I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5923 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services to make grants to eligible entities to train elementary and secondary school nurses on how to respond to a biological 

or chemical attack or an outbreak of pandemic illness in a school building 

or on school grounds. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2016 

Mr. ISRAEL (for himself and Mrs. CAPPS) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the 

Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants 

to eligible entities to train elementary and secondary 

school nurses on how to respond to a biological or chemical attack or an outbreak of pandemic illness in a school 

building or on school grounds. 

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 ‘‘School Protection Act 

5 of 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A PROGRAM. 

2 Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

3 U.S.C. 296 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘PART J—TRAINING NURSES FOR RESPONDING 

6 TO BIOTERRORISM AND PANDEMIC ILLNESS 

7 ‘‘SEC. 875. GRANTS FOR RESPONDING TO BIOTERRORISM 

8 AND PANDEMIC ILLNESS. 

9 ‘‘(a) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary may award 

10 grants to and enter into contracts with eligible entities to 

11 train school nurses to serve as first responders and crisis 

12 managers in the event of— 

13 ‘‘(1) a biological or chemical attack, including a 

14 terrorist attack, affecting individuals in a school 

15 building or on school grounds; or 

16 ‘‘(2) an outbreak of pandemic illness among 

17 students, faculty, or other individuals under their 

18 care. 

19 ‘‘(b) REQUIRED ELEMENTS OF TRAINING.—Any 

20 training which is funded, in whole or in part, under this 

21 section shall prepare school nurses— 

22 ‘‘(1) to take such measures as may be nec23 essary, particularly in the critical early stages of an 

24 attack or outbreak described in subsection (a), to 

25 protect and preserve life; 


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1 ‘‘(2) as part of crisis management, to notify 

2 such public health authorities as may be appropriate 

3 to help contain or mitigate the effects of an attack 

4 or outbreak described in subsection (a); and 

5 ‘‘(3) to take such other actions as may be ap6 propriate and feasible, such as, in the case of a bio7 logical or chemical attack, the preservation of evi8 dence. 

9 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The term ‘eligible 

11 entities’ shall have the same meaning as is given 

12 such term in section 801, and includes— 

13 ‘‘(A) a State educational agency (as de14 fined in section 9101(41) of the Elementary 

15 and Secondary Education Act of 1965); and 

16 ‘‘(B) a local educational agency (as defined 

17 in section 9101(26) of the Elementary and Sec18 ondary Education Act of 1965). 

19 ‘‘(2) SCHOOL.—The term ‘school’ means— 

20 ‘‘(A) an elementary school (as defined in 

21 section 9101(18) of the Elementary and Sec22 ondary Education Act of 1965); and 

23 ‘‘(B) a secondary school (as defined in sec24 tion 9101(38) of the Elementary and Secondary 

25 Education Act of 1965). 


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1 ‘‘(3) SCHOOL GROUNDS.—The term ‘school 

2 grounds’ means the area outside of a school building 

3 that is controlled, managed, or owned by the school 

4 or school district. 

5 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

6 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized 

7 to be appropriated $20,000,000 for each fiscal year after 

8 fiscal year 2017.’’. 

Æ 


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