II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1798 

To establish grant programs to improve the health of border area residents 

and for all hazards preparedness in the border area including bioterrorism and infectious disease, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 17, 2007 

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. CORNYN, and Mrs. 

BOXER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish grant programs to improve the health of border 

area residents and for all hazards preparedness in the 

border area including bioterrorism and infectious disease, 

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 ‘‘Border Health Secu5 rity Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) BORDER AREA.—The term ‘‘border area’’ 

2 has the meaning given the term ‘‘United States3 Mexico Border Area’’ in section 8 of the United 

4 States-Mexico Border Health Commission Act (22 

5 U.S.C. 290n–6). 

6 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

8 SEC. 3. BORDER HEALTH GRANTS. 

9 (a) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, 

10 the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a State, public institution 

11 of higher education, local government, tribal government, 

12 nonprofit health organization, trauma center, or commu13 nity health center receiving assistance under section 330 

14 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b), that 

15 is located in the border area. 

16 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—From funds appropriated 

17 under subsection (f), the Secretary, acting through the 

18 United States members of the United States-Mexico Bor19 der Health Commission, shall award grants to eligible en20 tities to address priorities and recommendations to im21 prove the health of border area residents that are estab22 lished by— 

23 (1) the United States members of the United 

24 States-Mexico Border Health Commission; 

25 (2) the State border health offices; and 


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1 (3) the Secretary. 

2 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires a 

3 grant under subsection (b) shall submit an application to 

4 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con5 taining such information as the Secretary may require. 

6 (d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 

7 a grant under subsection (b) shall use the grant funds 

8 for— 

9 (1) programs relating to— 

10 (A) maternal and child health; 

11 (B) primary care and preventative health; 

12 (C) public health and public health infra13 structure; 

14 (D) health promotion; 

15 (E) oral health; 

16 (F) behavioral and mental health; 

17 (G) substance abuse; 

18 (H) health conditions that have a high 

19 prevalence in the border area; 

20 (I) medical and health services research; 

21 (J) workforce training and development; 

22 (K) community health workers or 

23 promotoras; 


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1 (L) health care infrastructure problems in 

2 the border area (including planning and con3 struction grants); 

4 (M) health disparities in the border area; 

5 (N) environmental health; 

6 (O) health education; 

7 (P) outreach and enrollment services with 

8 respect to Federal programs (including pro9 grams authorized under titles XIX and XXI of 

10 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 and 

11 1397aa)); 

12 (Q) trauma care; 

13 (R) infectious disease testing and moni14 toring; 

15 (S) health research with an emphasis on 

16 infectious disease; and 

17 (T) cross-border health surveillance; and 

18 (2) other programs determined appropriate by 

19 the Secretary. 

20 (e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts pro21 vided to an eligible entity awarded a grant under sub22 section (b) shall be used to supplement and not supplant 

23 other funds available to the eligible entity to carry out the 

24 activities described in subsection (d). 


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1 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008 and 

4 each succeeding fiscal year. 

5 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR ALL HAZARDS PREPAREDNESS IN THE 

6 BORDER AREA INCLUDING BIOTERRORISM 

7 AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE. 

8 (a) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, 

9 the term ‘‘eligible entity’’ means a State, local govern10 ment, tribal government, trauma centers, regional trauma 

11 center coordinating entity, or public health entity. 

12 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—From funds appropriated 

13 under subsection (e), the Secretary shall award grants to 

14 eligible entities for all hazards preparedness in the border 

15 area including bioterrorism and infectious disease. 

16 (c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires a 

17 grant under this section shall submit an application to the 

18 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing 

19 such information as the Secretary may require. 

20 (d) USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 

21 a grant under subsection (b) shall use the grant funds to, 

22 in coordination with State and local all hazards pro23 grams— 


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1 (1) develop and implement all hazards pre2 paredness plans and readiness assessments and pur3 chase items necessary for such plans; 

4 (2) coordinate all hazard and emergency pre5 paredness planning in the region; 

6 (3) improve infrastructure, including surge ca7 pacity syndromic surveillance, laboratory capacity, 

8 and isolation/decontamination capacity; 

9 (4) create a health alert network, including risk 

10 communication and information dissemination; 

11 (5) educate and train clinicians, epidemiolo12 gists, laboratories, and emergency personnel; 

13 (6) implement electronic data systems to coordi14 nate the triage, transportation, and treatment of 

15 multi-casualty incident victims; 

16 (7) provide infectious disease testing in the bor17 der area; and 

18 (8) carry out such other activities identified by 

19 the Secretary, the United States-Mexico Border 

20 Health Commission, State and local public health of21 fices, and border health offices. 

22 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

24 $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may 

25 be necessary for each succeeding fiscal year. 


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1 SEC. 5. UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER HEALTH COMMIS2 SION ACT AMENDMENTS. 

3 The United States-Mexico Border Health Commis4 sion Act (22 U.S.C. 290n et seq.) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

8 this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums 

9 as may be necessary for each succeeding fiscal year.’’. 

10 SEC. 6. COORDINATION OF HEALTH SERVICES AND SUR11 VEILLANCE. 

12 The Secretary may coordinate with the Secretary of 

13 Homeland Security in establishing a health alert system 

14 that— 

15 (1) alerts clinicians and public health officials 

16 of emerging disease clusters and syndromes along 

17 the border area; and 

18 (2) is alerted to signs of health threats, disas19 ters of mass scale, or bioterrorism along the border 

20 area. 

21 SEC. 7. BINATIONAL HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE AND 

22 HEALTH INSURANCE. 

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

24 Human Services shall enter into a contract with the Insti25 tute of Medicine for the conduct of a study concerning 

26 binational health infrastructure (including trauma and 


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1 emergency care) and health insurance efforts. In con2 ducting such study, the Institute shall solicit input from 

3 border health experts and health insurance issuers. 

4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

5 on which the Secretary of Health and Human Services en6 ters into the contract under subsection (a), the Institute 

7 of Medicine shall submit to the Secretary and the appro8 priate committees of Congress a report concerning the 

9 study conducted under such contract. Such report shall 

10 include the recommendations of the Institute on ways to 

11 expand or improve binational health infrastructure and 

12 health insurance efforts. 

13 SEC. 8. PROVISION OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND ADVICE 

14 TO CONGRESS. 

15 Section 5 of the United States-Mexico Border Health 

16 Commission Act (22 U.S.C. 290n–3) is amended by add17 ing at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(d) PROVIDING ADVICE AND RECOMMENDATIONS

19 TO CONGRESS.—A member of the Commission, or an indi20 vidual who is on the staff of the Commission, may at any 

21 time provide advice or recommendations to Congress con22 cerning issues that are considered by the Commission. 

23 Such advice or recommendations may be provided whether 

24 or not a request for such is made by a member of Congress 

25 and regardless of whether the member or individual is auVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:59 Jul 19, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1798.IS S1798

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1 thorized to provide such advice or recommendations by the 

2 Commission or any other Federal official.’’. 

Æ 


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