I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 1902 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2006 

Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

AN ACT 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize funding 

for the establishment of a program on children and the 

media within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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 Centers 

3 for Disease Control and Prevention to— 

4 (1) examine the role and positive and negative 

5 impact of electronic media in children’s and adoles6 cents’ cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and be7 havioral 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 Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

15 (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating the second section 399O 

17 (relating to grants to foster public health responses 

18 to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, 

19 and stalking) as section 399P; and 

20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 399Q. RESEARCH ON THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF 

22 ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN THE DEVELOPMENT 

23 OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS. 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap25 propriations, the Secretary, acting through the Director 

26 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (reVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:30 Sep 15, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1902.RFH S1902

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1 ferred to in this section as the ‘Director’), shall enter into 

2 a contract with the National Academy of Science or an3 other appropriate entity to review, synthesize, and report 

4 on research, and establish research priorities, regarding 

5 the roles and impact of electronic media (including tele6 vision, motion pictures, DVD’s, interactive video games, 

7 digital music, the Internet, and cell phones) and exposures 

8 to such media on youth in the following core areas of de9 velopment: 

10 ‘‘(1) COGNITIVE.—Cognitive areas such as lan11 guage development, attention span, problem solving 

12 skills (such as the ability to conduct multiple tasks 

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

14 other learning abilities. 

15 ‘‘(2) PHYSICAL.—Physical areas such as phys16 ical coordination, diet, exercise, sleeping and eating 

17 routines. 

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

19 areas such as family activities and peer relationships 

20 including indoor and outdoor play time, interactions 

21 with parents, consumption habits, social relation22 ships, aggression, and positive social behavior. 

23 ‘‘(b) RESEARCH PROGRAM.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Taking into account the re25 port provided for under subsection (a), the SecVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:30 Sep 15, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1902.RFH S1902

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1 retary, acting through the Director and in coordina2 tion with the Director of the National Institutes of 

3 Health, shall, subject to the availability of appro4 priations, award grants for research concerning the 

5 role and impact of electronic media on the cognitive, 

6 physical, and socio-behavioral development of youth. 

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

8 for under paragraph (1) shall comply with the fol9 lowing requirements: 

10 ‘‘(A) Such research shall focus on the im11 pact of factors such as media content (whether 

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

13 age of youth, venue, and nature of parental in14 volvement. 

15 ‘‘(B) Such research shall not duplicate 

16 other Federal research activities. 

17 ‘‘(C) For purposes of such research, elec18 tronic media shall include television, motion pic19 tures, DVD’s, interactive video games, digital 

20 music, the Internet, and cell phones. 

21 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re22 ceive a grant under this subsection, an entity shall— 

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

24 an application at such time, in such manner, 


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1 and containing such information as the Director 

2 shall require; and 

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

4 the grant to carry out activities as described in 

5 this subsection. 

6 ‘‘(c) REPORTS.— 

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

8 than 15 months after the date of the enactment of 

9 this section, the report provided for under subsection 

10 (a) shall be submitted to the Director and to the ap11 propriate committees of Congress. 

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

13 December 31, 2012, the Secretary, acting through 

14 the Director, shall prepare and submit to the appro15 priate committees of Congress a report that— 

16 ‘‘(A) synthesizes the results of— 

17 ‘‘(i) research carried out under the 

18 grant program under subsection (b); and 

19 ‘‘(ii) other related research, including 

20 research conducted by the private or public 

21 sector and other Federal entities; and 

22 ‘‘(B) outlines existing research gaps in 

23 light of the information described in subpara24 graph (A). 


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

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

3 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

4 2007 through 2012.’’. 

Passed the Senate September 13, 2006. 

Attest: EMILY J. REYNOLDS, 

Secretary. 


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