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 ‘‘Department of Vet-
erans Affairs Emergency Preparedness Research, Edu-
cation, and Bio-Terrorism Prevention Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL PRE-
PAREDNESS CENTERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 73 of
title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
‘‘§ 7325. Medical emergency preparedness centers
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTERS.—(1) The Sec-
retary shall establish at least four medical emergency pre-
paredness centers in accordance with this section. Each
such center shall be established at a Department medical
center and shall be staffed by Department employees.
‘‘(2) The Under Secretary for Health shall be respon-
sible for supervising the operation of the centers estab-
lished pursuant to this section. The Under Secretary shall
provide for ongoing evaluation of the centers and their
compliance with the requirements of this section.
‘‘(3) The Under Secretary shall carry out the Under
Secretary’s functions under paragraph (2) in consultation
with the Assistant Secretary for Veterans Affairs with re-
sponsibility for operations, preparedness, and security.
‘‘(b) MISSION.—The mission of the centers shall be—
‘‘(1) to carry out research on and develop meth-
ods of detection, diagnosis, vaccination, protection,
and treatment for chemical, biological, and radio-
logical threats to the public health and safety;
‘‘(2) to provide education, training, and advice
to health-care professionals, including health-care
professionals outside the Veterans Health Adminis-
tration; and
‘‘(3) to provide contingent rapid response lab-
oratory assistance and other assistance to local
health care authorities in the event of a national
emergency.
‘‘(c) CENTER DIRECTORS.—Each center shall have a
Director with (1) expertise in managing organizations that
deal with threats referred to in subsection (b), (2) exper-
tise in providing care to populations exposed to toxic sub-
stances, or (3) significant research experience in those
fields.
‘‘(d) SELECTION OF CENTERS.—(1) The Secretary
shall select the sites for the centers on the basis of a com-
petitive selection process and a finding under paragraph
(2). The centers selected shall be located in different re-
gions of the Nation, and any such center may be a consor-
tium of efforts of more than one medical center. At least
one of the centers shall be established to concentrate on
chemical threats, at least one shall be established to con-
centrate on biological threats, and at least one shall be
established to concentrate on radiological threats.
‘‘(2) The finding referred to in paragraph (1) with
respect to a proposal for designation of a site as a location
of a center under this section is a finding by the Secretary,
upon the recommendations of the Under Secretary for
Health and the Assistant Secretary with responsibility for
operations, preparedness, and security, that the facility or
facilities submitting the proposal have developed (or may
reasonably be anticipated to develop) each of the following:
‘‘(A) An arrangement with a qualifying medical
school and a qualifying school of public health (or a
consortium of such schools) under which physicians
and other persons in the health field receive edu-
cation and training through the participating De-
partment medical centers so as to provide those per-
sons with training in the diagnosis and treatment of
illnesses induced by exposures to toxins, including
chemical and biological substances and nuclear ion-
izing radiation.
‘‘(B) An arrangement with an accredited grad-
uate program of epidemiology under which students
receive education and training in epidemiology
through the participating Department facilities so as
to provide such students with training in the epide-
miology of contagious and infectious diseases and
chemical and radiation poisoning in an exposed pop-
ulation.
‘‘(C) An arrangement under which nursing, so-
cial work, counseling, or allied health personnel and
students receive training and education in recog-
nizing and caring for conditions associated with ex-
posures to toxins through the participating Depart-
ment facilities.
‘‘(D) The ability to attract scientists who have
made significant contributions to the development of
innovative approaches to the detection, diagnosis,
vaccination, protection, or treatment of persons ex-
posed to chemical, biological, or radiological sub-
stances.
‘‘(3) For purposes of paragraph (2)(A)—
‘‘(A) a qualifying medical school is an accred-
ited medical school that provides education and
training in toxicology and environmental health haz-
ards and with which one or more of the participating
Department medical centers is affiliated; and
‘‘(B) a qualifying school of public health is an
accredited school of public health that provides edu-
cation and training in toxicology and environmental
health hazards and with which one or more of the
participating Department medical centers is affili-
ated.
‘‘(e) FUNDING.—(1) Amounts appropriated for the
activities of the centers shall be appropriated separately
from amounts appropriated for the Department for med-
ical care.
‘‘(2) There are authorized to be appropriated for the
centers under this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2003 through 2007.
‘‘(3) In addition to funds appropriated for a fiscal
year pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in
paragraph (2), the Under Secretary for Health shall allo-
cate to such centers from other funds appropriated for
that fiscal year generally for the Department of Veterans
Affairs medical care account and the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs medical and prosthetics research account
such amounts as the Under Secretary for Health deter-
mines appropriate to carry out the purposes of this sec-
tion. Any determination by the Under Secretary under the
preceding sentence shall be made in consultation with the
Assistant Secretary with responsibility for operations, pre-
paredness, and security.
‘‘(f) RESEARCH ACTIVITIES.—Each center shall con-
duct research on improved medical preparedness to protect
the Nation from threats in the area of that center’s exper-
tise. Each center may seek research funds from public and
private sources for such purpose.
‘‘(g) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—(1) In order to provide
advice to assist the Secretary and the Under Secretary for
Health to carry out their responsibilities under this sec-
tion, the Under Secretary shall establish a peer review
panel to assess the scientific and clinical merit of pro-
posals that are submitted to the Secretary for the designa-
tion of centers under this section. The peer review shall
be established in consultation with the Assistant Secretary
with responsibility for operations, preparedness, and secu-
rity.
