I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9796 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary 
of Housing and Urban Development to jointly award grants for the 
purposes of improving access to, developing, or expanding services that 
provide an individual with transportation to or from substance use dis-
order treatment or supportive services. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 
Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Mr. BACON, and Mr. VALADAO) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and 
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to 
jointly award grants for the purposes of improving access 
to, developing, or expanding services that provide an 
individual with transportation to or from substance use 
disorder treatment or supportive services. 
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 ‘‘Connections to Health 
Infrastructure and Emergency Recovery Services Act of 
2024’’ or the ‘‘CHIERS Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR TRANSPORTATION TO SUBSTANCE 
USE DISORDER TREATMENT OR SUPPORTIVE 
SERVICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries 
shall jointly award grants to eligible entities for the pur-
poses of improving access to, developing, or expanding 
services that provide a covered individual with transpor-
tation, including first and last mile transportation, to or 
from substance use disorder treatment or supportive serv-
ices at no cost to such individual. 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded under this 
section may be used for the following purposes: 
(A) To provide the transportation services 
described in subsection (a) on a prescheduled or 
on-demand basis. 
(B) To acquire a motor vehicle for the 
transportation services described in subsection 
(a). 
(C) To assist personnel who provide the 
transportation services described in subsection 
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(1) a description of the activities the eligible en-
tity plans to carry out using grant funds under this 
section; 
(2) the identity of each entity that the eligible 
entity plans to partner with to conduct such activi-
ties, including the activities the identified entity 
plans to carry out using grant funds under this sec-
tion; and 
(3) performance measures the eligible entity in-
tends to use to measure the effectiveness of the ac-
tivities carried out using grant funds under this sec-
tion in reducing cancelled or missed appointments. 
(d) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this section 
shall be for a period of not less than 1 year. 
(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A recipient of a 
grant under this section shall use the grant to supplement, 
not supplant, the level of State or local funds that would 
be made available for the activities funded under this sec-
tion in the absence of the receipt of a grant under this 
section. 
(f) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after receiving 
a grant under this section, a grantee shall submit to the 
Secretaries a report including such information as the Sec-
retaries determine necessary to evaluate the performance 
of the grantee under the grant. 
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(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretaries— 
(1) shall jointly provide technical assistance, 
publish best practices, and conduct outreach to 
grantees and eligible entities under this section; and 
(2) to the extent amounts are made available in 
advance in appropriation Acts, may make available 
not more than 2 percent of the funds made available 
pursuant to this section for the purposes of para-
graph (1). 
(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 
individual’’ means an individual with a substance 
use disorder who— 
(A) is experiencing homelessness; 
(B) resides in a low-income community, as 
such term is defined in section 45D of the In-
ternal Revenue Code of 1986; or 
(C) resides in a community in which trans-
portation poses a barrier to health care access, 
as determined by the Secretaries. 
(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means— 
(A) a nonprofit organization that has expe-
rience in providing— 
(i) substance use disorder treatment; 
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(ii) services to individuals experiencing 
homelessness; or 
(iii) services to a population that ex-
periences disparities in health status and 
health care access; 
(B) a State or county governmental entity, 
or any other local or regional governmental en-
tity, including a public health agency; 
(C) an Indian Tribe or Tribal organization, 
as such terms are defined in section 4 of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education As-
sistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304); 
(D) a continuum of care established and 
operating for a geographic area for purposes of 
the Continuum of Care Program under subtitle 
C of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11381 et seq.); 
(E) a Federally qualified health center, as 
such term is defined in section 1861(aa) of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(aa)); 
(F) a comprehensive opioid recovery center 
funded by a grant under section 552 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290ee–7); 
(G) an entity conducting street outreach 
funded by a grant under the emergency solu-
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tions grants program authorized under subtitle 
B of title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 
Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11371 et seq.); 
(H) a consortium of 2 or more entities de-
scribed in this paragraph; and 
(I) such other entities as the Secretaries 
determine appropriate. 
(3) FIRST AND LAST MILE TRANSPORTATION.— 
The term ‘‘first and last mile transportation’’ 
means, for purposes of the travel of a covered indi-
vidual to and from substance use disorder treatment 
or supportive services, the provision of such trans-
portation services as may be necessary to ensure 
that the individual has transportation for the entire 
route to be traveled, including transportation to and 
from a source of public transit. 
(4) LAW
ENFORCEMENT
PERSONNEL.—The 
term ‘‘law enforcement personnel’’ has the meaning 
given such term in section 884(g) of the Homeland 
Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 464(g)). 
(5) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term 
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means an organization that 
is described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under 
section 501(a) of such Code. 
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(6) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 
means— 
(A) the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, acting through the Assistant Secretary 
for Mental Health and Substance Use; and 
(B) the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development, acting through the Director of 
the Office of Special Needs Assistance Pro-
grams. 
(7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, and any 
commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 
States. 
(8) SUBSTANCE
USE
DISORDER.—The term 
‘‘substance use disorder’’ has the meaning given 
such term in section 1934 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x–34). 
(9) SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT.— 
The term ‘‘substance use disorder treatment’’— 
(A) has the meaning given such term in 
section 702 of the Office of National Drug Con-
trol Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998 (21 
U.S.C. 1701); and 
(B) includes— 
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(i) an overdose prevention program; 
and 
(ii) detoxification services. 
(10) SUPPORTIVE SERVICES.—The term ‘‘sup-
portive services’’ has the meaning given such term in 
section 401 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist-
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360). 
Æ 
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