I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8374 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for establishment of 

an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion within each covered agency 

of the Department of Health and Human Services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 

Ms. DELAURO (for herself, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, 

Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. COHEN, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. 

ESCOBAR, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, 

Mr. SIRES, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. 

RICHMOND, Ms. FUDGE, and Ms. MOORE) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 

establishment of an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion within each covered agency of the Department of 

Health and Human Services, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanding Represen3 tation at HHS Act of 2020’’. 

4 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF MINORITY AND WOMEN INCLUSION. 

5 Part A of title II of the Public Health Service Act 

6 is amended by inserting after section 229 of such Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 237a) the following new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 229A. OFFICE OF MINORITY AND WOMEN INCLUSION. 

9 ‘‘(a) OFFICE OF MINORITY AND WOMEN INCLU10 SION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than the 

12 date that is 6 months after the date of enactment 

13 of the Expanding Representation at HHS Act of 

14 2020, the agency administrator of each covered 

15 agency shall establish an office to be known as the 

16 Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (in this sec17 tion referred to as an ‘Office’) within the covered 

18 agency to be responsible for all matters of the cov19 ered agency relating to diversity in the management, 

20 employment, and business activities of the covered 

21 agency. 

22 ‘‘(2) TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITIES.—The 

23 agency administrator of each covered agency that, 

24 preceding the establishment of an Office pursuant to 

25 paragraph (1) within the covered agency, assigned 

26 the responsibilities described in paragraph (1) (or 


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1 comparable responsibilities) to an office other than 

2 such Office shall ensure that such responsibilities 

3 are transferred to such Office. 

4 ‘‘(3) DUTIES WITH RESPECT TO CIVIL RIGHTS

5 LAWS.—The responsibilities described in paragraph 

6 (1) do not include enforcement of statutes, regula7 tions, or Executive orders pertaining to civil rights, 

8 except that the Director of each Office shall coordi9 nate with the agency administrator of the respective 

10 covered agency regarding the design and implemen11 tation of any remedies resulting from violations of 

12 such statutes, regulations, or Executive orders. 

13 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of a covered 

15 agency shall be headed by a Director, who shall be 

16 appointed by, and shall report directly to, the agency 

17 administrator of the covered agency. 

18 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION.—The position of Director 

19 shall be— 

20 ‘‘(A) a career reserved position in the Sen21 ior Executive Service, as such terms are defined 

22 in section 3132 of title 5, United States Code; 

23 or 

24 ‘‘(B) an equivalent position. 


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1 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The agency administrator of 

2 each covered agency, in consultation with the Direc3 tor of the Office of the covered agency, shall develop 

4 standards for— 

5 ‘‘(A) developing and overseeing the imple6 mentation of standards for— 

7 ‘‘(i) equal employment opportunity 

8 and the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity 

9 of the workforce and senior management 

10 of the covered agency; 

11 ‘‘(ii) increased participation of minor12 ity-led and women-led businesses in the 

13 programs and contracts of the covered 

14 agency, including standards for coordi15 nating technical assistance to such busi16 nesses; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) assessing the diversity policies 

18 and practices of entities receiving financial 

19 assistance from the covered agency, except 

20 that the agency administrator shall exempt 

21 small entities from the assessment, as de22 termined to be appropriate by the agency 

23 administrator; and 

24 ‘‘(B) advising the agency administrator of 

25 the covered agency on the impact of the policies 


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1 and regulations of the covered agency on minor2 ity-led and women-led grantees and sub3 grantees. 

4 ‘‘(c) STAFF.—Each Office shall be staffed at the ap5 propriate levels to carry out the functions and responsibil6 ities of the Office under this section. 

7 ‘‘(d) INCLUSION IN ALL LEVELS OF GRANTEE AND

8 SUBGRANTEE ACTIVITIES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The agency administrator 

10 of each covered agency, in consultation with the Di11 rector of the Office of the covered agency, shall de12 velop and implement standards and procedures to 

13 ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the fair in14 clusion and utilization of minorities, women, and mi15 nority-led and women-led grantees and subgrantees 

16 in all activities of the covered agency at all levels, in17 cluding in procurement, insurance, and all types of 

18 contracts. 

