I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3255
To respond to the threat of bioterrorism.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 8, 2001
Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. BISHOP, Mr.
BORSKI, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. SKELTON, Mr.
COSTELLO, Mr. HONDA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. ROYBAL-AL-
LARD, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. TURNER, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. FROST, Mrs.
LOWEY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA´, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BACA, Mr.
BAIRD, Mr. BENTSEN, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. CAPPS,
Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CON-
YERS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr.
DEFAZIO, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. EDWARDS,
Mr. ENGEL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. FARR of California, Mr.
FILNER, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GORDON, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr.
HINOJOSA, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOLT, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr.
JOHN, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KIL-
DEE, Mr. KIND, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. LARSEN of Wash-
ington, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. LEE, Mr. LUTHER, Mrs.
MALONEY of New York, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. GEORGE MIL-
LER of California, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Ms. MCCARTHY of Mis-
souri, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MEEKS of
New York, Mr. MOORE, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. OLVER, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr.
OWENS, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. PRICE of North
Carolina, Mr. REYES, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. ROSS, Mr.
ROTHMAN, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. SAWYER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF,
Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SNYDER, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. STUPAK,
Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr.
TOWNS, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Ms.
VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WOOLSEY, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in
addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Transportation and Infra-
structure, Armed Services, Science, Intelligence (Permanent Select),
International Relations, Agriculture, and Ways and Means, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To respond to the threat of bioterrorism.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Bioterrorism Protection Act (BioPAct) of 2001’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.
TITLE I—PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESPONSE TO
BIOTERRORISM
Subtitle A—Improving Community Emergency Response Capacity and
Preparedness
Sec. 101. Staffing shortages.
Sec. 102. Hospital capacity and resources.
Sec. 103. Provider training.
Subtitle B—Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Vaccines and Treatments for
All Americans
Sec. 111. Supplies of vaccines and antibiotics.
Subtitle C—Enhancing Community Planning and Intergovernmental
Coordination
Sec. 121. Local planning grants for health care providers.
Sec. 122. Planning, training and equipment for local government and first re-
sponders.
Sec. 123. State medical disaster response plans regarding terrorist attacks.
Sec. 124. State trauma care systems.
Sec. 125. Intergovernmental coordination.
Sec. 126. Communication between FAA and FEMA.
Sec. 127. Public health representation on NSC.
Sec. 128. Use of counterterrorism technology of the laboratories of the National
Nuclear Security Administration.
Subtitle D—Enhancing Surveillance, Improving Communications, and
Strengthening
Sec. 131. Surveillance and technology infrastructure.
Sec. 132. Communications and technology resources and coordination.
Sec. 133. Information for first responders.
TITLE II—PROTECTING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION ACTIVITIES
AND FOOD AND WATER SUPPLIES
Subtitle A—Keeping Food Sources and Supplies Safe
Sec. 201. Department of Agriculture activities to reduce threats from agricul-
tural pathogens and insect pests and increase security of de-
partment information systems.
Sec. 202. Coordination between department of agriculture and food and drug
administration.
Sec. 203. Support for State efforts to track foodborne pathogens.
Sec. 204. Expansion of Food and Drug Administration activities.
Sec. 205. Expansion in number of FDA inspectors for domestic food shipments
and domestic production facilities.
Sec. 206. Additional authorities of Food and Drug Administration regarding
imported food safety.
Sec. 207. Maintenance and inspection of records for foods.
Sec. 208. Registration of food manufacturing, processing, and handling facili-
ties.
Sec. 209. Relationship to treaty obligations.
Subtitle B—Safe Water Supply
Sec. 211. Vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans.
Sec. 212. Research and development.
Sec. 213. Basic security enhancements.
Sec. 214. Electronic security.
Sec. 215. Definition.
TITLE III—ENHANCING LAW ENFORCEMENT’S ABILITY TO
PROTECT THE NATION
Subtitle A—Providing the Right Tools to Law Enforcement Agencies
Sec. 301. Expansion of biological weapons statute.
Sec. 302. Identifying location of transport vehicles.
Sec. 303. Training for first responders.
Sec. 304. Authority to make grants to facilitate interfacing between national
law enforcement databases and private databases.
Sec. 305. Elimination of convicted offender DNA backlog.
Subtitle B—Securing United States Borders
Sec. 311. Neutron scanner technology.
Sec. 312. Technology to detect biological or chemical agents.
Sec. 313. Identification of individuals crossing U.S. borders.
Sec. 314. Increased numbers of border patrol and immigration officers.
Sec. 315. Increased security in issuing and monitoring visas.
Sec. 316. Information sharing between the immigration and naturalization serv-
ice and consular officers abroad.
Sec. 317. Preventing persons appearing on law enforcement ‘‘watch lists’’ from
entering United States.
Sec. 318. Tracking visa overstays and investigating offenders.
