I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1651 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of 

the Public Health Service as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 21, 2017 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. KING of New York, 

Mr. TONKO, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. 

LANCE, Mr. SCHRADER, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. HARPER, Mr. 

MCKINLEY, and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse 

Officer of the Public Health Service as the National 

Nurse for Public Health. 

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 ‘‘National Nurse Act 

5 of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

2 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

3 U.S.C. 300u et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1711. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The same individual des7 ignated as the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health 

8 Service under section 205 shall also be designated by the 

9 Secretary as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

10 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The National Nurse for Public 

11 Health shall carry out the following: 

12 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

13 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

14 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

15 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro16 viding representation for the Government of the 

17 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

18 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

19 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

20 ‘‘(2) Represent the Surgeon General and the 

21 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

22 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

23 issues at the local, State, national, and international 

24 levels. 

25 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur26 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 


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1 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit2 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

3 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

4 of the Public Health Service. 

5 ‘‘(4) Conduct outreach and education for pur6 poses of paragraphs (5) through (7). 

7 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi8 ties to promote the public health, including encour9 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

10 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

11 public about and engage the public in prevention 

12 practices to achieve better health. 

13 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour14 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 

15 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

16 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

17 future nurses. 

18 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi19 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

20 preparedness. 

21 ‘‘(8) Prepare and publish a biennial report on 

22 the state of the Commissioned Corps of the Public 

23 Health Service Nurse Category. 

24 ‘‘(c) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—NATIONAL

25 PREVENTION STRATEGY.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The National Nurse for 

2 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen3 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen4 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga5 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

6 continue to participate in the identification of na7 tional health priorities. 

8 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR9 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

10 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

11 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

12 strengthen the relationship between Government 

13 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

14 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

16 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

17 for Public Health shall— 

18 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

19 on recommended activities to organiza20 tions; 

21 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

22 and encourage their replication; 

23 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

24 evidence-based practice in educating the 


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1 public on health promotion and disease 

2 prevention activities; 

3 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

4 other health professionals, including retired 

5 health professionals and students enrolled 

6 in health professional programs, to partici7 pate in health promotion activities and rep8 licate successful health promotion activities 

9 in their local communities; and 

10 ‘‘(v) collaborate with Federal agencies 

11 to monitor activities being conducted 

12 through the collection and evaluation of 

13 data to determine if national health prior14 ities are being addressed. 

15 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—In 

16 conducting outreach and education under sub17 section (b)(4), the National Nurse for Public 

18 Health shall give priority to the inclusion of di19 verse approaches, including social media cam20 paigns, to address national health priorities. 

21 ‘‘(C) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

22 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis23 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

24 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga25 nizations interested in health promotion and 


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1 improving public health through community ac2 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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