19 ‘‘(2) GRANTMAKING AND CONTRACTS.—The 

20 procedures established by each covered agency for 

21 review and evaluation of grant- and subgrant-mak22 ing and contract proposals and for hiring service 

23 providers shall include, to the extent consistent with 

24 applicable law, a component that gives consideration 

25 to the diversity of the applicant. Such procedures 


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1 shall include a written statement, in a form and with 

2 such content as the Director of the Office of the cov3 ered agency shall prescribe, that a grantee, sub4 grantee, or contractor shall ensure, to the maximum 

5 extent possible, the fair inclusion of women and mi6 norities in the workforce of the grantee, subgrantee, 

7 contractor, and subcontractors. 

8 ‘‘(3) TERMINATION.— 

9 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION.—The standards 

10 and procedures developed and implemented 

11 under this subsection shall include a procedure 

12 for the Director of the Office involved to deter13 mine whether a grantee, subgrantee, contractor, 

14 or subcontractor of the covered agency has 

15 failed to make a good faith effort to include mi16 norities and women in the workforce of the 

17 grantee, subgrantee, contractor, or subcon18 tractor. 

19 ‘‘(B) EFFECT OF DETERMINATION.— 

20 ‘‘(i) RECOMMENDATION TO AGENCY

21 ADMINISTRATOR.—Upon a determination 

22 under subparagraph (A) of a failure de23 scribed in such subparagraph, the Director 

24 of the Office involved shall recommend to 

25 the agency administrator of the covered 


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1 agency that the grant, subgrant, contract, 

2 or subcontract, as applicable, be termi3 nated. 

4 ‘‘(ii) ACTION BY AGENCY ADMINIS5 TRATOR.—Upon receipt of a recommenda6 tion under clause (i), the agency adminis7 trator of the covered agency may— 

8 ‘‘(I) terminate the grant or con9 tract, or direct the grantee or con10 tractor to terminate the subgrant or 

11 subcontract, as the case may be; 

12 ‘‘(II) make a referral to the Of13 fice of Federal Contract Compliance 

14 Programs of the Department of 

15 Labor; or 

16 ‘‘(III) take other appropriate ac17 tion. 

18 ‘‘(e) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies with re19 spect to all grant agreements and other contracts of a cov20 ered agency, including for services of any kind, including 

21 the services of adoption agencies, child welfare organiza22 tions, energy companies participating in the Low Income 

23 Home Energy Assistance Program, legal service providers. 

24 The grants, subgrants, contracts, and subcontracts re25 ferred to in this subsection include all contracts for all 


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1 business and activities of a covered agency, at all levels, 

2 including grants, subgrants, contracts, and subcontracts 

3 for the programs and services provided by Department of 

4 Health and Human Services grantees, subgrantees, con5 tractors, and subcontractors. 

6 ‘‘(f) REPORTS.—The agency administrator of each 

7 covered agency, in consultation with the Director of the 

8 Office of the covered agency, shall submit to the Congress 

9 an annual report regarding the actions taken by the Office 

10 and the respective covered agency pursuant to this section. 

11 Each such report shall include— 

12 ‘‘(1) a statement of the total amounts paid by 

13 the covered agency to grantees and contractors, and 

14 the total amounts paid by grantees and contractors 

15 to subgrantees and subcontractors, during the 12- 

16 month covered reporting period; 

17 ‘‘(2) the percentage of the amounts described in 

18 paragraph (1) that were paid to minority-led or 

19 women-led grantees, subgrantees, contractors, and 

20 subcontractors, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and 

21 gender; 

22 ‘‘(3) the successes achieved and challenges 

23 faced by the covered agency in operating minority 

24 and women outreach programs; 


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1 ‘‘(4) the challenges the covered agency has ex2 perienced during the 12-month covered reporting pe3 riod in hiring qualified minority and women employ4 ees and awarding grants and contracting with quali5 fied minority-led and women-led grantees, sub6 grantees, contractors, and subcontractors; and 

7 ‘‘(5) any other information, findings, conclu8 sions, and recommendations for legislative or agency 

9 action, as the agency administrator determines ap10 propriate. 

