I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6763 
To provide for the establishment of a COVID–19 Racial and Ethnic Dispari-
ties Task Force to gather data about disproportionately affected commu-
nities and provide recommendations to combat the racial and ethnic 
disparities in the COVID–19 response. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 8, 2020 
Ms. KELLY of Illinois (for herself, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. LEE of 
California, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, 
Mr. RUIZ, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce, and in addition to the Committees on Small Business, Education 
and Labor, and Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently 
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for the establishment of a COVID–19 Racial 
and Ethnic Disparities Task Force to gather data about 
disproportionately affected communities and provide rec-
ommendations to combat the racial and ethnic disparities 
in the COVID–19 response. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Racial and 
Ethnic Disparities Task Force Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. COVID–19 RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES TASK 
FORCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall establish an interagency task force, to be 
known as the ‘‘COVID–19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities 
Task Force’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘task 
force’’), to gather data about disproportionately affected 
communities and provide recommendations to combat the 
racial and ethnic disparities in the COVID–19 response 
throughout the United States and in response to future 
public health crises. 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—The task force shall be composed 
of the following: 
(1) The Secretary of Health and Human Serv-
ices. 
(2) The Assistant Secretary for Planning and 
Evaluation of the Department of Health and Human 
Services. 
(3) The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness 
and Response of the Department of Health and 
Human Services. 
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(4) The Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention. 
(5) The Director of the National Institutes of 
Health. 
(6) The Commissioner of Food and Drugs. 
(7) The Administrator of the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency. 
(8) The Director of the National Institute on 
Minority Health and Health Disparities. 
(9) The Director of the Indian Health Service. 
(10) The Administrator of the Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services. 
(11) The Director of the Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality. 
(12) The Surgeon General. 
(13) The Administrator of the Health Re-
sources and Services Administration. 
(14) The Director of the Office of Minority 
Health. 
(15) The Secretary of Housing and Urban De-
velopment. 
(16) The Secretary of Education. 
(17) The Secretary of Labor. 
(18) The Secretary of Defense. 
(19) The Secretary of Transportation. 
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(20) The Secretary of the Treasury. 
(21) The Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration. 
(22) The Administrator of the Environmental 
Protection Agency. 
(23) Five health care professionals with exper-
tise in addressing racial and ethnic disparities, with 
at least one representative from a rural area, to be 
appointed by the Secretary. 
(24) Five policy experts specializing in address-
ing racial and ethnic disparities in education or ra-
cial and ethnic economic inequality to be appointed 
by the Secretary. 
(25) Six representatives from community-based 
organizations specializing in providing culturally 
competent care or services and addressing racial and 
ethnic disparities, to be appointed by the Secretary, 
with at least one representative from an urban In-
dian organization and one representative from a na-
tional organization that represents Tribal govern-
ments with expertise in Tribal public health. 
(26) Six State, local, territorial, or Tribal public 
health officials representing departments of public 
health, who shall represent jurisdictions from dif-
ferent regions of the United States with relatively 
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high concentrations of historically marginalized pop-
ulations, to be appointed by the Secretary, with at 
least one territorial representative and one rep-
resentative of a Tribal public health department. 
(c) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.— 
(1) APPOINTMENT OF NON-GOVERNMENT MEM-
BERS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
the Secretary shall appoint all non-government mem-
bers of the task force within 30 days of the date en-
actment of this section. 
(2) CHAIRPERSON.—The Secretary shall serve 
as the chairperson of the task force. The Director of 
the Office of Minority Health shall serve as the vice 
chairperson. 
(3) STAFF.—The task force shall have 10 full- 
time staff members. 
(4) MEETINGS.—Not later than 45 days after 
the date of enactment of this section, the full task 
force shall have its first meeting. The task force 
shall convene at least once a month thereafter. 
(5) SUBCOMMITTEES.—The chairperson and 
vice chairperson of the task force are authorized to 
establish subcommittees to consider specific issues 
related to the broader mission of addressing racial 
and ethnic disparities. 
