I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5329 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and enhance the 

poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and 

grant program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2018 

Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana (for herself, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. BARTON, and Ms. 

DEGETTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and 

enhance the poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program, 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 ‘‘Poison Center Network 

5 Enhancement Act of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS 

2 NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER. 

3 Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 300d–71) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1271. ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE 

6 NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER AND EN7 HANCED COMMUNICATIONS CAPABILITIES. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide co9 ordination and assistance to poison control centers, and 

10 to nationally recognized professional organizations in the 

11 field of poison control for— 

12 ‘‘(1) the development, establishment, implemen13 tation, and maintenance of a nationwide toll-free 

14 phone number; and 

15 ‘‘(2) the enhancement of communications capa16 bilities, such as text capabilities. 

17 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall consult 

18 with nationally recognized professional organizations in 

19 the field of poison control to determine the best and most 

20 effective means of achieving the goals described in para21 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a). 

22 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec23 tion shall be construed to restrict the work of poison con24 trol centers or the use of their resources by the Secretary 

25 or other governmental agencies in assisting with public 

26 health emergencies, responses, or preparedness. 


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1 ‘‘(d) PROPER STANDARDS FOR THE ROUTING OF

2 POISON CONTROL CENTER CONTACTS.—Not later than 

3 60 days after the date of the enactment of the Poison Cen4 ter Network Enhancement Act of 2018, the Federal Com5 munications Commission, in consultation with the Sec6 retary, shall take all actions necessary to ensure that con7 tacts with the nationwide toll-free number supported 

8 under subsection (a)(1) are routed to the geographically 

9 proper poison control center based on the physical location 

10 of the person attempting to reach the poison control cen11 ter, rather than based on the area code of the contact de12 vice. 

13 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $700,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF NATIONWIDE PUBLIC 

17 AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE POI18 SON CONTROL CENTER UTILIZATION. 

19 Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

20 U.S.C. 300d–72) is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 1272. NATIONWIDE PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 

22 TO PROMOTE POISON CONTROL CENTER UTI23 LIZATION AND THEIR PUBLIC HEALTH EMER24 GENCY RESPONSE CAPABILITIES. 

25 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) carry out, and expand upon, a national 

2 public awareness campaign to educate the public and 

3 health care providers about— 

4 ‘‘(A) poisoning and toxic exposure preven5 tion; 

6 ‘‘(B) the availability of poison control cen7 ter resources in local communities; 

8 ‘‘(C) poison control center drug informa9 tion and misuse intervention; and 

10 ‘‘(D) poison control center public health 

11 emergency response capabilities; and 

12 ‘‘(2) as part of such campaign, highlight the 

13 nationwide toll-free number and enhanced commu14 nications capabilities supported under section 1271. 

15 ‘‘(b) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out and expand16 ing upon the national campaign under subsection (a), the 

17 Secretary shall consult with nationally recognized profes18 sional organizations in the field of poison control response 

19 for the purpose of determining the best and most effective 

20 methods for achieving public awareness. 

21 ‘‘(c) CONTRACT WITH ENTITY.—The Secretary may 

22 carry out subsection (a) by entering into contracts with 

23 one or more public or private entities, including nationally 

24 recognized professional organizations in the field of poison 

25 control and national media firms, for the development and 


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1 implementation of the awareness campaign under sub2 section (a), which may include— 

3 ‘‘(1) the development and distribution of poi4 soning and toxic exposure prevention, poison control 

5 center, and public health emergency awareness and 

6 response materials; 

7 ‘‘(2) television, radio, internet, and newspaper 

8 public service announcements; and 

9 ‘‘(3) other means and activities to provide for 

10 public and professional awareness and education. 

11 ‘‘(d) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) establish baseline measures and bench13 marks to quantitatively evaluate the impact of the 

14 nationwide public awareness campaign carried out 

15 under this section; and 

16 ‘‘(2) on an annual basis, prepare and submit to 

17 the appropriate committees of Congress an evalua18 tion of the nationwide public awareness campaign. 

19 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

21 $800,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE POISON CONTROL CEN2 TER GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1273 of the Public Health 

4 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300d–73) is amended to read as 

5 follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 1273. MAINTENANCE OF THE POISON CONTROL CEN7 TER GRANT PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary 

9 shall award grants to poison control centers accredited 

10 under subsection (c) (or granted a waiver under subsection 

11 (d)) and nationally recognized professional organizations 

12 in the field of poison control for the purposes of— 

13 ‘‘(1) preventing, and providing treatment rec14 ommendations for, poisonings and toxic exposures 

15 including opioid and drug misuse; 

16 ‘‘(2) assisting with public health emergencies, 

17 responses, and preparedness; and 

18 ‘‘(3) complying with the operational require19 ments needed to sustain the accreditation of the cen20 ter under subsection (c). 

