103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1225

AN ACT

To authorize and encourage the President to consion. United States-Mexico Border Health Commis- clude an agreement with Mexico to establish a
103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1225

AN ACT

To authorize and encourage the President to conclude an

agreement with Mexico to establish a United StatesMexico Border Health Commission.

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 ‘‘United States-Mexico

5 Border Health Commission Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF BORDER HEALTH COMMIS2 SION.

3 The President is authorized and encouraged to con4 clude an agreement with Mexico to establish a binational

5 commission to be known as the United States-Mexico Bor6 der Health Commission.

7 SEC. 3. DUTIES.

8 It should be the duty of the Commission—

9 (1) to conduct a comprehensive needs assess10 ment in the United States-Mexico Border Area for

11 the purposes of identifying, evaluating, preventing,

12 and resolving health problems and potential health

13 problems that affect the general population of the

14 area;

15 (2) to implement the actions recommended by

16 the needs assessment through—

17 (A) assisting in the coordination and im18 plementation of the efforts of public and private

19 entities to prevent and resolve such health prob20 lems, and

21 (B) assisting in the coordination and im22 plementation of efforts of public and private en23 tities to educate such population, in a culturally

24 competent manner, concerning such health

25 problems; and
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1 (3) to formulate recommendations to the Gov2 ernments of the United States and Mexico concern3 ing a fair and reasonable method by which the gov4 ernment of one country could reimburse a public or

5 private entity in the other country for the cost of a

6 health care service that the entity furnishes to a citi7 zen of the first country who is unable, through in8 surance or otherwise, to pay for the service.

9 SEC. 4. OTHER AUTHORIZED FUNCTIONS.

10 In addition to the duties described in section 3, the

11 Commission should be authorized to perform the following

12 functions as the Commission determines to be appro13 priate—

14 (1) to conduct or support investigations, re15 search, or studies designed to identify, study, and

16 monitor, on an on-going basis, health problems that

17 affect the general population in the United States18 Mexico Border Area;

19 (2) to conduct or support a binational, public20 private effort to establish a comprehensive and co21 ordinated system, which uses advanced technologies

22 to the maximum extent possible, for gathering

23 health-related data and monitoring health problems

24 in the United States-Mexico Border Area; and
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1 (3) to provide financial, technical, or adminis2 trative assistance to public or private nonprofit enti3 ties who act to prevent or resolve such problems or

4 who educate the population concerning such health

5 problems.

6 SEC. 5. MEMBERSHIP.

7 (a) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT OF UNITED STATES

8 SECTION.—The United States section of the Commission

9 should be composed of 13 members. The section should

10 consist of the following members:

11 (1) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv12 ices or the Secretary’s delegate.

13 (2) The commissioners of health or chief health

14 officer from the States of Texas, New Mexico, Ari15 zona, and California or such commissioners’ dele16 gates.

17 (3) Two individuals residing in United States18 Mexico Border Area in each of the States of Texas,

19 New Mexico, Arizona, and California who are nomi20 nated by the chief executive officer of the respective

21 States and appointed by the President from among

22 individual who have demonstrated ties to commu23 nity-based organizations and have demonstrated in24 terest and expertise in health issues of the United

25 States-Mexico Border Area.
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1 (b) COMMISSIONER.—The Commissioner of the

2 United States section of the Commission should be the

3 Secretary of Health and Human Services or such individ4 ual’s delegate to the Commission. The Commissioner

5 should be the leader of the section.

6 (c) COMPENSATION.—Members of the United States

7 section of the Commission who are not employees of the

8 United States or any State—

9 (1) shall each receive compensation at a rate of

10 not to exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate

11 of basic pay payable for positions at GS–15 of the

12 General Schedule under section 5332 of title 5,

13 United States Code, for each day such member is

14 engaged in the actual performance of the duties of

15 the Commission; and

16 (2) shall be allowed travel expenses, including

17 per diem in lieu of subsistence at rates authorized

18 for employees of agencies under subchapter I of

19 chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while

20 away from their homes or regular places of business

21 in the performance of services of the Commission.

22 SEC. 6. REGIONAL OFFICES.

23 The Commission may designate or establish one bor24 der health office in each of the States of Texas, New Mex25 ico, Arizona, and California. Such office should be located
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1 within the United States-Mexico Border Area, and should

2 be coordinated with—

3 (1) State border health offices; and

4 (2) local nonprofit organizations designated by

5 the State’s chief executive officer and directly in6 volved in border health issues.

7 If feasible to avoid duplicative efforts, the Commission of8 fices should be located in existing State or local nonprofit

9 offices. The Commission should provide adequate com10 pensation for cooperative efforts and resources.

11 SEC. 7. REPORTS.

12 Not later than February 1 of each year that occurs

13 more than 1 year after the date of the establishment of

14 the Commission, the Commission should submit an annual

15 report to both the United States Government and the Gov16 ernment of Mexico regarding all activities of the Commis17 sion during the preceding calendar year.

18 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

19 As used in this Act:

20 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’

21 means the United States-Mexico Border Health

22 Commission.

23 (2) HEALTH PROBLEM.—The term ‘‘health

24 problem’’ means a disease or medical ailment or an

25 environmental condition that poses the risk of dis-
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1 ease or medical ailment. The term includes diseases,

2 ailments, or risks of disease or ailment caused by or

3 related to environmental factors, control of animals

4 and rabies, control of insect and rodent vectors, dis5 posal of solid and hazardous waste, and control and

6 monitoring of air quality.

7 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

8 the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

9 (4) UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER AREA.—

10 The term ‘‘United States-Mexico Border Area’’

11 means the area located in the United States and

12 Mexico within 100 kilometers of the border between

13 the United States and Mexico.

Passed the Senate September 30 (legislative day,

September 12), 1994.

Attest:

Secretary.