SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firefighter Cancer 
Registry Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. POPULATION-BASED REGISTRY FOR FIREFIGHTER 
CANCER INCIDENCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, acting through the Director of the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention, shall develop and 
maintain, directly or through a grant or cooperative agree-
ment, a voluntary registry of firefighters (referred to in 
this section as the ‘‘Firefighter Registry’’) to collect rel-
evant history and occupational information of such fire-
fighters that can be linked to available cancer registry 
data collected by existing State cancer registries. 
(b) USE OF FIREFIGHTER REGISTRY.—The Fire-
fighter Registry shall be used for the following purposes: 
(1) To establish and improve collection infra-
structure and activities related to the nationwide 
monitoring of the incidence of cancer among fire-
fighters. 
(2) To collect, consolidate, store, and make 
publicly available epidemiological information related 
to cancer incidence and trends among firefighters. 
(c) RELEVANT DATA.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—In carrying out the vol-
untary data collection for purposes of inclusion
under the Firefighter Registry, the Secretary should 
seek to include the following information: 
(A) Identifiable information from a rep-
resentative sample size, as determined by the 
Secretary under subsection (d)(2)(A), of volun-
teer, paid-on-call, and career firefighters, inde-
pendent of cancer status or diagnosis. 
(B) With respect to individual risk factors 
and work history of firefighters, available infor-
mation on— 
(i) basic demographic information, in-
cluding the age of the firefighter involved; 
(ii) a listing of status of the fire-
fighter as either volunteer, paid-on-call, or 
career firefighter; 
(iii) the number of years on the job 
and a detailing of additional employment 
experience that was either performed con-
currently alongside firefighting service, be-
fore, or anytime thereafter; 
(iv)(I) a measure of the number of 
fire incidents attended as well as the type 
of fire incidents (such as residential house 
fire or commercial fire); or
(II) in the case of a firefighter for 
whom information on such number and 
type is not available, an estimate of such 
number and type based on the method de-
veloped under subsection (d)(2); 
(v) a list of additional risk factors, in-
cluding smoking or drug use, as deter-
mined relevant by the Secretary; and 
(vi) other physical examination and 
medical history information relevant to a 
cancer incidence study or general health of 
firefighters not available in existing cancer 
registries. 
(C) Any additional information that is 
deemed necessary by the Secretary. 
(2) DIAGNOSES AND TREATMENT.—In carrying 
out the data collection for purposes of inclusion 
under the Firefighter Registry, with respect to diag-
noses and treatment of firefighters diagnosed with 
cancer, the Secretary shall enable the Firefighter 
Registry to link to State-based cancer registries, for 
a purpose described by clause (vi) or (vii) of section 
399B(c)(2)(D) of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 280e(c)(2)(D)), to obtain information on—
(A) administrative information, including 
date of diagnoses and source of information; 
and 
(B) pathological data characterizing the 
cancer, including cancer site, state of disease 
(pursuant to Staging Guide), incidence, and 
type of treatment. 
(d) METHODS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes described 
in subsection (b), the Secretary is authorized to in-
corporate questions into public health surveys, ques-
tionnaires, and other databases. 
(2) REQUIRED STRATEGY.—The Secretary shall 
develop a strategy, working in consultation with the 
stakeholders identified in subsection (e), to maximize 
participation in the Firefighter Registry established 
under this Act. At minimum, the strategy shall in-
clude the following: 
(A) Identified minimum participation tar-
gets for volunteer, paid-on-call, and career fire-
fighters. 
(B) A strategy for increasing awareness of 
the Firefighter Registry and maximizing par-
ticipation among volunteer, paid-on-call, and ca-
reer firefighters to meet minimum participation 
targets. 
(C) Additional steps that may be required 
to ensure the equitable representation of groups 
identified in paragraph (5). 
(D) Information on how the Secretary will 
store data described in subsection (c)(1) and 
provide links to relevant health information de-
scribed in subsection (c)(2). 
(E) Working in consultation with the ex-
perts described in subsection (e), a reliable and 
standardized method for estimating the number 
of fire incidents attended by a firefighter as 
well as the type of fire incident so attended in 
the case such firefighter is unable to provide 
such information. 
(3) REPORT
TO
CONGRESS.—The Secretary 
shall submit the strategy described in paragraph (2) 
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen-
ate not later than 30 days after the date of the com-
pletion of the strategy. 
(4) GUIDANCE FOR INCLUSION AND MAINTE-
NANCE OF DATA ON FIREFIGHTERS.—The Secretary
shall develop, in consultation with the stakeholders 
identified in subsection (e), State health agencies, 
State departments of homeland security, and volun-
teer, paid-on-call, combination, and career fire-
fighting agencies, a strategy for inclusion of fire-
fighters in the registry that are representative of the 
general population of firefighters, that outlines the 
following: 
(A) How new information about fire-
fighters will be submitted to the Firefighter 
Registry for inclusion. 
(B) How information about firefighters will 
be maintained and updated in the Firefighter 
Registry over time. 
(C) A method for estimating the number of 
fire incidents attended by a firefighter as well 
as the type of fire incident so attended in the 
case such firefighter is unable to provide such 
information. 
(D) Further information, as deemed nec-
essary by the Secretary. 
(5) ENSURING
REPRESENTATION
OF
UNDER-
REPRESENTED GROUPS IN REGISTRY.—In carrying 
out this section, the Secretary shall take such meas-
ures as the Secretary deems appropriate to encour-
or available to the relevant stakeholders identified in sub-
section (e). 
(g) PRIVACY.—In carrying out this Act, the Secretary 
shall apply to the Firefighter Registry developed under 
subsection (a) data security provisions and privacy stand-
ards that comply with the best practices of the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention and provide for data 
privacy and security standards similar to those in the 
HIPAA privacy regulation, as defined in section 
1180(b)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d– 
9(b)(3)). 
(h) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS.—To carry out this 
section, there are authorized to be appropriated 
$2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2018 through 
2022. 
SEC. 3. CUT-GO COMPLIANCE. 
Subsection (f) of section 319D of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d–4) is amended by striking 
‘‘through 2018’’ and inserting ‘‘through 2017, and 
$128,300,000 for fiscal year 2018’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 12, 
2017. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 931 
AN ACT 
To require the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services to develop a voluntary registry to collect 
data on cancer incidence among firefighters.