I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2238 

To establish a grant program to provide comprehensive eye examinations 

and necessary follow up treatment to children, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 10, 2005 

Mr. PASCRELL (for himself, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. OWENS, Mr. MORAN

of Virginia, Mr. KIND, Mr. REYES, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MEEKS of New 

York, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. LANGEVIN) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to provide comprehensive eye 

examinations and necessary follow up treatment to children, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Vision Im5 provement and Learning Readiness Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds as follows: 
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1 (1) Good vision is essential for proper physical 

2 development and educational progress in growing 

3 children. 

4 (2) Many serious ocular conditions are treatable 

5 if identified in the preschool and early school-aged 

6 years. 

7 (3) Early detection of ocular conditions provides 

8 the best opportunity for effective, inexpensive treat9 ment and can have far reaching implications for vi10 sion. 

11 (4) Children should have access to eye examina12 tions as well as to subsequent treatment or services 

13 necessary to correct vision problems. 

14 SEC. 3. GRANTS REGARDING COMPREHENSIVE EYE EXAMI15 NATIONS FOR CHILDREN. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

17 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec18 retary’’), acting through the Director of the Centers for 

19 Disease Control and Prevention, may make grants to 

20 States on the basis of an established review process for 

21 the purpose of— 

22 (1) providing comprehensive eye examinations 

23 for children who have been identified by a method to 

24 be determined by the applicant State as needing 
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1 such services, with priority given to children who are 

2 under the age of 9; 

3 (2) providing subsequent treatment or services 

4 necessary to correct vision problems; and 

5 (3) developing and disseminating, to parents, 

6 teachers, and health care practitioners, educational 

7 materials on recognizing signs of visual impairment 

8 in children. 

9 (b) CRITERIA AND COORDINATION.— 

10 (1) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in consultation 

11 with appropriate professional and consumer organi12 zations including individuals with knowledge of age 

13 appropriate vision services, shall develop criteria— 

14 (A) governing the operation of the grant 

15 program; and 

16 (B) for the collection of data related to vi17 sion assessment and the utilization of follow up 

18 services. 

19 (2) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall, as 

20 appropriate, coordinate the program under sub21 section (a) with the program under section 330 of 

22 the Public Health Service Act (relating to health 

23 centers), the program under title XIX of the Social 

24 Security Act (relating to the Medicaid program), the 

25 program under title XXI of such Act (relating to the 
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1 State children’s health insurance program), and with 

2 other Federal or State program that provide services 

3 to children. 

4 (c) APPLICATION.—A grant may be made under sub5 section (a) only if an application for the grant is submitted 

6 to the Secretary and the application is in such form, is 

7 made in such manner, and contains such information as 

8 the Secretary may require, including— 

9 (1) information on existing Federal, Federal10 State, or State-funded children’s vision screening 

11 programs or comprehensive eye examinations; 

12 (2) a plan for the use of grant funds, including 

13 how funds will be used to complement existing State 

14 efforts; 

15 (3) a plan to determine if a grant eligible child 

16 has received an age appropriate vision screening or 

17 comprehensive eye examination; and 

18 (4) a description of how funds will be used to 

19 provide items or services only as a secondary payer 

20 to— 

21 (A) any State compensation program, 

22 under an insurance policy, or under any Fed23 eral or State health benefits program; or 

24 (B) by any entity that provides health 

25 services on a prepaid basis. 
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1 (d) EVALUATIONS.—A grant may be made under 

2 subsection (a) only if the State involved agrees that, not 

3 later than 1 year after the date on which amounts under 

4 the grant are first received by the State, and annually 

5 thereafter while receiving amounts under the grant, the 

6 State will submit to the Secretary an evaluation of the 

7 operations and activities carried out under the grant, in8 cluding— 

9 (1) an assessment of the utilization of vision 

10 services and the status of children receiving these 

11 services as a result of the activities carried out 

12 under the grant; 

13 (2) the collection, analysis, and reporting of 

14 children’s vision data according to guidelines pre15 scribed by the Secretary; and 

16 (3) such other information as the Secretary 

17 may require. 

18 (e) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES OF GRANT.—A 

19 grant may be made under subsection (a) only if the State 

20 involved agrees that the State will not expend more than 

21 20 percent of the grant for a fiscal year to carry out the 

22 purpose described in paragraph (3) of such subsection. 

23 (f) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

24 term ‘‘comprehensive eye examination’’ includes an assess25 ment of a patient’s history, general medical observation, 
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1 external and ophthalmoscopic examination, visual acuity, 

2 ocular alignment and motility, refraction, and as appro3 priate, binocular vision or gross visual fields, performed 

4 by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist. 

5 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

6 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

7 to be appropriated $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, and 

8 such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 

9 2007 through 2010. 

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