Title: COVID–19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force Act of 2020
Policy area: Health

Summary:
COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force Act of 2020
This bill establishes the COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force within the Department of Health and Human Services and sets forth its duties and membership. The task force must provide reports and recommendations related to racial and ethnic disparities in the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) response to Congress and relevant federal agencies.
First, the task force must report weekly on COVID-19 infections and patient outcomes with data disaggregated by race and ethnicity. The reports must also identify communities with high levels of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 measures and recommend how to allocate health care and other resources to address these disparities. Second, the task force must report biweekly on the disbursement of federal COVID-19 relief funds and how to use any undisbursed funds to address racial and ethnic disparities. Lastly, the task force must submit a final report that describes factors that contributed to racial and ethnic disparities with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, with recommendations to address them in responses to future infectious disease outbreaks.
The task force terminates 90 days after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency . However, the bill permanently establishes a successor task force to address racial and ethnic disparities during future public health emergencies.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3721 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3721

   To provide for the establishment of a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic 
Disparities Task Force to gather data about disproportionately affected 
communities and provide recommendations to combat the racial and ethnic 
                 disparities in the COVID-19 response.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 13, 2020

   Ms. Harris (for herself, Mr. Booker, Ms. Warren, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
   Sanders, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Brown, Ms. Smith, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
   Durbin, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Peters, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Markey, Mr. Van 
   Hollen, Mr. Jones, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Carper) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for the establishment of a COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic 
Disparities Task Force to gather data about disproportionately affected 
communities and provide recommendations to combat the racial and ethnic 
                 disparities in the COVID-19 response.

