I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1597 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse Officer of 

the Public Health Service as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2019 

Ms. JOHNSON of Texas (for herself, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. 

CARTER of Georgia, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. 

DELBENE, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

ENGEL, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. 

GRIFFITH, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. HURD of Texas, 

Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KINZINGER, Ms. 

KUSTER of New Hampshire, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. 

MCKINLEY, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. PETERS, 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHRADER, Ms. 

SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. TONKO, Mr. WELCH, Ms. 

WILD, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. KILMER, Ms. SPEIER, 

Mr. FOSTER, Mr. COSTA, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MENG, and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To designate the same individual serving as the Chief Nurse 

Officer of the Public Health Service as the 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Nurse Act 

3 of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

5 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

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

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 1712. NATIONAL NURSE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH. 

9 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The same individual des10 ignated as the Chief Nurse Officer of the Public Health 

11 Service under section 205 shall also be designated by the 

12 Secretary as the National Nurse for Public Health. 

13 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.—The National Nurse for Public 

14 Health shall have the authority and flexibility to carry out 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) Provide leadership and coordination of 

17 Public Health Service nursing professional affairs 

18 for the Office of the Surgeon General and other 

19 agencies of the Public Health Service, including pro20 viding representation for the Government of the 

21 United States at the Global Forum for Government 

22 Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers and serving as 

23 a member of the Federal Nursing Service Council. 

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

25 agencies of Public Health Service in communications 

26 with groups and societies concerned with nursing 


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

2 levels. 

3 ‘‘(3) Provide guidance and advice to the Sur4 geon General and the Nurse Professional Advisory 

5 Committee on matters such as standards, recruit6 ment, retention, readiness, and career development 

7 of nurses employed by and contracted with agencies 

8 of the Public Health Service. 

9 ‘‘(4) Conduct outreach and education for pur10 poses of paragraphs (5) through (7). 

11 ‘‘(5) Provide guidance and leadership for activi12 ties to promote the public health, including encour13 aging nurses and other health professionals to be 

14 volunteers and developing projects that educate the 

15 public about and engage the public in prevention 

16 practices to achieve better health. 

17 ‘‘(6) Provide guidance and leadership to encour18 age nurses to engage in furthering their education in 

19 order to conduct nursing research, increase the 

20 awareness of evidence-based practice, and educate 

21 future nurses. 

22 ‘‘(7) Provide guidance and leadership for activi23 ties that will increase public safety and emergency 

24 preparedness. 


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1 ‘‘(8) Prepare and publish a biennial report on 

2 the state of the Commissioned Corps of the Public 

3 Health Service Nurse Category. 

4 ‘‘(c) NATIONAL HEALTH PRIORITIES—NATIONAL

5 PREVENTION STRATEGY.— 

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

7 Public Health, in cooperation with the Surgeon Gen8 eral of the Public Health Service, heads of the agen9 cies of the Public Health Service, States, and orga10 nizations that represent health professionals, shall 

11 continue to participate in the identification of na12 tional health priorities. 

13 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING NATIONAL HEALTH PRIOR14 ITIES.—The National Nurse for Public Health, in 

15 addressing national health priorities, shall encourage 

16 volunteerism of nurses and other individuals, and 

17 strengthen the relationship between Government 

18 agencies and health-related national organizations. 

19 ‘‘(3) COMMUNITY-BASED PROJECTS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IMPLEMENTATION.—In addressing 

21 national health priorities, the National Nurse 

22 for Public Health shall— 

23 ‘‘(i) provide guidance and coordination 

24 on recommended activities to organiza25 tions; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) acknowledge successful programs 

2 and encourage their replication; 

3 ‘‘(iii) promote the dissemination of 

4 evidence-based practice in educating the 

5 public on health promotion and disease 

6 prevention activities; 

7 ‘‘(iv) encourage practicing nurses and 

8 other health professionals, including retired 

9 health professionals and students enrolled 

10 in health professional programs, to partici11 pate in health promotion activities and rep12 licate successful health promotion activities 

13 in their local communities; and 

14 ‘‘(v) collaborate with Federal agencies 

15 to monitor activities being conducted 

16 through the collection and evaluation of 

17 data to determine if national health prior18 ities are being addressed. 

19 ‘‘(B) OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—In 

20 conducting outreach and education under sub21 section (b)(4), the National Nurse for Public 

22 Health shall give priority to the inclusion of di23 verse approaches, including social media cam24 paigns, to address national health priorities. 


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1 ‘‘(C) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

2 The National Nurse for Public Health shall dis3 seminate information to governmental agencies, 

4 schools, and community-based, nonprofit orga5 nizations interested in health promotion and 

6 improving public health through community ac7 tion.’’. 

Æ 


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