I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1197 
To provide for the establishment of a Commission to Accelerate the End 
of Breast Cancer. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 2, 2015 
Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself and Mrs. ELLMERS of North Carolina) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To provide for the establishment of a Commission to 
Accelerate the End of Breast Cancer. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accelerating the End 
of Breast Cancer Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
Sec. 3. Findings. 
Sec. 4. Establishment. 
Sec. 5. Mission; duties. 
Sec. 6. Membership. 
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Sec. 7. Chairperson and commissioners. 
Sec. 8. Coordination and nonduplication. 
Sec. 9. Evaluation of the commission. 
Sec. 10. Termination. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) In the United States, the chance of a 
woman developing breast cancer during her lifetime 
has increased from 1 in 11 in 1975 to 1 in 8 today. 
(2) Worldwide, breast cancer is the most fre-
quently diagnosed cancer in women with 1.7 million 
new cancer cases diagnosed in 2012. Breast cancer 
is also one of the leading causes of cancer death in 
women, with 522,000 women dying from the disease 
worldwide in 2012, a 14 percent increase since 
2008. 
(3) More than 90 percent of deaths from breast 
cancer are caused by metastasis, when breast cancer 
has spread to other organs or bone. 
(4) In 2010, the National Cancer Institute esti-
mated that breast cancer care in the United States 
cost $16.5 billion and cost the Nation $12.1 billion 
in lost productivity. It is projected that, with no 
changes, the cost of breast cancer care will rise to 
at least $20.9 million in 2020. 
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(5) Very little has improved in terms of breast 
cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates over 
the past 40 years. 
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT. 
The President shall establish a commission to be 
known as the Commission to Accelerate the End of Breast 
Cancer (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘the Commission’’). 
SEC. 5. MISSION; DUTIES. 
(a) MISSION.—The mission of the Commission shall 
be to help end breast cancer by January 1, 2020. 
(b) DUTIES.—The Commission shall— 
(1) identify opportunities and ideas within gov-
ernment and the private sector that are key compo-
nents in achieving the end of breast cancer and 
which have been overlooked, yet are ripe for collabo-
ration and investment, and 
(2) recommend projects to leverage such oppor-
tunities and ideas in the areas of— 
(A) the primary prevention of breast can-
cer; and 
(B) the causes and prevention of breast 
cancer metastasis. 
(c) MEANS.—In carrying out the duties described in 
subsection (b), the Commission shall— 
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(1) identify revolutionary opportunities and 
ideas in fundamental and applied sciences and epide-
miology with a focus on ending breast cancer; 
(2) identify timely opportunities and scientific 
discoveries which can be turned into real world 
strategies to prevent breast cancer and prevent 
breast cancer metastasis and deaths; 
(3) promote ideas that are intellectually compel-
ling, innovative, and imaginative; 
(4) accelerate potential transformational sci-
entific advances— 
(A) not being prioritized within the Fed-
eral Government, but which can help to achieve 
the mission described in subsection (a); and 
(B) unlikely to be achieved by the private 
sector due to technical and financial uncer-
tainty; 
(5) identify promising, underdeveloped areas of 
research that would benefit from a cluster of govern-
ment, industry, and academia forming innovation 
communities to rapidly advance knowledge into prac-
tice, while creating new opportunities for job cre-
ation and advancement; 
(6) identify opportunities for transdisciplinary 
cross-cutting collaborations; and 
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(7) identify opportunities for seed grants to le-
verage identified opportunities and ideas. 
(d) STRATEGIC VISION.—Not later than 6 months 
after the appointment of the initial members of the Com-
mission, the Commission shall submit to the President and 
the relevant authorizing and appropriations committees of 
the Congress a description of the Commission’s strategic 
vision for making progress in achieving the mission de-
scribed in subsection (a) by January 1, 2020. 
(e) ANNUAL REPORTS.—The Commission shall sub-
mit an annual report to the President, the Congress, and 
the public describing the Commission’s activities under 
this section, including its progress in achieving the mission 
described in subsection (a). 
SEC. 6. MEMBERSHIP. 
(a) NUMBER; APPOINTMENT.—The Commission shall 
be composed of not more than 10 members, of which— 
(1) not more than 8 shall be appointed by the 
President; 
(2) 1 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives; and 
(3) 1 shall be appointed by the majority leader 
of the Senate. 
(b) COMPOSITION.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Com-
mission shall be appointed to represent one of the 
following 3 categories: 
(A) Representatives of varied disciplines 
within the biomedical research field. 
(B) Representatives of varied disciplines 
outside of the biomedical research field. 