Sec. 319. Improving Coast Guard boarding capability.
TITLE IV—STRENGTHENING OUR INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
THROUGH FULL COORDINATION
Subtitle A—Improving Organization and Coordination of the Intelligence
Community
Sec. 401. New threat assessment and risk prioritization.
Sec. 402. Intelligence sharing needs.
Sec. 403. Reduction of barriers to information sharing among agencies.
Sec. 404. Improved public education.
Subtitle B—Improving Intelligence Capabilities
Sec. 411. Detection.
Sec. 412. Cataloguing of biomaterials.
Sec. 413. Additional translation personnel and improved translation technology.
Sec. 414. Human intelligence collection.
TITLE V—MILITARY RESPONSE TO ATTACKS INVOLVING CHEM-
ICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND NONPROLIFERATION OF
SUCH WEAPONS
Subtitle A—Initial Crisis Response and First Responder Support
Sec. 501. Increasing military capability to respond to domestic crises.
Sec. 502. Improvements regarding consequence management capabilities.
Sec. 503. Interoperability of communications.
Sec. 504. Training exercises for local first responders.
Sec. 505. Authorization of appropriations.
Subtitle B—Interagency Crisis Response and Consequence Management–
Sec. 511. Improvement of interagency coordination.
Sec. 512. Authorization of appropriations.
Subtitle C—Research and Development
Sec. 521. Accelerating technology research and development.
Sec. 522. Authorization of appropriations.
Subtitle D—Nonproliferation of Chemical and Biological Materials and
Weapons
Sec. 531. Verification of nonproliferation by the Secretary of Energy.
Sec. 532. Preventing and defending against the proliferation of biological and
chemical weapons by terrorists.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—In the wake of the horrific
terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001,
and the subsequent bioterrorist attacks in various lo-
calities, the Congress through the enactment of this
Act immediately seeks to protect America from fur-
ther acts of bioterrorism and to help America’s cit-
ies, towns, and rural communities to adequately pre-
vent, prepare for, and effectively respond to bioter-
rorism.
(2) COMPREHENSIVE
APPROACH
TO
BIOTER-
RORISM.—The Congress finds as follows:
(A) To better enable America’s cities,
towns, and rural communities to respond com-
prehensively to the threat of bioterrorism, the
United States must enhance its emergency pre-
paredness and response capabilities.
(B) Food and water are among our Na-
tion’s most precious resources. The events of
September 11th underscore the danger and ter-
rible potential of a chemical, biological or radio-
logical attack to disrupt or contaminate these
basic human necessities. To better safeguard
the most abundant food supply in the world and
protect our vast water resources, these re-
sources must be protected from the threat of
bioterrorism.
(C) While preserving the fullness of our
constitutional rights and liberties, in the wake
of September 11th, the United States must en-
hance its law enforcement capabilities.
(D) Strengthening and better coordinating
intelligence capabilities are critical for pre-
venting and preparing for bioterrorism.
(E) Given the prominent role that the
United States Armed Forces will play in any bi-
ological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear at-
tack on American soil, the United States must
enhance its military capabilities.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows:
(1) With respect to emergency preparedness
and response—
(A) to provide America’s cities, towns, and
rural communities with sufficient resources and
expertise to develop comprehensive community
response plans for bioterrorist threats; and
(B) to improve, through grants for train-
ing, technology, and equipment, the ability of
localities throughout America to effectively re-
spond in the event of a bioterrorist attack.
(2) With respect to strengthening the United
States public health system—
(A) to ensure that America’s hospitals and
community health care centers have the nec-
essary bed space and personnel to respond to
biological attacks;
(B) to ensure adequate training for doc-
tors, nurses, and emergency responders to en-
able them to effectively identify and treat bio-
logical agents; and
(C) to ensure an adequate supply of vac-
cines and treatments for all Americans and in-
vest in the expedited research needed to develop
new and improved vaccines and antibiotics.
(3) With respect to the defense of physical
infrastructure—
(A) to eliminate threats from agricultural
pathogens and insect pests;
(B) to protect and secure the Department
of Agriculture’s information systems;
(C) to improve coordination between the
Department of Agriculture and the Food and
Drug Administration (‘‘FDA’’) to respond to
food and water contamination;
(D) to assist State efforts to track food
borne pathogens;
(E) to provide more FDA inspectors for
domestic food shipments and domestic produc-
tion facilities;
(F) to comprehensively assess the vulner-
ability of water infrastructure facilities to chem-
ical, biological and radiological attacks;
(G) to review and develop water infrastruc-
ture emergency response plans to take into ac-
count such attacks;
(H) to research and develop vital tech-
nologies to detect contamination of public water
systems; and
(I) to enhance basic security at water in-
frastructure facilities and for enhancements of
water systems’ cyber-security.
