IB 
Union Calendar No. 16 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 577 
[Report No. 111–46] 
To establish a grant program to provide vision care to children, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 15, 2009 
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. 
ROS-LEHTINEN, and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
MARCH 23, 2009 
Additional sponsors: Mr. TIBERI, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. PRICE of 
North Carolina, Mr. SIRES, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. LARSON 
of Connecticut, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. 
CONYERS, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. 
OLVER, Mr. SESTAK, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. HOLT, Ms. 
KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MACK, Mr. BISHOP of 
Georgia, Mr. CARNAHAN, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. 
ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. 
MCINTYRE, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. SMITH of New Jer-
sey, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. CHANDLER, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, 
Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. WOOL-
SEY, Mr. TERRY, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. LATHAM, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. 
CAPUANO, Mr. TIERNEY, and Ms. SLAUGHTER 
MARCH 23, 2009 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 15, 2009] 
A BILL 
To establish a grant program to provide vision care to 
children, 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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vision Care for Kids 
Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHILDREN. 
Part Q of title III of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 280h et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 399Z–1. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHIL-
DREN. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through the 
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
may award grants to States on the basis of an established 
review process for the purpose of complementing existing 
State efforts for— 
‘‘(1) providing comprehensive eye examinations 
(as defined in subsection (i)) by a licensed optometrist 
or ophthalmologist for eligible children (as defined in 
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subsection (b)) who have been previously identified 
through a vision screening or eye examination by a 
licensed health care provider or vision screener as 
needing such services, with priority given to children 
who are under the age of 9 years; 
‘‘(2) providing treatment or services to such chil-
dren, subsequent to the examinations described in 
paragraph (1), that are necessary to correct vision 
problems; and 
‘‘(3) developing and disseminating, to parents, 
teachers, and health care practitioners, educational 
materials on recognizing signs of visual impairment 
in children. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, 
the term ‘eligible child’ means, with respect to an ex-
amination described in paragraph (1) of subsection 
(a) or a treatment or service described in paragraph 
(2) of such subsection and with respect to a State, a 
child who is a low-income child (as defined by the 
State) and who— 
‘‘(A) is not eligible for medical assistance 
under the State plan under title XIX of such Act; 
‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (2)(A), is not eli-
gible for child health assistance under the State 
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child health plan under title XXI of the Social 
Security Act; 
‘‘(C) subject to paragraph (2)(B), does not 
have health insurance coverage (as defined in 
section 2791) in the group market or in the indi-
vidual market (as such terms are defined in such 
section) and is not a beneficiary or participant 
under a group health plan (as defined in such 
section); and 
‘‘(D) is not receiving assistance under any 
State health compensation program or under 
any other Federal or State health benefits pro-
gram for such examination, treatment, or serv-
ice, respectively. 
‘‘(2) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN LOW-INCOME CHIL-
DREN WITH HEALTH BENEFITS.—With respect to an 
examination described in paragraph (1) of subsection 
(a) or a treatment or service described in paragraph 
(2) of such subsection and with respect to a State— 
‘‘(A) paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to a 
child who is eligible for child health assistance 
under the State child health plan under title 
XXI of the Social Security Act (whether or not 
such child is enrolled under such plan), if such 
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plan does not provide for coverage of such exam-
ination, treatment, or service, respectively; and 
‘‘(B) paragraph (1)(C) shall not apply to a 
child described in such paragraph if no amount 
is payable under the coverage or plan described 
in such paragraph for such examination, treat-
ment, or service, respectively. 
‘‘(c) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in consultation with 
appropriate professional and patient organizations includ-
ing individuals with knowledge of age appropriate vision 
services, shall develop criteria— 
‘‘(1) governing the operation of the grant pro-
gram under subsection (a); and 
‘‘(2) for the collection of data related to vision 
assessment and the utilization of follow-up services. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under subsection (a), a State shall submit to the Secretary 
an application in such form, made in such manner, and 
containing such information as the Secretary may require, 
including— 
‘‘(1) information on existing Federal, Federal- 
State, or State-funded children’s vision programs; 
‘‘(2) a plan for the use of grant funds, including 
how funds will be used to complement existing State 
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efforts (including possible partnerships with non-prof-
it entities); 
‘‘(3) a plan to determine if an eligible child has 
been identified as provided for in subsection (a); 
‘‘(4) an assurance that funds will be used con-
sistent with this section; 
‘‘(5) a description of how funds will be used to 
provide examinations, treatments, and services, con-
sistent with this section; and 
‘‘(6) an assurance that, in providing examina-
tions, treatments, and services through use of such 
grant, the State will give priority to eligible children 
with the lowest income. 
‘‘(e) EVALUATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under subsection (a), a State shall agree that, not later than 
1 year after the date on which amounts under the grant 
are first received by the State, and annually thereafter 
while receiving amounts under the grant, the State will sub-
mit to the Secretary an evaluation of the operations and 
activities carried out under the grant, including— 
‘‘(1) an assessment of the utilization of vision 
services and the status of children receiving these serv-
ices as a result of the activities carried out under the 
grant; 
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‘‘(2) the collection, analysis, and reporting of 
children’s vision data according to guidelines pre-
scribed by the Secretary; and 
‘‘(3) such other information as the Secretary 
may require. 
‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS IN EXPENDITURE OF GRANT.—A 
grant may be made under subsection (a) only if the State 
involved agrees that the State will expend amounts received 
under such grant as follows: 
‘‘(1) The State will expend at least 80 percent of 
such amounts for the purposes described in para-
graphs (1) and (2) of such subsection. 
‘‘(2) The State will not expend more than 10 
percent of such amounts to carry out the purpose de-
scribed in paragraph (3) of such subsection. 
‘‘(3) The State will not expend more than 10 
percent of such amounts for administrative purposes. 
‘‘(g) MATCHING FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the costs of 
the activities to be carried out with a grant under 
subsection (a), a condition for the receipt of the grant 
is that the State involved agrees to make available 
(directly or through donations from public or private 
entities) non-Federal contributions toward such costs 
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in an amount that is not less than 25 percent of such 
costs. 
‘‘(2) DETERMINATION
OF
AMOUNT
CONTRIB-
UTED.—Non-Federal contributions required in para-
graph (1) may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, 
including plant, equipment, or services. Amounts pro-
vided by the Federal Government, or services assisted 
or subsidized to any significant extent by the Federal 
Government, may not be included in determining the 
amount of such non-Federal contributions. 
‘‘(h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A State that re-
ceives a grant under this section shall ensure that amounts 
received under such grant will be used to supplement, and 
not supplant, any other Federal, State, or local funds avail-
able to carry out activities of the type carried out under 
the grant. 
‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means an indi-
vidual who— 
‘‘(A) has not attained 18 years of age; or 
‘‘(B) has not attained 19 years of age and 
is a full-time student in a secondary school (or 
in the equivalent level of vocational or technical 
training). 
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‘‘(2) COMPREHENSIVE EYE EXAMINATION.—The 
term ‘comprehensive eye examination’ includes an as-
sessment of a patient’s history, general medical obser-
vation, external and ophthalmoscopic examination, 
visual acuity, ocular alignment and motility, refrac-
tion, and as appropriate, binocular vision or gross 
visual fields, performed by an optometrist or an oph-
thalmologist. 
‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 
to be appropriated— 
‘‘(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 
‘‘(2) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and 
‘‘(3) $14,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2012 
through 2014.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 16 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 577 
[Report No. 111–46] 
A BILL 
To establish a grant program to provide vision care 
to children, and for other purposes. 
MARCH 23, 2009 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:30 Mar 24, 2009
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