I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8444 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to enter into an 
agreement with the National Academy of Medicine under which the 
National Academy agrees to conduct a one-year study assessing the 
effectiveness of current vital statistics reporting and data sharing between 
State, local, and Federal agencies, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 
Mr. TAYLOR (for himself and Ms. SHALALA) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
enter into an agreement with the National Academy of 
Medicine under which the National Academy agrees to 
conduct a one-year study assessing the effectiveness of 
current vital statistics reporting and data sharing be-
tween State, local, and Federal agencies, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Vital Standardization of Thoughtful Administrative 
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Techniques and Statistics Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘Vital 
STATS Act of 2020’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 
findings: 
(1) Pandemic and highly infectious diseases 
have the ability to rapidly cross international and 
State boundaries, can infect millions of individuals 
in the United States, and have the potential to se-
verely disrupt interstate commerce. 
(2) During the outbreak of COVID–19, the dis-
ease substantially affected interstate commerce and 
touched all 50 States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States 
Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands. 
(3) The COVID–19 pandemic in the United 
States highlights the necessity of accurate and time-
ly vital statistics and death reporting for a success-
ful public health response. 
(4) Variations between means and methods of 
vital statistics reporting between State, local, and 
Federal entities can create administrative hurdles, 
including potential backlogs, and could hamper pub-
lic health response efforts. 
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(5) In order for the Nation to combat future 
health emergencies, to improve our general under-
standing of health problems in the United States, 
and to ensure the sharing of timely, accurate health 
information, the Federal Government, State govern-
ments, and local units of government must improve 
their means of coordinating and sharing health in-
formation and vital statistics. 
SEC. 2. STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF VITAL STATISTICS 
REPORTING. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall enter into an agreement with the 
National Academy of Medicine under which the National 
Academy agrees to conduct a one-year study assessing the 
effectiveness of current vital statistics reporting and data 
sharing between State, local, and Federal agencies and the 
degree to which there is divergence between State, local, 
and Federal vital statistics reporting. 
(b) REPORT.—The agreement entered into under 
subsection (a) shall require the National Academy of Med-
icine to, not later 1 year after the date on which the agree-
ment is entered into, to submit to Congress a report con-
taining the findings of the study conducted pursuant to 
such subsection. Such report shall include recommenda-
tions with respect to— 
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(1) coordination and standardization of State, 
local, and Federal vital statistics reporting methods, 
including the efficiency, effectiveness, and trans-
parency of such reporting; and 
(2) the feasibility of setting national standards 
for death reporting and collecting vital statistics. 
Æ 
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