II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1199 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend the poison 

center network program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 11, 2019 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself and Mr. BURR) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend 

the poison center network program. 

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 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TOLL-FREE NUMBER. 

7 Section 1271 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

8 U.S.C. 300d–71) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the section heading, by inserting before 

2 the period the following: ‘‘AND OTHER COMMU3 NICATION CAPABILITIES’’; 

4 (2) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary— 

7 ‘‘(1) shall provide coordination and assistance 

8 to poison control centers for the establishment and 

9 maintenance of a nationwide toll-free phone number, 

10 to be used to access such centers; and 

11 ‘‘(2) may provide coordination and assistance to 

12 poison control centers and consult with professional 

13 organizations for the establishment, implementation, 

14 and maintenance of other communication tech15 nologies to be used to access such centers.’’; 

16 (3) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub17 section (c); 

18 (4) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(b) ROUTING CONTACTS WITH POISON CONTROL

21 CENTERS.—Not later than 18 months after the date of 

22 enactment of the Poison Center Network Enhancement 

23 Act of 2019, the Secretary shall coordinate with the Chair24 man of the Federal Communications Commission, to the 

25 extent technically and economically feasible, to ensure that 


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1 communications with the national toll-free number are 

2 routed to the appropriate poison control center based on 

3 the physical location of the contact rather than the area 

4 code of the contact device.’’; and 

5 (5) in subsection (c), as so redesignated— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘2015 through 2019’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘2020 through 2024’’; and 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘maintenance of the na9 tionwide toll free phone number under sub10 section (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘establishment, im11 plementation, and maintenance activities car12 ried out under subsections (a) and (b)’’. 

13 SEC. 3. NATIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN. 

14 Section 1272 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 300d–72) is amended— 

16 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘NA17 TIONWIDE MEDIA CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE’’ 

18 and inserting ‘‘PROMOTING’’; 

19 (2) in subsection (a)— 

20 (A) by inserting ‘‘and support outreach to’’ 

21 after ‘‘educate’’; 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘poison prevention’’ and 

23 inserting ‘‘poisoning and toxic exposure preven24 tion’’; and 


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1 (C) by striking ‘‘established under’’ and in2 serting ‘‘and other available communication 

3 technologies established, implemented, or main4 tained under’’; 

5 (3) in subsection (b)— 

6 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

7 by striking ‘‘nationwide poison prevention’’ and 

8 inserting ‘‘nationwide poisoning and toxic expo9 sure prevention’’; and 

10 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘poison 

11 prevention and poison control center’’ and in12 serting ‘‘poisoning and toxic exposure preven13 tion awareness materials, applicable public 

14 health emergency preparedness and response in15 formation, and poison control center’’ after 

16 ‘‘distribution of’’; 

17 (4) by striking subsection (c); 

18 (5) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub19 section (c); and 

20 (6) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), by 

21 striking ‘‘2015 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2020 

22 through 2024’’. 

23 SEC. 4. MAINTENANCE OF PROGRAM. 

24 Section 1273 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

25 U.S.C. 300d–73) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and toxic 

2 exposures’’ after ‘‘poisonings’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (b)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

5 (i) by striking ‘‘for poison’’ and in6 serting ‘‘for poisoning and toxic exposure’’; 

7 and 

8 (ii) by striking ‘‘and preparedness’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘preparedness and re10 sponse’’; 

11 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

12 (i) by striking ‘‘United States and’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘United States,’’; and 

14 (ii) by inserting before the semicolon 

15 the following: ‘‘, and other government 

16 agencies as determined to be appropriate 

17 and nonduplicative by the Secretary’’; and 

18 (C) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘calls’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘contacts’’; 

20 (3) in subsection (d), by striking paragraph (3) 

21 and inserting the following: 

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

23 the number of years for a waiver under this sub24 section exceed 5 years. Notwithstanding any pre25 vious waivers, in the case of a poison control center 


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1 whose accreditation is affected by a public health 

2 emergency declared pursuant to section 319, the 

3 Secretary may, as the circumstances of the emer4 gency reasonably require, provide a waiver under 

5 paragraph (1) or a renewal under paragraph (2) for 

6 up to 2 years.’’; 

7 (4) by striking subsection (f) and inserting the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(f) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—With respect to 

10 activities for which a grant is awarded under this section, 

11 the Secretary may require that poison control centers 

12 agree to maintain the expenditures of the center for such 

13 activities at a level that is not less than the level of expend14 itures maintained by the center for the fiscal year pre15 ceding the fiscal year for which the grant is received.’’; 

16 (5) In subsection (g), by striking ‘‘2015 

17 through 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘2020 through 2024’’; 

18 and 

19 (6) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(h) BIENNIAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

21 than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Poison 

22 Center Network Enhancement Act of 2019, and every 2 

23 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Com24 mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 

25 Senate and Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 


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1 House of Representatives a report concerning the oper2 ations of, and trends identified by, the Poison Control 

3 Network. Such report shall include— 

4 ‘‘(1) descriptions of the activities carried out 

5 pursuant to sections 1271, 1272, and 1273, and the 

6 alignment of such activities with the purposes pro7 vided under subsection (a); 

8 ‘‘(2) a description of trends in volume of con9 tacts to poison control centers; 

10 ‘‘(3) a description of trends in poisonings and 

11 toxic exposures reported to poison control centers, as 

12 applicable and appropriate; 

13 ‘‘(4) an assessment of the impact of the public 

14 awareness campaign, including any geographic vari15 ations; 

16 ‘‘(5) a description of barriers, if any, preventing 

17 poison control centers from achieving the purposes 

18 and programs under this section and sections 1271 

19 and 1272; 

20 ‘‘(6) a description of the standards for accredi21 tation described in subsection (c), including any 

22 variations in those standards, and any efforts to cre23 ate and maintain consistent standards across organi24 zations that accredit poison control centers; and 


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1 ‘‘(7) the number of and reason for any waivers 

2 provided under subsection (d).’’. 

Æ 


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