    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 ``COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic 
Disparities Task Force Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. COVID-19 RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES TASK FORCE.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
(referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall establish an 
interagency task force, to be known as the ``COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic 
Disparities Task Force'' (referred to in this section as the ``task 
force''), to gather data about disproportionately affected communities 
and provide recommendations to combat the racial and ethnic disparities 
in the COVID-19 response throughout the United States and in response 
to future public health crises.
    (b) Membership.--The task force shall be composed of the following:
            (1) The Secretary of Health and Human Services.
            (2) The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of 
        the Department of Health and Human Services.
            (3) The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response 
        of the Department of Health and Human Services.
            (4) The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention.
            (5) The Director of the National Institutes of Health.
            (6) The Commissioner of Food and Drugs.
            (7) The Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
        Agency.
            (8) The Director of the National Institute on Minority 
        Health and Health Disparities.
            (9) The Director of the Indian Health Service.
            (10) The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & 
        Medicaid Services.
            (11) The Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and 
        Quality.
            (12) The Surgeon General.
            (13) The Administrator of the Health Resources and Services 
        Administration.
            (14) The Director of the Office of Minority Health.
            (15) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
            (16) The Secretary of Education.
            (17) The Secretary of Labor.
            (18) The Secretary of Defense.
            (19) The Secretary of Transportation.
            (20) The Secretary of the Treasury.
            (21) The Administrator of the Small Business 
        Administration.
            (22) The Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
        Agency.
            (23) Five health professionals with expertise in addressing 
        racial and ethnic disparities, with at least one representative 
        from a rural area, to be appointed by the Secretary.
            (24) Five policy experts specializing in addressing racial 
        and ethnic disparities in education or racial and ethnic 
        economic inequality to be appointed by the Secretary.
            (25) Six representatives from community-based organizations 
        specializing in providing culturally competent care or services 
        and addressing racial and ethnic disparities, to be appointed 
        by the Secretary, with at least one representative from an 
        urban Indian organization and one representative from a 
        national organization that represents Tribal governments with 
        expertise in Tribal public health. The Secretary shall take 
        into account regional distribution when appointing such 
        representatives.
            (26) Six State, local, territorial, or Tribal public health 
        officials representing departments of public health, who shall 
        represent jurisdictions from different regions of the United 
        States with relatively high concentrations of historically 
        marginalized populations, to be appointed by the Secretary, 
        with at least one territorial representative and one 
        representative of a Tribal public health department.
    (c) Administrative Provisions.--
            (1) Appointment of non-government members.--Notwithstanding 
        any other provision of law, the Secretary shall appoint all 
        non-government members of the task force within 30 days of the 
        date enactment of this section.
            (2) Chairperson.--The Secretary shall serve as the 
        chairperson of the task force. The Director of the Office of 
        Minority Health shall serve as the vice chairperson.
            (3) Staff.--The task force shall have 10 full-time staff 
        members.
            (4) Meetings.--Not later than 45 days after the date of 
        enactment of this section, the full task force shall have its 
        first meeting. The task force shall convene at least once a 
        month thereafter.
            (5) Subcommittees.--The chairperson and vice chairperson of 
        the task force are authorized to establish subcommittees to 
        consider specific issues related to the broader mission of 
        addressing racial and ethnic disparities.
    (d) Federal Emergency Management Agency Resource Allocation 
Reporting and Recommendations.--
            (1) Weekly reports.--Not later than 7 days after the task 
        force first meets, and weekly thereafter, the task force shall 
        submit to Congress and the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
        a report that includes--
                    (A) a description of COVID-19 patient outcomes, 
                including cases, hospitalizations, patients on 
                ventilation, mortality, and vaccination rates (when 
                available), disaggregated by race and ethnicity (where 
                such data is missing, the task force shall utilize 
                appropriate authorities to improve data collection and 
                use appropriate, science-based methods for estimating 
                COVID-19 patient outcomes);
                    (B) the identification of communities that lack 
                resources to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including 
                personal protective equipment, ventilators, hospital 
                beds, testing kits, testing supplies, vaccinations 
                (when available), resources to conduct surveillance and 
                contact tracing, funding, staffing, and other resources 
                the task force deems essential as needs arise;
                    (C) the identification of communities where racial 
                and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection, 
                hospitalization, and death rates are out of proportion 
                to the community's population by a certain threshold, 
                to be determined by the task force based on available 
                public health data;
                    (D) recommendations about how to best allocate 
                critical COVID-19 resources to--
                            (i) communities with disproportionately 
                        high COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and 
                        death rates;
                            (ii) communities with high social 
                        vulnerabilities to COVID-19 infection; and
                            (iii) communities identified in 
                        subparagraph (C);
                    (E) with respect to communities that are able to 
                reduce racial and ethnic disparities effectively, a 
                description of best practices involved; and
                    (F) an update with respect to the response of the 
                Federal Emergency Management Agency to the task force's 
                previous weeks' recommendations under this section.
            (2) General consultation.--In submitting weekly reports and 
        recommendations under this subsection, the task force shall 
        consult with and notify State, local, territorial, and Tribal 
        officials and community-based organizations from communities 
        identified as disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
            (3) Consultation with indian tribes.--In submitting weekly 
        reports and recommendations under this subsection, the Director 
        of Indian Health Service shall, in coordination with the task 
        force, consult with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations that 
        are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 on a government to 
        government basis to identify specific needs and 
        recommendations.
            (4) Dissemination.--Reports under this subsection shall be 
        disseminated to all relevant stakeholders, including State, 
        local, territorial, and Tribal officials, and public health 
        departments.
            (5) Tribal data.--The task force, in consultation with 
        Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, shall ensure that an 
        Indian Tribe consents to any public reporting of health data.
    (e) COVID-19 Relief Oversight and Implementation Reports.--Not 
later than 14 days after the task force first meets, and not later than 
every 14 days thereafter, the task force shall submit to Congress and 
the relevant Federal agencies a report that includes--
            (1) an examination of funds distributed under COVID-19-
        related relief and stimulus laws (enacted prior to and after 
        the date of enactment of this Act), including the Coronavirus 
        Preparedness and Response Emergency Supplemental Appropriations 
        Act, 2020 (Public Law 116-123), the Families First Coronavirus 
        Response Act (Public Law 116-127), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, 
        and Economic Security Act (Public Law 116-136), and the 
        Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act 
        (Public Law 116-139), and how that distribution impacted racial 
        and ethnic disparities with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic; 
        and
            (2) recommendations to relevant Federal agencies about how 
        to disburse any undisbursed funding from COVID-19-related 
        relief and stimulus laws (enacted prior to and after the date 
        of enactment of this Act), including those laws described in 
        paragraph (1), to address racial and ethnic disparities with 
        respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, including recommendations 
        to--
                    (A) the Department of Health and Human Services 
                about disbursement of funds under the Public Health and 
                Social Service Emergency Fund;
                    (B) the Small Business Administration about 
                disbursement of funds under the Paycheck Protection 
                Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program; 
                and
                    (C) the Department of Education about disbursement 
                of funds under the Education Stabilization Fund.
    (f) Final COVID-19 Reports.--Not later than 90 days after the date 
on which the President declares the end of the COVID-19 public health 
emergency first declared by the Secretary on January 31, 2020, the task 
force shall submit the to Congress a report that--
            (1) describes inequities within the health care system, 
        implicit bias, structural racism, and social determinants of 
        health (including housing, nutrition, education, economic, and 
        environmental factors) that contributed to racial and ethnic 
        health disparities with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and 
        how these factors contributed to such disparities;
            (2) examines the initial Federal response to the COVID-19 
        pandemic and its impact on the racial and ethnic disparities in 
        COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death rates; and
            (3) contains recommendations to combat racial and ethnic 
        disparities in future infectious disease responses, including 
        future COVID-19 outbreaks.
    (g) Sunset and Successor Task Force.--
            (1) Sunset.--The task force shall terminate on the date 
        that is 90 days after the date on which the President declares 
        the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency first declared 
        by the Secretary on January 31, 2020.
            (2) Successor.--Upon the termination of the task force 
        under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall establish a permanent 
        Infectious Disease Racial and Ethnic Disparities Task Force 
        based on the membership, convening, and reporting requirements 
        recommended by the task force in reports submitted under this 
        section.
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
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