21 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL USES OF FUNDS.—In addition to 

22 the purposes described in subsection (a), a poison center 

23 or professional organization awarded a grant under such 

24 subsection may also use amounts received under such 

25 grant— 


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1 ‘‘(1) to research, establish, implement, and 

2 evaluate best practices in the United States for poi3 soning prevention, poison control center outreach, 

4 opioid and drug misuse information and response, 

5 and public health emergency, response, and pre6 paredness programs; 

7 ‘‘(2) to research, develop, implement, revise, 

8 and communicate standard patient management 

9 guidelines for commonly encountered toxic expo10 sures; 

11 ‘‘(3) to improve national toxic exposure and 

12 opioid misuse surveillance by enhancing cooperative 

13 activities between poison control centers in the 

14 United States and the Centers for Disease Control 

15 and Prevention and other governmental agencies; 

16 ‘‘(4) to research, improve, and enhance the 

17 communications and response capability and capac18 ity of the Nation’s network of poison control centers 

19 to facilitate increased access to the centers through 

20 the integration and modernization of the current 

21 poison control centers communications and data sys22 tem, including enhancing the network’s telephony, 

23 internet, data, and social networking technologies; 

24 ‘‘(5) to develop, support, and enhance tech25 nology and capabilities of nationally recognized proVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:20 Mar 29, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5329.IH H5329

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1 fessional organizations in the field of poison control 

2 to collect national poisoning, toxic occurrence, and 

3 related public health data; 

4 ‘‘(6) to develop initiatives to foster the en5 hanced public health utilization of national poison 

6 data collected by such organizations; 

7 ‘‘(7) to support and expand the toxicologic ex8 pertise within poison control centers; and 

9 ‘‘(8) to improve the capacity of poison control 

10 centers to answer high volumes of contacts and 

11 internet communications, and to sustain and en12 hance the poison control center’s network capability 

13 to respond during times of national crisis or other 

14 public health emergencies. 

15 ‘‘(c) ACCREDITATION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub17 section (d), the Secretary may award a grant to a 

18 poison control center under subsection (a) only if— 

19 ‘‘(A) the center has been accredited by a 

20 nationally recognized professional organization 

21 in the field of poison control, and the Secretary 

22 has approved the organization as having in ef23 fect standards for accreditation that reasonably 

24 provide for— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the protection of the public health 

2 with respect to poisoning; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the maintenance of the related 

4 capabilities listed in subsection (a); or 

5 ‘‘(B) the center has been accredited by a 

6 State government, and the Secretary has ap7 proved the State government as having in effect 

8 standards for accreditation that reasonably pro9 vide for— 

10 ‘‘(i) the protection of the public health 

11 with respect to poisoning; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) the maintenance of the related 

13 capabilities listed in subsection (a). 

14 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The 

15 Secretary shall annually submit a report to Congress 

16 that certifies that the accreditation standards de17 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

18 (1)— 

19 ‘‘(A) are consistent in their content; and 

20 ‘‘(B) provide for the protection of the pub21 lic health with respect to poisoning and the 

22 maintenance of the related capabilities listed in 

23 subsection (a). 

24 ‘‘(d) WAIVER OF ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may grant a 

2 waiver of the accreditation requirements of sub3 section (c) with respect to a nonaccredited poison 

4 control center that applies for a grant under this 

5 section if such center can reasonably demonstrate 

6 that the center will obtain such an accreditation 

7 within a reasonable period of time as determined ap8 propriate by the Secretary. 

9 ‘‘(2) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may renew a 

10 waiver under paragraph (1). 

11 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—In no case may the sum of 

12 the number of years for a waiver under paragraph 

13 (1) and a renewal under paragraph (2) exceed 5 

14 years. 

15 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts made 

16 available to a poison control center under this section shall 

17 be used to supplement and not supplant other Federal, 

18 State, or local funds provided for such center. 

19 ‘‘(f) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—A poison control 

20 center, in utilizing the proceeds of a grant under this sec21 tion, shall maintain the annual recurring expenditures of 

22 the center for its activities at a level that is not less than 

23 80 percent of the average level of such recurring expendi24 tures maintained by the center for the preceding 3 fiscal 

25 years for which a grant is received. 


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1 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

3 $29,600,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 

4 The Secretary may utilize an amount not to exceed 6 per5 cent of the amount appropriated pursuant to the pre6 ceding sentence for each fiscal year for coordination, dis7 semination, technical assistance, program evaluation, data 

8 activities, and other program administration functions, 

9 which are determined by the Secretary to be appropriate 

10 for carrying out the program under this section.’’. 

11 (b) APPLICABILITY.—Section 1273 of the Public 

12 Health Service Act, as amended by subsection (a), applies 

13 beginning on October 1, 2019. 

Æ 


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