Title: Strategic National Stockpile Enhancement and Transparency Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Strategic National Stockpile Enhancement and Transparency Act
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish, and award grants to states for the implementation of, the National Emergency Biodefense Network. HHS must coordinate with the Strategic National Stockpile and the National Biodefense Science Board in this effort. The network consists of state entities responsible for tracking and maintaining adequate supplies of drugs, medical devices, and other items necessary for the emergency health security of the United States. The network must be developed and implemented using a private blockchain (i.e., a distributed ledger technology).

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6607 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6607

 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, in 
coordination with the Director of the strategic national stockpile, the 
     National Emergency Biodefense Network, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 23, 2020

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, in 
coordination with the Director of the strategic national stockpile, the 
     National Emergency Biodefense Network, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Strategic National Stockpile 
Enhancement and Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. NATIONAL EMERGENCY BIODEFENSE NETWORK.

    (a) In General.--Part B of title III of the Public Health Service 
Act (42 U.S.C. 243 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 319F-
4 (42 U.S.C. 247d-6e) the following:

``SEC. 319F-5. NATIONAL EMERGENCY BIODEFENSE NETWORK.

    ``(a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish, in 
coordination with the strategic national stockpile under section 319F-2 
and the National Biodefense Science Board established under section 
319M, a network of State entities to be known as the `National 
Emergency Biodefense Network' (referred to in this section as the 
`Network') to, with respect to drugs, vaccines and other biological 
products, medical devices, and other supplies necessary for the 
emergency health security of the United States--
            ``(1) track the availability of such supplies in each State 
        and in the strategic national stockpile; and
            ``(2) maintain an adequate supply of such supplies in each 
        State and in the strategic national stockpile.
    ``(b) Network Requirement.--The Network shall be developed and 
implemented using a private blockchain.
    ``(c) Grants to States.--The Secretary shall award grants to States 
to enable States to establish an entity which shall--
            ``(1) serve as a statewide repository of the supplies 
        referred to in subsection (a); and
            ``(2) provide for the tracking of the inventory and 
        movement of such supplies using a private blockchain.
    ``(d) Blockchain.--In this section, the term `blockchain' means 
software that uses a distributed digital ledger of cryptographically 
signed transactions that are grouped into blocks, each of which--
            ``(1) is cryptographically linked to the previous block 
        after validation and undergoing a consensus decision; and
            ``(2) when added as a new block, makes any older blocks 
        more difficult to modify and is replicated across all copies of 
        the ledger within the relevant network, with any conflicts in 
        such blocks resolved automatically using established rules.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to 
carry out this section $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 and 
2022.''.
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