I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 577 

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 

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: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 399Z–1. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHIL2 DREN. 

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

4 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre5 vention, may award grants to States on the basis of an 

6 established review process for the purpose of comple7 menting existing State efforts for— 

8 ‘‘(1) providing comprehensive eye examinations 

9 by a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist for chil10 dren who have been previously identified through a 

11 vision screening or eye examination by a licensed 

12 health care provider or vision screener as needing 

13 such services, with priority given to children who are 

14 under the age of 9 years; 

15 ‘‘(2) providing treatment or services, subse16 quent to the examinations described in paragraph 

17 (1), necessary to correct vision problems; and 

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

19 teachers, and health care practitioners, educational 

20 materials on recognizing signs of visual impairment 

21 in children. 

22 ‘‘(b) CRITERIA AND COORDINATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in consultation 

24 with appropriate professional and patient organiza25 tions including individuals with knowledge of age ap26 propriate vision services, shall develop criteria— 


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1 ‘‘(A) governing the operation of the grant 

2 program under subsection (a); and 

3 ‘‘(B) for the collection of data related to 

4 vision assessment and the utilization of follow5 up services. 

6 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall, as 

7 appropriate, coordinate the program under sub8 section (a) with the program under section 330 (re9 lating to health centers), the program under title 

10 XIX of the Social Security Act (relating to the Med11 icaid program) (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), the pro12 gram under title XXI of such Act (relating to the 

13 State children’s health insurance program) (42 

14 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.), and with other Federal or 

15 State programs that provide services to children. 

16 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

18 grant under subsection (a), a State shall submit to 

19 the Secretary an application in such form, made in 

20 such manner, and containing such information as 

21 the Secretary may require, including— 

22 ‘‘(A) information on existing Federal, Fed23 eral-State, or State-funded children’s vision 

24 programs; 


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1 ‘‘(B) a plan for the use of grant funds, in2 cluding how funds will be used to complement 

3 existing State efforts (including possible part4 nerships with non-profit entities); 

5 ‘‘(C) a plan to determine if a grant eligible 

6 child has been identified as provided for in sub7 section (a); 

8 ‘‘(D) a description of how funds will be 

9 used to provide items or services, only as a sec10 ondary payer for an eligible child; 

11 ‘‘(E) an assurance that the State will not 

12 eliminate or otherwise reduce vision care bene13 fits for children under the State plan under title 

14 XIX of the Social Security Act for purposes of 

15 receiving such a grant; and 

16 ‘‘(F) an assurance that amounts received 

17 under the grant are expended on an eligible 

18 child as defined in paragraph (2). 

19 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE CHILD.—For purposes of para20 graph (1), the term eligible child means a child 

21 that— 

22 ‘‘(A) is not covered under a health insur23 ance policy that provides coverage for vision 

24 services; 


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1 ‘‘(B) is not otherwise eligible to receive 

2 coverage of such services under a State plan 

3 under title XIX of the Social Security Act, 

4 under the program under title XXI of such Act, 

5 under any State health care compensation pro6 gram, or under any other Federal or State 

7 health benefits program; and 

8 ‘‘(C) is a low income child (as defined by 

9 the State). 

10 ‘‘(d) EVALUATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

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

12 than 1 year after the date on which amounts under the 

13 grant are first received by the State, and annually there14 after while receiving amounts under the grant, the State 

15 will submit to the Secretary an evaluation of the oper16 ations and activities carried out under the grant, includ17 ing— 

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

19 services and the status of children receiving these 

20 services as a result of the activities carried out 

21 under the grant; 

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

23 children’s vision data according to guidelines pre24 scribed by the Secretary; and 


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

2 may require. 

3 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec4 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to States submitting 

5 applications that provide that services under the grant will 

6 be provided to the lowest income children within the State 

7 submitting the application. 

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

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

10 involved agrees that the State will not expend more than 

11 20 percent of the amount received under the grant to 

12 carry out the purpose described in paragraph (3) of such 

13 subsection. 

14 ‘‘(g) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

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

16 the activities to be carried out with a grant under 

17 subsection (a), a condition for the receipt of the 

18 grant is that the State involved agrees to make 

19 available (directly or through donations from public 

20 or private entities) non-Federal contributions toward 

21 such costs in an amount that is not less than 25 

22 percent of such costs. 

23 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT CONTRIB24 UTED.—Non-Federal contributions required in para25 graph (1) may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:46 Jan 20, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H577.IH H577

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1 ated, including plant, equipment, or services. 

2 Amounts provided by the Federal Government, or 

3 services assisted or subsidized to any significant ex4 tent by the Federal Government, may not be in5 cluded in determining the amount of such non-Fed6 eral contributions. 

7 ‘‘(h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A State that 

8 receives a grant under this section shall ensure that 

9 amounts received under such grant will be used to supple10 ment, and not supplant, any other Federal, State, or local 

11 funds available to carry out activities of the type carried 

12 out under the grant. 

13 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

14 term ‘comprehensive eye examination’ includes an assess15 ment of a patient’s history, general medical observation, 

16 external and ophthalmoscopic examination, visual acuity, 

17 ocular alignment and motility, refraction, and as appro18 priate, binocular vision or gross visual fields, performed 

19 by an optometrist or an ophthalmologist. 

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

21 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

22 to be appropriated $65,000,000 for the 5-fiscal year pe23 riod beginning in fiscal year 2009.’’. 

Æ 


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