I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1119 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the position of National 

Nurse for Public Health. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2011 

Mr. WEINER (for himself, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Ms. 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. OLVER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, and Mr. HONDA) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the 

position of 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 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

7 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

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

9 the following: 


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

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established within 

4 the Office of the Surgeon General a full-time posi5 tion, to be filled by registered nurse to be known as 

6 the National Nurse for Public Health. 

7 ‘‘(2) PROCEDURE.—Except for the initial ap8 pointment of the National Nurse for Public Health 

9 under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall appoint the 

10 National Nurse for Public Health in accordance with 

11 Commissioned Corps Instruction CC23.4.6 (relating 

12 to Chief Professional Officer Nominations), as in ef13 fect on February 13, 2008. 

14 ‘‘(3) INITIAL APPOINTMENT.—Not later than 

15 30 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

16 the Secretary shall appoint the individual serving as 

17 the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health Service 

18 as of the date of the enactment of this section as the 

19 first National Nurse for Public Health. 

20 ‘‘(b) RANK AND GRADE.—The National Nurse for 

21 Public Health shall have the same rank and grade as the 

22 Deputy Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. 

23 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health 

24 shall carry out the following: 

25 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

26 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 


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1 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

2 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro3 viding representation for the Government of the 

4 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

5 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

6 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

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

8 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

9 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 

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

11 levels. 

12 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur13 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

14 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit15 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

16 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

17 of the Public Health Service. 

18 ‘‘(4) Conduct media campaigns and make per19 sonal appearances for purposes of paragraphs (5) 

20 through (7). 

21 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi22 ties to promote the public health, including encour23 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

24 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 


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1 public about and engage the public in prevention 

2 practices to achieve better health. 

3 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour4 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 

5 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

6 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

7 future nurses. 

8 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi9 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

10 preparedness. 

11 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—HEALTHY

12 PEOPLE 2020.— 

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

14 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen15 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen16 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga17 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

18 participate in the identification of national health 

19 priorities. 

20 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR21 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

22 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

23 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

24 strengthen the relationship between Government 

25 agencies and health-related national organizations. 


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1 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

3 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

4 for Public Health shall— 

5 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

6 on recommended activities to organiza7 tions; 

8 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

9 and encourage their replication; 

10 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

11 evidence-based practice in educating the 

12 public on health promotion and disease 

13 prevention activities; 

14 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

15 other health professionals, including retired 

16 health professionals and students enrolled 

17 in health professional programs, to partici18 pate in health promotion activities and rep19 licate successful health promotion activi20 ties; and 

21 ‘‘(v) monitor activities being con22 ducted through the collection and evalua23 tion of data to determine if national health 

24 priorities are being addressed. 


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1 ‘‘(B) MEDIA CAMPAIGNS.—The National 

2 Nurse for Public Health shall ensure that 

3 media campaigns conducted under subsection 

4 (c)(4) include media campaigns regarding the 

5 national health priorities. 

6 ‘‘(C) EVALUATIONS.—The National Nurse 

7 for Public Health shall, directly or through 

8 awards of grants or contracts, evaluate the ac9 tivities encouraged by the National Nurse for 

10 Public Health and conducted by community11 based, nonprofit organizations to determine the 

12 extent to which such activities have succeeded 

13 in carrying out national health priorities. 

14 ‘‘(D) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

15 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis16 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

17 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga18 nizations interested in health promotion and 

19 improving public health through community ac20 tion. 

21 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For 

22 carrying out this section, there are authorized to be appro23 priated such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 

24 years 2012 through 2016.’’. 

Æ 


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