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Union Calendar No. 16 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 577 

[Report No. 111–46] 

To establish a grant program to provide vision care to children, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 15, 2009 

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 

ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

MARCH 23, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mr. TIBERI, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. PRICE of 

North Carolina, Mr. SIRES, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. LARSON

of Connecticut, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

CUMMINGS, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 

CONYERS, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. 

OLVER, Mr. SESTAK, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. HOLT, Ms. 

KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MACK, Mr. BISHOP of 

Georgia, Mr. CARNAHAN, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. 

ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. 

MCINTYRE, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. CHANDLER, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, 

Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. TERRY, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. LATHAM, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. 

CAPUANO, Mr. TIERNEY, and Ms. SLAUGHTER

MARCH 23, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 


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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 15, 2009] 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to provide vision care 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 ‘‘Vision Care for Kids 

5 Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHILDREN. 

7 Part Q of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

8 (42 U.S.C. 280h et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

9 the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 399Z–1. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHIL11 DREN. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 

13 Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

14 may award grants to States on the basis of an established 

15 review process for the purpose of complementing existing 

16 State efforts for— 

17 ‘‘(1) providing comprehensive eye examinations 

18 (as defined in subsection (i)) by a licensed optometrist 

19 or ophthalmologist for eligible children (as defined in 


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1 subsection (b)) who have been previously identified 

2 through a vision screening or eye examination by a 

3 licensed health care provider or vision screener as 

4 needing such services, with priority given to children 

5 who are under the age of 9 years; 

6 ‘‘(2) providing treatment or services to such chil7 dren, subsequent to the examinations described in 

8 paragraph (1), that are necessary to correct vision 

9 problems; and 

10 ‘‘(3) developing and disseminating, to parents, 

11 teachers, and health care practitioners, educational 

12 materials on recognizing signs of visual impairment 

13 in children. 

14 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 

16 the term ‘eligible child’ means, with respect to an ex17 amination described in paragraph (1) of subsection 

18 (a) or a treatment or service described in paragraph 

19 (2) of such subsection and with respect to a State, a 

20 child who is a low-income child (as defined by the 

21 State) and who— 

22 ‘‘(A) is not eligible for medical assistance 

23 under the State plan under title XIX of such Act; 

24 ‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (2)(A), is not eli25 gible for child health assistance under the State 


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1 child health plan under title XXI of the Social 

2 Security Act; 

3 ‘‘(C) subject to paragraph (2)(B), does not 

4 have health insurance coverage (as defined in 

5 section 2791) in the group market or in the indi6 vidual market (as such terms are defined in such 

7 section) and is not a beneficiary or participant 

8 under a group health plan (as defined in such 

9 section); and 

10 ‘‘(D) is not receiving assistance under any 

11 State health compensation program or under 

12 any other Federal or State health benefits pro13 gram for such examination, treatment, or serv14 ice, respectively. 

15 ‘‘(2) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN LOW-INCOME CHIL16 DREN WITH HEALTH BENEFITS.—With respect to an 

17 examination described in paragraph (1) of subsection 

18 (a) or a treatment or service described in paragraph 

19 (2) of such subsection and with respect to a State— 

20 ‘‘(A) paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to a 

21 child who is eligible for child health assistance 

22 under the State child health plan under title 

23 XXI of the Social Security Act (whether or not 

24 such child is enrolled under such plan), if such 


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1 plan does not provide for coverage of such exam2 ination, treatment, or service, respectively; and 

3 ‘‘(B) paragraph (1)(C) shall not apply to a 

4 child described in such paragraph if no amount 

5 is payable under the coverage or plan described 

6 in such paragraph for such examination, treat7 ment, or service, respectively. 

8 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in consultation with 

9 appropriate professional and patient organizations includ10 ing individuals with knowledge of age appropriate vision 

11 services, shall develop criteria— 

12 ‘‘(1) governing the operation of the grant pro13 gram under subsection (a); and 

14 ‘‘(2) for the collection of data related to vision 

15 assessment and the utilization of follow-up services. 