(C) Educated patient advocates, meaning 
individuals who— 
(i) represent a patient-led, patient- 
centered organization with a patient con-
stituency; 
(ii) have been personally affected by 
breast cancer; and 
(iii) are trained, knowledgeable, and 
prepared to participate in the decision-
making process of science and medicine. 
(2) REPRESENTATION
OF
MEMBERSHIP
CAT-
EGORIES.—Of the members of the Commission— 
(A) at least 1 but not more than 3 shall 
be appointed to represent the category de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(A); 
(B) at least 1 but not more than 3 shall 
be appointed to represent the category de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(B); and 
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(C) at least 2 but not more than 4 shall 
be appointed to represent the category de-
scribed in paragraph (1)(C). 
(c) INITIAL MEMBERS.—The initial members of the 
Commission shall be appointed not later than 60 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(d) TERMS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the Com-
mission shall be appointed for a term of 3 years and 
may be reappointed. 
(2) VACANCIES.—Any member of the Commis-
sion appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the 
expiration of the term for which the member’s pred-
ecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for 
the remainder of that term. A member may serve 
after the expiration of that member’s term until a 
successor has taken office. A vacancy in the Com-
mission shall be filled in the manner in which the 
original appointment was made. 
(e) QUORUM.—Three members of the Commission 
shall constitute a quorum. 
SEC. 7. CHAIRPERSON AND COMMISSIONERS. 
(a) CHAIRPERSON.— 
(1) DESIGNATION.—Of the members of the 
Commission appointed under section 6(a), the Presi-
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dent shall at the time of appointment, designate one 
to serve as Chairperson of the Commission. 
(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Chairperson shall 
be an individual who, by reason of professional back-
ground and experience, is especially qualified to 
manage areas of study pertaining to ending breast 
cancer by January 1, 2020. 
(3) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The responsibilities of 
the Chairperson shall include— 
(A) approving all new study projects and 
areas of study of the Commission based on in-
novation, impact, and scientific and technical 
merit; 
(B) developing criteria (including mile-
stones) for assessing, and overseeing assess-
ment of, the success of the study projects and 
areas of study of the Commission; 
(C) identifying opportunities for seed 
grants and other funding through awards, 
prizes, grants, and contracts to achieve the mis-
sion described in section 5(a); and 
(D) terminating study projects and areas 
of study of the Commission that are not achiev-
ing the mission described in section 5(a). 
(b) COMMISSIONERS.— 
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(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the 
Commission may appoint members of the Commis-
sion to oversee one or more areas of study of the 
Commission. 
(2) RESPONSIBILITIES.—A member appointed 
under paragraph (1) shall, with respect to one or 
more areas of study, be responsible for— 
(A) 
recommending 
novel 
proposals, 
projects, and collaborations based on scientific 
and technical merit to achieve the mission de-
scribed in section 5(a) with a focus on strate-
gies for the primary prevention of breast can-
cer, and methods to prevent breast cancer me-
tastasis; 
(B) identifying ideas and opportunities to 
achieve the mission described in section 5(a) 
that are intellectually compelling, innovative, 
and imaginative, including such ideas and op-
portunities not being prioritized for breast can-
cer relevance within Federal agencies or pro-
grams or the private sector; 
(C) working with other relevant Federal 
agencies to identify areas of concurrent inter-
ests in order to maximize Federal investment 
and stimulate collaborative projects; 
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(D) 
identifying 
opportunities 
for 
transdisciplinary, cross-cutting collaborations; 
and 
(E) monitoring the progress of study 
projects and areas of study and recommending 
restructure or termination. 
SEC. 8. COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION. 
To the maximum extent practicable, the Commission 
shall ensure that the activities of the Commission are co-
ordinated with, and do not duplicate the efforts of, pro-
grams and laboratories of other government agencies. 
SEC. 9. EVALUATION OF THE COMMISSION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall seek to enter 
into an agreement with the Institute of Medicine of the 
National Academy of Sciences under which the Institute, 
after the Commission has been in operation for 3 years, 
completes an evaluation of how well the Commission is 
making progress towards achieving the mission described 
in section 5(a). 
(b) INCLUSIONS.—The evaluation under subsection 
(a) shall include— 
(1) a recommendation on whether the Commis-
sion should be continued or terminated; and 
(2) a description of lessons learned from oper-
ation of the Commission. 
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(c) AVAILABILITY.—On completion of the evaluation 
under subsection (a), the Commission shall make the eval-
uation available to the Congress and the public. 
SEC. 10. TERMINATION. 
The Commission shall terminate on June 1, 2020. 
Æ 
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