11 ‘‘(g) DIVERSITY IN COVERED AGENCY WORK12 FORCE.—The agency administrator of each covered agen13 cy shall take affirmative steps to seek diversity in the 

14 workforce of the covered agency at all levels of the covered 

15 agency in a manner consistent with applicable law. Such 

16 steps shall include— 

17 ‘‘(1) recruiting at historically Black colleges 

18 and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, wom19 en’s colleges, and other colleges and universities at 

20 which a majority of the students are members of mi21 nority populations; 

22 ‘‘(2) sponsoring and recruiting at job fairs in 

23 high-poverty communities; 

24 ‘‘(3) placing employment advertisements in 

25 newspapers, magazines, and technologically approVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 16, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8374.IH H8374

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1 priate mediums, such as the internet or online job 

2 boards oriented toward minorities and women; 

3 ‘‘(4) partnering with organizations that are fo4 cused on developing opportunities for minorities and 

5 women to place talented young minorities and 

6 women in industry internships, summer employment, 

7 and full-time positions; and 

8 ‘‘(5) any other mass media communications 

9 that the agency administrator of the covered agency 

10 determines necessary. 

11 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR.—The term 

13 ‘agency administrator’ means the head of an agency. 

14 ‘‘(2) COVERED AGENCY.—The term ‘covered 

15 agency’— 

16 ‘‘(A) means an agency or office of the De17 partment of Health and Human Services with 

18 the authority to award grants or other financial 

19 assistance; and 

20 ‘‘(B) includes— 

21 ‘‘(i) the Office of the Secretary; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the Administration for Children 

23 and Families; 

24 ‘‘(iii) the Agency for Healthcare Re25 search and Quality; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) the Office of the Assistant Sec2 retary for Health; 

3 ‘‘(v) the Office of the Assistant Sec4 retary for Preparedness and Response; 

5 ‘‘(vi) the Center for Faith and Oppor6 tunity Initiatives; 

7 ‘‘(vii) the Centers for Disease Control 

8 and Prevention; 

9 ‘‘(viii) the Centers for Medicare & 

10 Medicaid Services; 

11 ‘‘(ix) the Food and Drug Administra12 tion; 

13 ‘‘(x) the Health Resources and Serv14 ices Administration; 

15 ‘‘(xi) the National Institutes of 

16 Health; 

17 ‘‘(xii) the Office of Global Affairs; 

18 ‘‘(xiii) the Office of the National Co19 ordinator for Health Information Tech20 nology; and 

21 ‘‘(xiv) the Substance Abuse and Men22 tal Health Services Administration. 

23 ‘‘(3) MINORITY.—The term ‘minority’ means 

24 any Black American, Native American, Hispanic 

25 American, or Asian American. 


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1 ‘‘(4) MINORITY-LED.—The term ‘ minority-led’ 

2 means— 

3 ‘‘(A) more than 50 percent of the leader4 ship, control, or ownership of which is held by 

5 one or more minority individuals; 

6 ‘‘(B) a significant percentage of senior 

7 management or leadership positions of which 

8 are held by minority individuals; and 

9 ‘‘(C) in the case of a for-profit entity, more 

10 than 50 percent of the net profit or loss of 

11 which accrues to one or more minority individ12 uals. 

13 ‘‘(5) OFFICE.—The term ‘Office’ means the Of14 fice of Minority and Women Inclusion established by 

15 a covered agency pursuant to subsection (a). 

16 ‘‘(6) WOMEN-LED.—The term ‘women-led’ 

17 means— 

18 ‘‘(A) more than 50 percent of the owner19 ship or control of which is held by one or more 

20 women; 

21 ‘‘(B) a significant percentage of senior 

22 management or leadership positions of which 

23 are held by one or more women; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) in the case of a for-profit entity, more 

2 than 50 percent of the net profit or loss of 

3 which accrues to one or more women.’’. 

Æ 


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