16 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

17 under subsection (a), a State shall submit to the Secretary 

18 an application in such form, made in such manner, and 

19 containing such information as the Secretary may require, 

20 including— 

21 ‘‘(1) information on existing Federal, Federal22 State, or State-funded children’s vision programs; 

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

24 how funds will be used to complement existing State 


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1 efforts (including possible partnerships with non-prof2 it entities); 

3 ‘‘(3) a plan to determine if an eligible child has 

4 been identified as provided for in subsection (a); 

5 ‘‘(4) an assurance that funds will be used con6 sistent with this section; 

7 ‘‘(5) a description of how funds will be used to 

8 provide examinations, treatments, and services, con9 sistent with this section; and 

10 ‘‘(6) an assurance that, in providing examina11 tions, treatments, and services through use of such 

12 grant, the State will give priority to eligible children 

13 with the lowest income. 

14 ‘‘(e) EVALUATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

15 under subsection (a), a State shall agree that, not later than 

16 1 year after the date on which amounts under the grant 

17 are first received by the State, and annually thereafter 

18 while receiving amounts under the grant, the State will sub19 mit to the Secretary an evaluation of the operations and 

20 activities carried out under the grant, including— 

21 ‘‘(1) an assessment of the utilization of vision 

22 services and the status of children receiving these serv23 ices as a result of the activities carried out under the 

24 grant; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the collection, analysis, and reporting of 

2 children’s vision data according to guidelines pre3 scribed by the Secretary; and 

4 ‘‘(3) such other information as the Secretary 

5 may require. 

6 ‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS IN EXPENDITURE OF GRANT.—A 

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

8 involved agrees that the State will expend amounts received 

9 under such grant as follows: 

10 ‘‘(1) The State will expend at least 80 percent of 

11 such amounts for the purposes described in para12 graphs (1) and (2) of such subsection. 

13 ‘‘(2) The State will not expend more than 10 

14 percent of such amounts to carry out the purpose de15 scribed in paragraph (3) of such subsection. 

16 ‘‘(3) The State will not expend more than 10 

17 percent of such amounts for administrative purposes. 

18 ‘‘(g) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the costs of 

20 the activities to be carried out with a grant under 

21 subsection (a), a condition for the receipt of the grant 

22 is that the State involved agrees to make available 

23 (directly or through donations from public or private 

24 entities) non-Federal contributions toward such costs 


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1 in an amount that is not less than 25 percent of such 

2 costs. 

3 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT CONTRIB4 UTED.—Non-Federal contributions required in para5 graph (1) may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, 

6 including plant, equipment, or services. Amounts pro7 vided by the Federal Government, or services assisted 

8 or subsidized to any significant extent by the Federal 

9 Government, may not be included in determining the 

10 amount of such non-Federal contributions. 

11 ‘‘(h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A State that re12 ceives a grant under this section shall ensure that amounts 

13 received under such grant will be used to supplement, and 

14 not supplant, any other Federal, State, or local funds avail15 able to carry out activities of the type carried out under 

16 the grant. 

17 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means an indi19 vidual who— 

20 ‘‘(A) has not attained 18 years of age; or 

21 ‘‘(B) has not attained 19 years of age and 

22 is a full-time student in a secondary school (or 

23 in the equivalent level of vocational or technical 

24 training). 


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1 ‘‘(2) COMPREHENSIVE EYE EXAMINATION.—The 

2 term ‘comprehensive eye examination’ includes an as3 sessment of a patient’s history, general medical obser4 vation, external and ophthalmoscopic examination, 

5 visual acuity, ocular alignment and motility, refrac6 tion, and as appropriate, binocular vision or gross 

7 visual fields, performed by an optometrist or an oph8 thalmologist. 

9 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

10 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

11 to be appropriated— 

12 ‘‘(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

13 ‘‘(2) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and 

14 ‘‘(3) $14,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2012 

15 through 2014.’’. 


smartinez on PRODPC75 with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 16 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 577 

[Report No. 111–46] 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to provide vision care 

to children, and for other purposes. 

MARCH 23, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


smartinez on PRODPC75 with BILLS