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105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 304
To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to employment opportu-
nities in the Department of Health and Human Services for women
who are scientists, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 7, 1997
Ms. SLAUGHTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to
employment opportunities in the Department of Health
and Human Services for women who are scientists, 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 ‘‘HHS Women Scientist
Employment Opportunity Act’’.
SEC. 2. WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT.
The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 281 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following title:
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‘‘TITLE XXVIII—WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOY-
MENT WITH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
AND HUMAN SERVICES
‘‘SEC. 2801. WOMEN’S SCIENTIFIC EMPLOYMENT.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each agency specified
in paragraph (2), the Secretary, in collaboration
with the head of the agency, shall—
‘‘(A) establish policies for the agency on
matters relating to the employment by the
agency of women as scientists, and periodically
review and as appropriate revise such policies;
and
‘‘(B) monitor the extent of compliance with
such policies and take appropriate action in
cases in which the Secretary determines that
the policies have been violated.
‘‘(2) SPECIFIED AGENCIES.—The agencies re-
ferred to in paragraph (1) are the National Insti-
tutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and
such other agencies or offices of the Department of
Health and Human Services as the Secretary deter-
mines to be appropriate.
‘‘(b) CERTAIN FUNCTIONS.—
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out subsection
(a) with respect to a specified agency, the Secretary
shall provide for the following:
‘‘(A) Determining the concerns of women
scientists employed at the agency.
‘‘(B) Developing a policy defining the
standard tenure process for employment at the
agency.
‘‘(C) Determining the reason for departure
from the agency by interviewing women and
men scientists as they leave.
‘‘(D) Distributing yearly to all employees
of the agency copies of the policy of the agency
on flexible family leave.
‘‘(E) Monitoring the number of women, in-
cluding minority women, included on the com-
mittees, panels, and other working groups (and
in meetings) of the agency.
‘‘(F) Making efforts to recruit minority
women, based on the small numbers of tenured
minority women scientists.
‘‘(G) Developing additional goals related to
women and minority women scientists at the
agency.
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‘‘(2) AGENCY-SPECIFIC PROVISIONS.—With re-
spect to the National Institutes of Health, in carry-
ing out subsection (a), the Secretary shall (in addi-
tion to activities under paragraph (1)) provide for
the implementation of the recommendations of the
group known as the Task Force on the Status of
NIH Intramural Women Scientists.
‘‘(c) INCLUSION OF WOMEN ON INTRAMURAL AND
EXTRAMURAL CONFERENCES AND OTHER GROUPS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish a policy at each specified agency of requiring in-
clusion of women scientists in greater numbers on or
in conferences, workshops, meetings, international
congresses, and other groups funded or sponsored by
the agency. Such policy shall provide for the inclu-
sion of not less than one woman scientist in each
such group, except as provided in paragraph (2).
This paragraph applies whether such groups are
held for employees of the agency headquarters, for
employees of field offices, or both.
‘‘(2) EXCLUSION; WRITTEN
EXPLANATION.—
The policy established in paragraph (1) may provide
that no woman scientist will be included in a group
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for purposes of such paragraph if the Secretary pro-
vides a waiver of the requirement. The Secretary
may grant such a waiver only if—
‘‘(A) the individual with the chief respon-
sibility for the group involved submits to the
Secretary a written request for the waiver and
the request provides an explanation of the rea-
sons underlying the need for the waiver; and
‘‘(B) the Secretary makes a determination
that extraordinary circumstances justify provid-
ing the waiver.
‘‘(d) STUDY ON PAY EQUITY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each specified agency,
the Secretary shall provide for a study to identify
any pay differences among men and women sci-
entists employed by the agency, both tenured and
untenured. The study shall include recommendations
on measures to adjust any disparities or inequities,
and shall identify a program to communicate infor-
mation on salary ranges to all employees.
‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 240 days after
the date of the enactment of the HHS Women Sci-
entist Employment Opportunity Act, the Secretary
shall complete the study required in paragraph (1)
and submit to the Committee on Commerce of the
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House of Representatives, and to the Committee on
Labor and Human Resources of the Senate, a report
describing the findings made as a result of the
study.
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the
term ‘specified agency’ means an agency specified in sub-
section (a)(2).
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the
purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized
to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for
each of the fiscal years 1998 through 2000.’’.
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