Jun 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8400.IH H8400

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1 duce health disparities for the detection, diag2 nosis, and treatment of ocular disease and eye 

3 conditions in children who experience barriers 

4 to eye care from rural and underserved popu5 lations. 

6 ‘‘(D) Raising awareness by providing the 

7 public, including families, guardians (perma8 nent, legal, or temporary), family or community 

9 caregivers, and early learning settings with chil10 dren’s vision and eye health information that is 

11 accurate, accessible, culturally and linguistically 

12 competent, comprehensive, up-to-date, and evi13 dence-based or evidence-informed. 

14 ‘‘(E) Establishing a coordinated public 

15 health system for vision care and eye health, in16 cluding early detection, referral to eye care, di17 agnosis and intervention, and follow-up for chil18 dren. 

19 ‘‘(F) Providing referrals to wrap-around 

20 vision services, as necessary, for a future of 

21 independent living. 

22 ‘‘(4) COLLABORATION WITH NECESSARY COM23 MUNITY AND STATE PARTNERS.—In carrying out ac24 tivities under this subsection, the recipient of a 

25 grant or cooperative agreement shall consult with 


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1 necessary community and State partners, including 

2 State agencies responsible for the administration of 

3 title V of Social Security Act (the Maternal and 

4 Child Health Block Grant Program), title XIX of 

5 such Act (the Medicaid Early Periodic Screening, 

6 Diagnosis, and Treatment Program), title XXI of 

7 such Act (the State Children’s Health Insurance 

8 Program), and parts B and C of the Individuals 

9 with Disabilities Education Act, the Indian Health 

10 Service, and consumer groups for the purposes of 

11 program and policy development, collaboration, and 

12 improvement. 

13 ‘‘(5) EVALUATION AND REPORT.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An entity that re15 ceives a grant or cooperative agreement under 

16 this subsection shall annually submit to the 

17 Secretary a report that describes the activities 

18 carried out under the grant or agreement, in19 cluding a description of the period of perform20 ance covered under the report, the scope of ac21 tivities carried out during such period, the out22 comes of such activities, and a demonstration of 

23 whether funding recipients have met project 

24 goals for the designated time period outlined in 

25 the initial application under paragraph (2). 


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1 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF REPORTS.—The 

2 Secretary shall make available to the general 

3 public the annual reports under subparagraph 

4 (A). 

5 ‘‘(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 

7 eligible entities under subsection (a) with technical 

8 support in the development, implementation, and en9 hancement of activities described in such subsection. 

10 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through 

11 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 

12 Prevention, shall award grants or cooperative agree13 ments to provide technical assistance to eligible enti14 ties to— 

15 ‘‘(A) develop, maintain, and improve data 

16 collection systems related to children’s vision 

17 screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and interven18 tion services; 

19 ‘‘(B) disseminate information for stake20 holders, including States and local governments, 

21 Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, Urban In22 dian organizations, public health departments, 

23 and nonprofit organizations, to launch effective 

24 strategies and interventions in preventing and 

25 treating childhood vision disorders; 


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1 ‘‘(C) conduct applied research related to 

2 early vision screening and intervention pro3 grams and outcomes; 

4 ‘‘(D) ensure quality monitoring of vision 

5 screening, evaluation, and intervention pro6 grams and systems; and 

7 ‘‘(E) assist eligible entities in coordinating 

8 on best practices and maintaining national 

9 goals related to vision and eye health. 

10 ‘‘(3) EVALUATION.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 4 years 

12 after the date of enactment of this section, the 

13 recipient of a grant or cooperative agreement 

14 under this subsection shall evaluate the activi15 ties conducted with funds received under this 

16 section and submit a report to the Secretary on 

17 the outcomes, costs, and program effectiveness 

18 of such activities. 

19 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—A report under sub20 paragraph (A) shall be in such form and con21 tain such information as the Secretary deter22 mines appropriate. 

23 ‘‘(C) SUBMISSION.—Upon determination 

24 by the Secretary that a report under subpara25 graph (A) meets the requirements of this paraVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:37 Jun 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8400.IH H8400

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1 graph, the recipient shall submit the report to 

2 Congress. 

3 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a 

4 grant or cooperative agreement under this sub5 section, an entity shall be a public or nonprofit pri6 vate organization or institution, with expertise, or 

7 demonstrated proficiency, in developing systems8 based approaches to children’s vision and eye health 

9 for the purpose of providing technical assistance in 

10 relation to one or more of the activities described in 

11 subsection (a). 

12 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION AND CONSULTATION.—The Sec13 retary shall coordinate and consult with the Health Re14 sources and Services Administration, the Centers for Dis15 ease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & 

16 Medicaid Services, the Administration for Communities 

17 and Families, the Indian Health Service, and the Depart18 ment of Education on recommendations for policy develop19 ment at the Federal, State, and Tribal levels with the pri20 vate sector, including consumer, medical, and other health 

21 and education child serving not-for-profit organizations 

22 with respect to early detection and intervention programs 

23 and systems. 

24 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(1) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 

2 has the meaning given to the term ‘Indian tribe’ in 

3 section 102 of the Federally Recognized Indian 

4 Tribe List Act of 1994. 

5 ‘‘(2) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

6 ‘State educational agency’ has the meaning given 

7 such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and 

8 Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

9 ‘‘(3) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘Tribal 

10 organization’ has the meaning given such term in 

11 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu12 cation Assistance Act. 

13 ‘‘(4) URBAN INDIAN ORGANIZATION.—The term 

14 ‘Urban Indian organization’ has the meaning given 

15 such term in section 4 of the Indian Health Care 

16 Improvement Act. 

17 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

18 are authorized to be appropriated— 

19 ‘‘(1) to carry out this section, other than sub20 section (a)(5), $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

21 2025 through 2029; and 

22 ‘‘(2) to carry out subsection (a)(5), $5,000,000 

23 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 

Æ 


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