caused more than 250 illnesses in the Greater To-
ronto Area, just 80 miles from New York. 
SEC. 3. UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER HEALTH COMMIS-
SION ACT AMENDMENTS. 
The United States-Mexico Border Health Commis-
sion Act (22 U.S.C. 290n et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 3— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
and inserting ‘‘;’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe-
riod and inserting a semicolon; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) to cooperate with the Canada-United 
States Pan-Border Public Health Preparedness 
Council (referred to in this Act as the ‘Council’), as 
appropriate; and 
‘‘(4) to serve as an independent and objective 
body to both recommend and implement initiatives 
that solve border health issues.’’; 
(2) in section 5— 
(A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘should 
be the leader’’ and inserting ‘‘shall be the 
Chair’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(d) PROVIDING ADVICE AND RECOMMENDATIONS.— 
Members of the Commission and the Council may at any 
time provide advice or recommendations to the Secretary, 
Congress, or any Member of Congress concerning issues 
that are considered by the Commission or Council. Such 
advice or recommendations may be provided regardless of 
whether a request for such is made and regardless of 
whether the member or individual is authorized to provide 
such advice or recommendations by the Commission or 
Council or any other Federal official.’’; 
(3) by redesignating section 8 as section 12; 
(4) by striking section 7 and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 7. BORDER HEALTH GRANTS. 
‘‘(a) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, 
the term ‘eligible entity’ means a State, public institution 
of higher education, local government, Indian tribe, tribal 
organization, urban Indian organization, nonprofit health 
organization, trauma center, critical access hospital or 
other hospital that serves rural or other vulnerable com-
munities and populations, faith-based entity, or commu-
nity health center receiving assistance under section 330 
of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b), that 
is located in the United States-Mexico border area or the 
United States-Canada border area. 
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‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—From amounts appropriated 
under section 11, the Secretary, in consultation with mem-
bers of the Commission and Council and in coordination 
with the Office of Global Affairs, shall award grants to 
eligible entities to address priorities and recommendations 
outlined by the strategic plan and operational work plan 
of the Commission and the Council, as authorized under 
section 9, to improve the health of United States-Mexico 
border area and United States-Canada border area resi-
dents. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires a 
grant under subsection (b) shall submit an application to 
the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con-
taining such information as the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 
a grant under subsection (b) shall use the grant funds for 
any of the following: 
‘‘(1) Programs relating to any 1 or more of the 
following: 
‘‘(A) Maternal and child health. 
‘‘(B) Primary care and preventative health. 
‘‘(C) Infectious disease testing, monitoring, 
and surveillance. 
‘‘(D) Public health and public health infra-
structure. 
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‘‘(E) Health promotion. 
‘‘(F) Oral health. 
‘‘(G) Behavioral and mental health. 
‘‘(H) Substance abuse prevention and 
harm reduction. 
‘‘(I) Health conditions that have a high 
prevalence in the United States-Mexico border 
area or United States-Canada border area. 
‘‘(J) Medical and health services research. 
‘‘(K) Workforce training and development. 
‘‘(L) Community health workers and 
promotoras. 
‘‘(M) Health care infrastructure problems 
in the United States-Mexico border area or 
United States-Canada border area (including 
planning and construction grants). 
‘‘(N) Health disparities in the United 
States-Mexico border area or United States- 
Canada border area. 
‘‘(O) Environmental health. 
‘‘(P) Health education. 
‘‘(Q) Outreach and enrollment services 
with respect to Federal programs (including 
programs authorized under titles XIX and XXI 
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of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et 
seq. and 1397aa et seq.)). 
‘‘(R) Trauma care. 
‘‘(S) Health research with an emphasis on 
infectious disease and pressing issues related to 
noncommunicable diseases. 
‘‘(T) Epidemiology and health research. 
‘‘(U) Cross-border health surveillance co-
ordinated with Mexican Health Authorities or 
Canadian Health Authorities. 
‘‘(V) Obesity, particularly childhood obe-
sity. 
‘‘(W) Crisis communication, domestic vio-
lence, health literacy, or cancer. 
‘‘(X) Community-based participatory re-
search on border health issues. 
‘‘(Y) Violence prevention. 
‘‘(Z) Cross-border public health prepared-
ness. 
‘‘(2) Other programs determined appropriate by 
the Secretary. 
‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts pro-
vided to an eligible entity awarded a grant under sub-
section (b) shall be used to supplement and not supplant 
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other funds available to the eligible entity to carry out the 
activities described in subsection (d). 
‘‘SEC. 8. GRANTS FOR EARLY WARNING INFECTIOUS DIS-
EASE SURVEILLANCE (EWIDS) IN THE BOR-
DER AREA. 
