I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2946 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a grant to a qualified 

youth-serving organization for recruiting and preparing students for careers and volunteer opportunities as future health care professionals, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 18, 2009 

Mr. HINOJOSA (for himself and Ms. GRANGER) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a 

grant to a qualified youth-serving organization for recruiting and preparing students for careers and volunteer 

opportunities as future health care professionals, 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 ‘‘Health Care Profes5 sional Pipeline Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RECRUITING AND PREPARING FUTURE HEALTH 

2 CARE PROFESSIONALS. 

3 Title XXVIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

4 U.S.C. 300hhb et seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating sections 2814 and 2815 as 

6 sections 2815 and 2816; and 

7 (2) by inserting after section 2813 the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 2814. RECRUITING AND PREPARING FUTURE HEALTH 

10 CARE PROFESSIONALS. 

11 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to re12 cruit and prepare more than 500,000 students in sec13 ondary schools, institutions of higher education, and con14 tinuing education programs for careers as future health 

15 care professionals by the year 2014 including volunteer 

16 opportunities in the Public Health Service and the Medical 

17 Reserve Corps under section 2813. 

18 ‘‘(b) EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PIPELINE

19 GRANT.—The Secretary shall make a grant to a qualified 

20 youth serving organization for establishing and expanding 

21 emergency preparedness pipelines consisting of— 

22 ‘‘(1) health science curricula in secondary 

23 schools, institutions of higher education, and con24 tinuing education programs that prepare students 

25 for careers as future health care professionals; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) school-based emergency preparedness 

2 chapters described in subsection (c). 

3 ‘‘(c) SCHOOL-BASED EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

4 CHAPTERS.—A school-based emergency preparedness 

5 chapter described in this subsection must meet each of the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(1) The chapter is administered by a qualified 

8 youth-serving organization. 

9 ‘‘(2) The chapter recruits and prepares stu10 dents for Federal, State, community, and school 

11 public health emergencies under the administration 

12 of a qualified youth serving organization. 

13 ‘‘(3) The emergency preparedness training of 

14 the chapter— 

15 ‘‘(A) is implemented uniformly; 

16 ‘‘(B) is coordinated with and integrated 

17 into the health science curriculum of the school 

18 involved; and 

19 ‘‘(C) is provided through certified health 

20 science instructors serving as chapter advisors. 

21 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE.— 

22 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—Each year, the Secretary shall 

23 make a grant to a qualified youth-serving organiza24 tion to conduct a national leadership conference. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—A national leadership 

2 conference funded through a grant under this sub3 section shall include representatives of— 

4 ‘‘(A) health science programs in secondary 

5 schools, institutions of higher education, and 

6 continuing education programs; 

7 ‘‘(B) school-based emergency preparedness 

8 chapters; and 

9 ‘‘(C) the Medical Reserve Corps under sec10 tion 2813. 

11 ‘‘(3) ACTIVITIES.—The activities of a national 

12 leadership conference funded through a grant under 

13 this subsection shall include general sessions, work14 shops, competitive events (including at least 5 

15 knowledge- and skill-based demonstrations), and a 

16 recognition program. 

17 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 

19 has the meaning given to that term in section 101 

20 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

21 ‘‘(2) The term ‘qualified youth-serving organi22 zation’ means a nonprofit organization that— 

23 ‘‘(A) prepares youth exclusively for career 

24 entry and advancement opportunities in the 


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1 health professions, including the Public Health 

2 Service; 

3 ‘‘(B) offers a national recognition and 

4 competitive events program in which students 

5 in school-based emergency preparedness chap6 ters and chapter members can demonstrate 

7 their knowledge and skills in responding to pub8 lic health emergencies; 

9 ‘‘(C) operates at least 2,500 such chapters; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(D) operates in at least 40 States. 

12 ‘‘(3) The term ‘school-based emergency pre13 paredness chapter’ means a school-based emergency 

14 chapter funded through a grant under subsection 

15 (b)(2). 

16 ‘‘(4) The term ‘secondary school’ has the mean17 ing given to such term in section 9101 of the Ele18 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. 

19 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

20 carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro21 priated $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2010 and such sums 

22 as may be necessary for fiscal years 2011 through 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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