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(d) FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 
RESOURCE ALLOCATION REPORTING AND RECOMMENDA-
TIONS.— 
(1) WEEKLY REPORTS.—Not later than 7 days 
after the task force first meets, and weekly there-
after, the task force shall submit to Congress and 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency a re-
port that includes— 
(A) a description of COVID–19 patient 
outcomes, including cases, hospitalizations, pa-
tients 
on 
ventilation, 
and 
mortality, 
disaggregated by race and ethnicity (where such 
data is missing, the task force shall utilize ap-
propriate authorities to improve data collec-
tion); 
(B) the identification of communities that 
lack resources to combat the COVID–19 pan-
demic, including personal protective equipment, 
ventilators, hospital beds, testing kits, testing 
supplies, vaccinations (when available), re-
sources to conduct surveillance and contact 
tracing, funding, staffing, and other resources 
the task force deems essential as needs arise; 
(C) the identification of communities where 
racial and ethnic disparities in COVID–19 in-
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fection, hospitalization, and death rates are out 
of proportion to the community’s population by 
a certain threshold, to be determined by the 
task force based on available public health data; 
(D) recommendations about how to best al-
locate critical COVID–19 resources to— 
(i) communities with disproportion-
ately high COVID–19 infection, hos-
pitalization, and death rates; and 
(ii) communities identified in subpara-
graph (C); 
(E) with respect to communities that are 
able to reduce racial and ethnic disparities ef-
fectively, a description of best practices in-
volved; and 
(F) an update with respect to the response 
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
to the task force’s previous weeks’ recommenda-
tions under this section. 
(2) GENERAL
CONSULTATION.—In submitting 
weekly reports and recommendations under this sub-
section, the task force shall consult with and notify 
State, local, territorial, and Tribal officials and com-
munity-based organizations from communities iden-
tified as disproportionately impacted by COVID–19. 
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(3) CONSULTATION WITH INDIAN TRIBES.—In 
submitting weekly reports and recommendations 
under this subsection, the Director of Indian Health 
Service shall, in coordination with the task force, 
consult with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations 
that are disproportionately affected by COVID–19 
on a government to government basis to identify 
specific needs and recommendations. 
(4) DISSEMINATION.—Reports under this sub-
section shall be disseminated to all relevant stake-
holders, including State, local, territorial, and Tribal 
officials, and public health departments. 
(5) TRIBAL DATA.—The task force, in consulta-
tion with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, 
shall ensure that an Indian Tribe consents to any 
public reporting of health data. 
(e) COVID–19 RELIEF OVERSIGHT AND IMPLEMEN-
TATION REPORTS.—Not later than 14 days after the task 
force first meets, and not later than every 14 days there-
after, the task force shall submit to Congress and the rel-
evant Federal agencies a report that includes— 
(1) an examination of funds distributed under 
COVID–19-related relief and stimulus laws (enacted 
prior to and after the date of enactment of this Act), 
including the Coronavirus Preparedness and Re-
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sponse Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 
2020 (Public Law 116–123), the Families First 
Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116–127), 
the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security 
Act (Public Law 116–136), and the Paycheck Pro-
tection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act 
(Public Law 116–139), and how that distribution 
impacted racial and ethnic disparities with respect to 
the COVID–19 pandemic; and 
(2) recommendations to relevant Federal agen-
cies about how to disburse any undisbursed funding 
from COVID–19-related relief and stimulus laws 
(enacted prior to and after the date of enactment of 
this Act), including those laws described in para-
graph (1), to address racial and ethnic disparities 
with respect to the COVID–19 pandemic, including 
recommendations to— 
(A) the Department of Health and Human 
Services about disbursement of funds under the 
Public Health and Social Service Emergency 
Fund; 
(B) the Small Business Administration 
about disbursement of funds under the Pay-
check Protection Program and the Economic 
Injury Disaster Loan Program; and 
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(C) the Department of Education about 
disbursement of funds under the Education 
Stabilization Fund. 
(f) FINAL COVID–19 REPORTS.—Not later than 90 
days after the date on which the President declares the 
end of the COVID–19 public health emergency first de-
clared by the Secretary on January 31, 2020, the task 
force shall submit to Congress a report that— 
(1) describes inequities within the health care 
system, implicit bias, structural racism, and social 
determinants of health (including housing, nutrition, 
education, economic, and environmental factors) that 
contributed to racial and ethnic health disparities 
with respect to the COVID–19 pandemic and how 
these factors contributed to such disparities; 
(2) examines the initial Federal response to the 
COVID–19 pandemic and its impact on the racial 
and ethnic disparities in COVID–19 infection, hos-
pitalization, and death rates; and 
(3) contains recommendations to combat racial 
and ethnic disparities in future infectious disease re-
sponses, including future COVID–19 outbreaks. 
(g) SUNSET AND SUCCESSOR TASK FORCE.— 
(1) SUNSET.—The task force shall terminate on 
the date that is 90 days after the date on which the 
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