‘‘(a) ELIGIBLE ENTITY DEFINED.—In this section, 
the term ‘eligible entity’ means a State, local government, 
Indian tribe, tribal organization, urban Indian organiza-
tion, trauma center, regional trauma center coordinating 
entity, or public health entity. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—From funds appropriated 
under section 11, the Secretary shall award grants for 
Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance (EWIDS) 
to eligible entities for infectious disease surveillance activi-
ties in the United States-Mexico border area or United 
States-Canada border area. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity that desires a 
grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing 
such information as the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(d) USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that re-
ceives a grant under subsection (b) shall use the grant 
funds, in coordination with State and local all hazards pro-
grams, to— 
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‘‘(1) develop and implement infectious disease 
surveillance plans and networks and public health 
emergency and readiness assessments and prepared-
ness plans, and purchase items necessary for such 
plans; 
‘‘(2) coordinate infectious disease surveillance 
planning and interjurisdictional risk assessments in 
the region with appropriate United States-based 
agencies and organizations and appropriate authori-
ties in Mexico or Canada; 
‘‘(3) improve infrastructure, including surge ca-
pacity, syndromic surveillance, and isolation/decon-
tamination capacity, and policy preparedness, includ-
ing for mutual assistance and for the sharing of in-
formation and resources; 
‘‘(4) improve laboratory capacity, in order to 
maintain and enhance capability and capacity to de-
tect potential infectious disease, whether naturally 
occurring or the result of terrorism; 
‘‘(5) create and maintain a health alert net-
work, including risk communication and information 
dissemination that is culturally competent and takes 
into account the needs of at-risk populations, includ-
ing individuals with disabilities; 
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‘‘(6) educate and train clinicians, epidemiolo-
gists, laboratories, and emergency management per-
sonnel; 
‘‘(7) implement electronic data and infrastruc-
ture inventory systems to coordinate the triage, 
transportation, and treatment of multicasualty inci-
dent victims; 
‘‘(8) provide infectious disease testing in the 
United States-Mexico border area or United States- 
Canada border area; and 
‘‘(9) carry out such other activities identified by 
the Secretary, members of the Commission, members 
of the Council, State or local public health authori-
ties, representatives of border health offices, or au-
thorities at the United States-Mexico or United 
States-Canada borders. 
‘‘SEC. 9. PLANS, REPORTS, AUDITS, AND BY-LAWS. 
‘‘(a) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 
after the date of enactment of this section, and every 
5 years thereafter, the Commission (including the 
participation of members representing both the 
United States and Mexican sections) and the Coun-
cil (including the participation of members rep-
resenting both the United States and Canada) shall 
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each prepare a binational strategic plan to guide the 
operations of the Commission and the Council and 
submit such plan to the Secretary and Congress. 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The binational strategic 
plan under paragraph (1) shall include— 
‘‘(A) health-related priority areas deter-
mined most important by the full membership 
of the Commission or Council, as applicable; 
‘‘(B) recommendations for goals, objec-
tives, strategies, and actions designed to ad-
dress such priority areas; and 
‘‘(C) a proposed evaluation framework with 
output and outcome indicators appropriate to 
gauge progress toward meeting the objectives 
and priorities of the Commission or Council, as 
applicable. 
‘‘(b) WORK PLAN.—Not later than January 1, 2016, 
and every 2 years thereafter, the Commission and the 
Council shall develop and approve an operational work 
plan and budget based on the strategic plan under sub-
section (a). 
‘‘(c) GAO REVIEW.—Not later than January 1, 
2017, and every 2 years thereafter, the Comptroller Gen-
eral of the United States shall conduct an evaluation of 
the activities conducted by the Commission and the Coun-
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cil based on the operational work plans described in sub-
section (b) for the previous year and the output and out-
come indicators included in the strategic plan described 
in subsection (a). The evaluation shall include a request 
for written evaluations from members of the Commission 
and the Council about barriers and facilitators to exe-
cuting successfully the work plans of the Commission and 
the Council. 
‘‘(d) BIANNUAL REPORTING.—The Commission and 
Council shall each issue a biannual report to the Secretary 
that provides independent policy recommendations related 
to border health issues. Not later than 3 months following 
receipt of each such biannual report, the Secretary shall 
provide to Congress the report and any studies or other 
materials produced independently by the Commission and 
Council. 
‘‘(e) AUDITS.—The Secretary shall annually prepare 
an audited financial report to account for all appropriated 
assets expended by the Commission and Council to ad-
dress both the strategic and operational work plans for 
the year involved. 
‘‘(f) BY-LAWS.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this section, the Commission and 
Council shall develop and approve bylaws to provide fully 
for compliance with the requirements of this section. 
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‘‘(g) TRANSMITTAL TO CONGRESS.—The Commission 
and Council shall submit copies of the operational work 
plan and by-laws to Congress. The Comptroller General 
of the United States shall submit a copy of each evaluation 
completed under subsection (c) to Congress. 
‘‘SEC. 10. COORDINATION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To the extent practicable and 
appropriate, plans, systems, and activities to be funded (or 
supported) under this Act for all hazard preparedness, and 
general border health, shall be coordinated with Federal, 
State, and local authorities in Mexico, Canada, and the 
United States. 
‘‘(b) COORDINATION
OF HEALTH SERVICES
AND 
SURVEILLANCE.—The Secretary, acting through the As-
sistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, when 
appropriate, may coordinate with the Secretary of Home-
land Security in establishing a health alert system that— 
‘‘(1) alerts clinicians and public health officials 
of emerging disease clusters and syndromes along 
the United States-Mexico border area and United 
States-Canada border area; and 
‘‘(2) warns of health threats, extreme weather 
conditions, disasters of mass scale, bioterrorism, and 
other emerging threats along the United States-Mex-
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