Title: United States Public Health Service Modernization Act of 2019
Policy area: Health

Summary:
United States Public Health Service Modernization Act of 2019
This bill allows for the deployment of the Ready Reserve Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (Commissioned Corps) to serve in public health emergencies. Certain provisions related to compensation and leave without authority that apply to the Armed Forces shall also apply to officers of the Commissioned Corps or their beneficiaries.



[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4870 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4870

   To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the Public 
                         Health Service Corps.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 28, 2019

Mr. Burgess (for himself and Ms. Eshoo) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the Public 
                         Health Service Corps.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States Public Health Service 
Modernization Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Commissioned Corps and Ready Reserve Corps.--Section 203 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 204) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1), by striking `` a Ready Reserve 
        Corps for service in time of national emergency'' and inserting 
        ``, for service in time of a public health or national 
        emergency, a Ready Reserve Corps''; and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``Research'' and 
                inserting ``Reserve Corps'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``during public 
                health or national emergencies'' before the period;
                    (C) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
                        (A), by inserting ``, consistent with paragraph 
                        (1)'' after ``shall'';
                            (ii) in subparagraph (C), by inserting 
                        ``during such emergencies'' after ``members''; 
                        and
                            (iii) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ``, 
                        consistent with subparagraph (C)'' before the 
                        period; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Statutory references to reserve.--A reference in any 
        Federal statute, except in the case of subsection (b), to the 
        `Reserve Corps' of the Public Health Service or to the 
        `reserve' of the Public Health Service shall be deemed to be a 
        reference to the Ready Reserve Corps.''.
    (b) Deployment Readiness.--Section 203A(a)(1)(B) of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 204a(a)(1)(B)) is amended by striking 
``Active Reserves'' and inserting ``Ready Reserve Corps''.
    (c) Retirement of Commissioned Officers.--Section 211 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 212) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``(in the case of an officer in the Reserve 
        Corps)'' each place it appears;
            (2) by striking ``the Service'' each place it appears and 
        inserting ``the Regular Corps'';
            (3) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``or an officer of the 
                        Reserve Corps''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``or under section 
                        221(a)(19)'' after ``subsection (a)''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``Regular or 
                Reserve Corps'' and inserting ``Regular Corps or Ready 
                Reserve Corps''; and
            (4) in subsection (f), by striking ``the Regular or Reserve 
        Corps of''.
    (d) Rights, Privileges, etc. of Officers and Surviving 
Beneficiaries.--Section 221 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
213a) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
            ``(19) Chapter 1223, Retired Pay for Non-Regular Service.
            ``(20) Section 12601, Compensation: Reserve on active duty 
        accepting from any person.
            ``(21) Section 12684, Reserves: separation for absence 
        without authority or sentence to imprisonment.''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``Secretary of Health, Education, 
                and Welfare or his designee'' and inserting ``Secretary 
                of Health and Human Services or the designee of such 
                secretary'';
                    (B) by striking ``(b) The authority vested'' and 
                inserting the following:
    ``(b)(1) The authority vested'';
                    (C) by striking ``For purposes of'' and inserting 
                the following:
    ``(2) For purposes of''; and
                    (D) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) For purposes of paragraph (19) of subsection (a), the terms 
`Military department', `Secretary concerned', and `Armed forces' in 
such title 10 shall be deemed to include, respectively, the Department 
of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, and the Commissioned Corps.''.
    (e) Technical Amendments.--Title II of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 202 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in sections 204, 207(c), and 208(a), by striking 
        ``Regular or Reserve Corps'' and inserting ``Regular Corps or 
        Ready Reserve Corps''; and
            (2) in sections 205(c), 206(c), 210, and 219, and in 
        subsections (a), (b), and (d) of section 207, by striking 
        ``Reserve Corps'' each place it appears and inserting ``Ready 
        Reserve Corps''.
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