I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4903 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of the National 

Nurse. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2006 

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 establish an 

Office of the National Nurse. 

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 2006’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDING PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT WITH RE2 SPECT TO THE OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL 

3 NURSE. 

4 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

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

6 the following section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 1711. OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL NURSE. 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.—There is estab9 lished within the Office of Public Health and Science an 

10 office to be known as the Office of the National Nurse, 

11 which shall be headed by an individual serving in a posi12 tion to be known as the National Nurse. The Secretary 

13 shall appoint a registered nurse to serve in such position. 

14 The Secretary shall carry out this section acting through 

15 the National Nurse. 

16 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The National Nurse shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) carry out activities to encourage individ18 uals to enter the nursing profession, including pro19 viding education on the distinct role of nurses in the 

20 health professions and examining nursing issues that 

21 would increase public safety, such as issues relating 

22 to staff levels, working conditions, and patient input; 

23 ‘‘(2) carry out activities to encourage nurses to 

24 become educators in schools of nursing; 

25 ‘‘(3) carry out activities to promote the public 

26 health, including encouraging nurses to be volunVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:03 Mar 09, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4903.IH H4903

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1 teers to projects that educate the public on achieving 

2 better health; and 

3 ‘‘(4) conduct media campaigns and make per4 sonal appearances for purposes of paragraphs (1) 

5 through (3). 

6 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL PRIORITIES ON ACHIEVING BETTER

7 HEALTH.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each fiscal year the Na9 tional Nurse shall designate four methods of achiev10 ing better health that will be given priority by the 

11 National Nurse in carrying out subsection (b)(3) 

12 (referred to in this subsection as ‘annual health pri13 orities’). The National Nurse shall designate such 

14 priorities in consultation with the Surgeon General 

15 of the Public Health Service, the heads of the agen16 cies of such Service, the States, and organizations 

17 that represent health professionals. 

18 ‘‘(2) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out sub20 section (b)(3), the National Nurse shall make 

21 grants to nonprofit private entities to carry out 

22 projects for the purpose of educating the public 

23 on the annual health priorities, including out24 reach activities in settings such as schools, sen25 ior centers, and libraries. 


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1 ‘‘(B) STATE COORDINATORS; NURSE

2 TEAMS.—In making grants under subparagraph 

3 (A), the National Nurse shall provide for the 

4 following with respect to a State and particular 

5 communities in which activities under the grant 

6 will be carried out: 

7 ‘‘(i) The designation of an individual 

8 to coordinate such activities within the 

9 State (referred to in this paragraph as the 

10 ‘State coordinator’). 

11 ‘‘(ii) Under the guidance of the State 

12 coordinator, the formation of teams of 

13 nurses who volunteer to provide the edu14 cation referred to subparagraph (A), which 

15 teams are diverse and representative in 

16 terms of educational level in the field of 

17 nursing and in terms of racial and ethnic 

18 minority groups. 

19 ‘‘(iii) The collection in such commu20 nities, in accordance with criteria of the 

21 National Nurse, of data relating to the an22 nual health priorities. 

23 ‘‘(C) MEDIA CAMPAIGNS.—The National 

24 Nurse shall ensure that media campaigns under 


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1 subsection (b)(4) include media campaigns re2 garding the annual health priorities. 

3 ‘‘(D) EVALUATIONS.—The National Nurse 

4 shall, directly or through awards of grants or 

5 contracts, evaluate projects under subparagraph 

6 (A) to determine the extent to which the 

7 projects have been successful in carrying out 

8 the purpose described in such subparagraph. 

9 ‘‘(E) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

10 The National Nurse shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) disseminate information obtained 

12 in the evaluations under subparagraph 

13 (D); and 

14 ‘‘(ii) disseminate such other informa15 tion obtained pursuant to projects under 

16 subparagraph (A) as the National Nurse 

17 determines to be appropriate. 

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

19 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

20 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for 

21 each of the fiscal years 2006 through 2010.’’. 

Æ 


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