I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7077 

To establish or expand programs to improve health equity regarding COVID– 

19 and reduce or eliminate inequities in the prevalence and health outcomes of COVID–19. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 1, 2020 

Ms. KELLY of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish or expand programs to improve health equity 

regarding COVID–19 and reduce or eliminate inequities 

in the prevalence and health outcomes of COVID–19. 

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 ‘‘Community Solutions 

5 for COVID–19 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ADDRESSING COVID–19 HEALTH INEQUITIES AND 

7 IMPROVING HEALTH EQUITY. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 


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1 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec2 retary’’), acting through the Director of the Centers for 

3 Disease Control and Prevention, shall award grants to eli4 gible entities to establish or expand programs to improve 

5 health equity regarding COVID–19 and reduce or elimi6 nate inequities, including racial and ethnic inequities, in 

7 the incidence, prevalence, and health outcomes of COVID– 

8 19. 

9 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

10 under subsection (a), an entity shall— 

11 (1) be a nongovernmental entity or consortium 

12 of entities that works to improve health and health 

13 equity in populations or communities disproportion14 ately affected by adverse health outcomes, includ15 ing— 

16 (A) racial and ethnic minority commu17 nities; 

18 (B) Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, 

19 and urban Indian organizations; 

20 (C) people with disabilities; 

21 (D) English language learners; 

22 (E) older adults; 

23 (F) low-income communities; 

24 (G) justice-involved communities; 

25 (H) immigrant communities; and 


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1 (I) communities on the basis of their sex2 ual orientation or gender identity; 

3 (2) have demonstrated experience in success4 fully working in and partnering with such commu5 nities, and have an established record of accomplish6 ment in improving health outcomes or preventing, 

7 reducing or eliminating health inequities, including 

8 racial and ethnic inequities, in those communities; 

9 (3) communicate with State, local, and Tribal 

10 health departments to coordinate grant activities, as 

11 appropriate; and 

12 (4) submit to the Secretary an application at 

13 such time, in such manner, and containing such in14 formation as the Secretary may require. 

15 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity shall use amounts re16 ceived under grant under this section to establish, improve 

17 upon, or expand programs to improve health equity re18 garding COVID–19 and reduce or eliminate inequities, in19 cluding racial and ethnic inequities, in the incidence, prev20 alence, and health outcomes of COVID–19. Such uses may 

21 include— 

22 (1) acquiring and distributing medical supplies, 

23 such as personal protective equipment, to commu24 nities that are at an increased risk of COVID–19; 


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1 (2) helping people enroll in a health insurance 

2 plan that meets minimum essential coverage; 

3 (3) increasing the availability of COVID–19 

4 testing and any future COVID–19 treatments or 

5 vaccines in communities that are at an increased 

6 risk of COVID–19; 

7 (4) aiding communities and individuals in fol8 lowing guidelines and best practices in regards to 

9 COVID–19, including physical distancing guidelines; 

10 (5) helping communities and COVID–19 sur11 vivors recover and cope with the long-term health 

12 impacts of COVID–19; 

13 (6) addressing social determinants of health, 

14 such as transportation, nutrition, housing, discrimi15 nation, health care access, including mental health 

16 care and substance use disorder prevention, treat17 ment, and recovery, health literacy, employment sta18 tus, and working conditions, education, income, and 

19 stress, that impact COVID–19 incidence, prevalence, 

20 and health outcomes, and facilitating or providing 

21 access to needed services; 

22 (7) the provision of anti-racism and implicit 

23 and explicit bias training for health care providers 

24 and other relevant professionals; 


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1 (8) creating and disseminating culturally in2 formed, linguistically appropriate, accessible, and 

3 medically accurate outreach and education regarding 

4 COVID–19; 

5 (9) acquiring, retaining, and training a diverse 

6 workforce; and 

7 (10) improving the accessibility to health care, 

8 including accessibility to health care providers, men9 tal health care, and COVID–19 testing for people 

10 with disabilities. 

11 (d) ADMINISTRATION.— 

12 (1) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

13 section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible 

14 entities that are a community-based organization or 

15 have an established history of successfully working 

16 in and partnering with the community or with popu17 lations which the entity intends to provide services 

18 under the grant. The Secretary shall also utilize 

19 available demographic data to give priority to eligible 

20 entities working with populations or communities 

21 disproportionately affected by COVID–19. 

22 (2) GEOGRAPHICAL DIVERSITY.—The Secretary 

23 shall seek to ensure geographical diversity among 

24 grant recipients. 


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1 (3) REDUCTION OF BURDENS.—In admin2 istering the grant program under this section, the 

3 Secretary shall make every effort to minimize unnec4 essary administrative burdens on eligible entities re5 ceiving such grants. 

6 (4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

7 shall provide technical assistance to eligible entities 

8 on best practices for applying grants under this sec9 tion. 

10 (e) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this section 

11 shall be for a period of 3 years. 

12 (f) REPORTING.— 

13 (1) BY GRANTEE.—Not later than 180 days 

14 after the end of a grant period under this section, 

15 the grantee shall submit to the Secretary a report on 

16 the activities conducted under the grant, including— 

17 (A) a description of the impact of grant 

18 activities, including on— 

19 (i) outreach and education related to 

20 COVID–19; and 

21 (ii) improving public health activities 

22 related to COVID–19, including physical 

23 distancing; 

24 (B) the number of individuals reached by 

25 the activities under the grant and, to the extent 


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1 known, the disaggregated demographic data of 

2 such individuals, such as by race, ethnicity, sex 

3 (including sexual orientation and gender iden4 tity), income, disability status, or primary lan5 guage; and 

6 (C) any other information the Secretary 

7 determines is necessary. 

8 (2) BY SECRETARY.—Not later than 1 year 

9 after the end of the grant program under this sec10 tion, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 

11 on the grant program, including a summary of the 

12 information gathered under paragraph (1). 

13 (g) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Grants awarded 

14 under this Act shall be used to supplement and not sup15 plant any other Federal funds made available to carry out 

16 the activities described in this Act. 

17 (h) FUNDING.—Out of funds in the Treasury not oth18 erwise appropriated, there are appropriated to carry out 

19 this section, $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 

20 through 2022. 

Æ 


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