‘‘(2) The peer review panel shall include experts in
the fields of toxicological research, bio-hazards manage-
ment education and training, radiology, clinical care of pa-
tients exposed to such hazards, and other persons as de-
termined appropriate by the Secretary. Members of the
panel shall serve as consultants to the Department.
‘‘(3) The panel shall review each proposal submitted
to the panel by the officials referred to in paragraph (1)
and shall submit to the Under Secretary for Health its
views on the relative scientific and clinical merit of each
such proposal. The panel shall specifically determine with
respect to each such proposal whether that proposal is
among those proposals which have met the highest com-
petitive standards of scientific and clinical merit.
‘‘(4) The panel shall not be subject to the Federal
Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
‘‘(h) RESEARCH PRODUCTS.—(1) The Under Sec-
retary for Health and the Assistant Secretary with respon-
sibility for operations, preparedness, and security shall en-
sure that information produced by the research, education
and training, and clinical activities of centers established
under this section is made available, as appropriate, to
health-care providers in the United States. Dissemination
of such information shall be made through publications,
through programs of continuing medical and related edu-
cation provided through regional medical education cen-
ters under subchapter VI of chapter 74 of this title, and
through other means. Such programs of continuing med-
ical education shall receive priority in the award of fund-
ing.
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that the work of the
centers is conducted in close coordination with other Fed-
eral departments and agencies and that research products
or other information of the centers shall be coordinated
and shared with other Federal departments and agencies.
‘‘(i) ASSISTANCE TO OTHER AGENCIES.—The Sec-
retary may provide assistance requested by appropriate
Federal, State, and local civil and criminal authorities in
investigations, inquiries, and data analyses as necessary
to protect the public safety and prevent or obviate biologi-
cal, chemical, or radiological threats.
‘‘(j) DETAIL OF EMPLOYEES FROM OTHER AGEN-
CIES.—Upon approval by the Secretary, the Director of
a center may request the temporary assignment or detail
to the center, on a nonreimbursable basis, of employees
from other Departments and agencies of the United States
who have expertise that would further the mission of the
center. Any such employee may be so assigned or detailed
on a nonreimbursable basis pursuant to such a request.
The duration of any such assignment or detail shall be
subject to approval by the Office of Personnel Manage-
ment.’’.
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting
after the item relating to section 7324 the following new
item:
‘‘7325. Medical emergency preparedness centers.’’.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL EDU-
CATION PROGRAM.
(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Subchapter II of chapter 73
of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding
after section 7325, as added by section 2(a), the following
new section:
‘‘§ 7326. Emergency health and medical education
‘‘(a) EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall
carry out a program to develop and disseminate a series
of model education and training programs on the medical
responses to the consequences of terrorist activities.
‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTING ENTITY.—The program shall be
carried out through the Under Secretary for Health, in
consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Veterans Af-
fairs with responsibility for operations, preparedness, and
security.
‘‘(c) CONTENT OF PROGRAMS.—The education and
training programs developed under the program shall be
modelled after programs established at the F. Edward
Hebe´rt School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services Uni-
versity of the Health Sciences and shall include, at a min-
imum, training for health care professionals in the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(1) Recognition of chemical, biological, and ra-
diological agents that may be used in terrorist activi-
ties.
‘‘(2) Identification of the potential symptoms of
those agents.
‘‘(3) Understanding of the potential long-term
health consequences, including psychological effects,
resulting from exposure to those agents.
‘‘(4) Emergency treatment for exposure to
those agents.
‘‘(5) An appropriate course of followup treat-
ment, supportive care, and referral.
‘‘(6) Actions that can be taken while providing
care for exposure to those agents to protect against
contamination.
‘‘(7) Information on how to seek consultative
support and to report suspected or actual use of
those agents.
‘‘(d) POTENTIAL TRAINEES.—In designing the edu-
cation and training programs under this section, the Sec-
retary shall ensure that different programs are designed
for health-care professionals at various levels. The pro-
grams shall be designed to be disseminated to health pro-
fessions students, graduate health and medical education
trainees, and health practitioners in a variety of fields.
‘‘(e) CONSULTATION.—In establishing the education
and training program under this section, the Secretary
shall consult with appropriate representatives of accred-
iting, certifying, and coordinating organizations in the
field of health professions education.’’.
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of such
chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating
to section 7325, as added by section 2(b), the following
new item:
‘‘7326. Emergency health and medical education.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Secretary of Veterans
Affairs shall implement section 7326 of title 38, United
States Code, as added by subsection (a), not later than
the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. INCREASE IN NUMBER OF ASSISTANT SECRETARIES
OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) INCREASE.—Subsection (a) of section 308 of title
38, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘six’’ in
the first sentence and inserting ‘‘seven’’.
(b) FUNCTIONS.—subsection (b) of such section is
amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph:
‘‘(11) Operations, preparedness, security, and
law enforcement functions.’’.
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 5315 of
title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘(6)’’
after ‘‘Assistant Secretaries, Department of Veterans Af-
fairs’’ and inserting ‘‘(7)’’.
Passed the House of Representatives May 20, 2002.
Attest:
Clerk.