(4) With respect to law enforcement—
(A) to enhance the tools of law enforce-
ment to fight terrorism through the imposition
of greater restrictions on the handling and use
of biological and chemical agents, and the use
of state-of-the-art science and technology;
(B) to improve the readiness of Federal,
State, and local law enforcement personnel to
prevent and address biological terrorism threats
through increased manpower, equipment and
training;
(C) to ensure the security of our borders
against biological and other terrorism threats
through increased manpower, equipment, and
use of state-of-the-art technology;
(D) to enhance the security of the United
States Postal Service through the use of state-
of-the-art technology; and
(E) to enhance the security against a
major threat to our Internet communications
and automated data systems through the use of
state-of-the-art technology and increased redun-
dancy in vital data systems.
(5) With respect to intelligence—
(A) to conduct a threat assessment, identi-
fying and prioritizing the means, vulnerabilities,
and impacts of attacks to guide the national
strategy in preventing and preparing for ter-
rorist attack;
(B) to seamlessly share information be-
tween the intelligence community, the Federal
Government, State and local governments, and
law enforcement agencies in order to prevent
terrorist attacks;
(C) to educate Americans to the nature
and appropriate responses to biological weapon
attacks and provide for an effective educational
dialogue between government and the public;
and
(D) to improve its intelligence collection
and analysis capabilities through the increased
use of human intelligence, technical detection,
and regional and linguistic expertise.
(6) With respect to military preparedness, do-
mestic assistance and response—
(A) to provide the funds and training nec-
essary to allow our military personnel to be able
to respond promptly, appropriately, and with
clearly defined objectives;
(B) to determine the resources needed to
allow our uniformed servicemen and women to
both fight and win our Nation’s war on ter-
rorism abroad, as well as participate with other
governmental agencies and first responders in
homeland crisis and consequence management
exercises;
(C) to properly equip, train, and define the
role of our Nation’s military in homeland de-
fense, we believe that Americans can feel con-
fident that our armed forces are prepared to re-
spond to any foreign or domestic terrorist at-
tack;
(D) to redouble the Federal Government’s
efforts to ensure the security of lightly guarded
biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear
materials within the former Soviet Union; and
(E) to fully fund non-proliferation and
verification programs administered by the De-
partments of Defense, Energy, and State would
be an effective tool in preventing the wide-
spread dissemination of materials sought by
terrorist groups and rogue countries.
TITLE I—PUBLIC HEALTH IN-
FRASTRUCTURE 
AND 
RE-
SPONSE TO BIOTERRORISM
Subtitle A—Improving Community
Emergency Response Capacity
and Preparedness
SEC. 101. STAFFING SHORTAGES.
(a) INITIATIVES
TO
COMBAT
NURSING
SHORT-
AGES.—Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42
U.S.C. 296 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
‘‘PART H—INITIATIVES TO STRENGTHEN THE
NURSING WORKFORCE
‘‘SEC. 851. CAREER LADDER GRANT PROGRAM.
‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall
award grants to eligible entities to assist individuals in ob-
taining education required to enter the nursing profession
and advance within such profession.
‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives
a grant under subsection (a) shall use funds under such
grant to establish student scholarships or stipends for
nurse professionals, licensed practical nurses, certified
nurse assistants, and home health aids who enroll in entry
level nursing programs, advanced practice nursing degree
programs, RN/Master’s nursing degree programs, doctoral
nursing programs, public health nursing programs, nurse
educator programs, nurse administrator programs, long
term care nursing programs, and training programs fo-
cused on specific technology use or disease management.
‘‘SEC. 852. GRANTS FOR PARTNERSHIPS.
‘‘(a) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award
grants to designated eligible entities to enable such enti-
ties to form partnerships to carry out the activities de-
scribed in subsection (d).
‘‘(b) DESIGNATED ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘designated eligible entity’ means a
school of nursing (including a minority serving insti-
tution) and a health care facility, both of which are
eligible entities, that form a partnership to carry out
the activities described in subsection (d).
‘‘(2) HEALTH CARE FACILITY.—For purposes
of this section, the term ‘health care facility’ means
a hospital, nursing home, home health care agency,
hospice, federally qualified health center, rural
health clinic, or public health clinic.
‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—A designated eligible entity
that receives a grant under subsection (a) shall use funds
received through such grant to—
‘‘(1) provide employees of the facility advanced
training and education at the school or facility using
up-to-date equipment and technology;
‘‘(2) establish or expand nursing practice ar-
rangements in noninstitutional settings to dem-
onstrate methods to improve access to health care in
medically underserved communities;
‘‘(3) purchase distance learning technology to
extend general education and training programs to
rural areas, and to extend specialty education and
training programs to all areas; and
‘‘(4) establish or expand mentoring and intern-
ship programs for training in specialty care areas.