[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 666 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 666
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for public health
research and investment into understanding and eliminating structural
racism and police violence.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 1, 2021
Ms. Pressley (for herself, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Castor of
Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Takano, Mr. Danny K.
Davis of Illinois, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Higgins of New York, Mr.
Cooper, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Sires, Mr. Vargas, Ms.
Roybal-Allard, Mr. Rush, Mr. Hastings, Ms. Norton, Ms. Williams of
Georgia, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Bush,
Ms. Meng, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr.
Espaillat, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Payne, Ms. Omar, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Matsui,
Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Carson, Ms. Clark of Massachusetts, Mr.
Cohen, Ms. Chu, and Mr. Torres of New York) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for public health
research and investment into understanding and eliminating structural
racism and police violence.
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 ``Anti-Racism in Public Health Act of
2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) For centuries, structural racism, defined by the
National Museum of African American History and Culture as an
``overarching system of racial bias across institutions and
society,'' in the United States has negatively affected
communities of color, especially Black, Latinx, Asian American,
Pacific Islander, and American Indian and Alaska Native people,
to expand and reinforce White supremacy.
(2) Structural racism determines the conditions in which
people are born, grow, work, live, and age and determine
people's access to quality housing, education, food,
transportation, and political power, and other social
determinants of health.
(3) Structural racism serves as a major barrier to
achieving health equity and eliminating racial and ethnic
inequities in health outcomes that exist at alarming rates and
are determined by a wider set of forces and systems.
(4) Due to structural racism in the United States, people
of color are more likely to suffer from chronic health
conditions (such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma, hepatitis,
and hypertension) and infectious diseases (such as HIV/AIDS,
and COVID-19) compared to their White counterparts.
(5) Due to structural racism in maternal health care in the
United States, Black and American Indian and Alaska Native
infants are more than twice as likely to die than White
infants, Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die from
pregnancy-related causes than White women, and American Indian
and Alaska Native women are 5 times more likely to die from
pregnancy-related causes than White women. This trend persists
even when adjusting for income and education.
(6) Due to structural racism in the United States, Non-
Hispanic Black women have the highest rates for 22 of 25 severe
morbidity indicators used by the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).
(7) Due to structural racism in the United States, people
of color comprise a disproportionate percentage of persons with
disabilities in the United States.
(8) Due to structural racism in the United States, Black
men are up to three and a half times as likely to be killed by
police as White men, and 1 in every 1,000 Black men will die as
a result of police violence. Policing has adverse effects on
mental health in Black communities.
(9) Due to the confluence of structural racism and factors
such as gender, class, and sexual orientation or gender
identity, commonly referred to as intersectionality, Black and
Latinx transgender women are more likely to die due to violence
and homicide than their White counterparts.
(10) Due to structural racism, inequitable access to
quality health care and longterm services and supports also
disproportionately burdens communities of color; people of
color and immigrants are less likely to be insured and are more
likely to live in medically underserved areas.
(11) Due to structural racism, older adults of color are
also more likely to be admitted to nursing homes and assisted
living facilities and to reside in those of poor quality, and
when older adults of color do receive home and community based
services, Medicaid spends less money on their services and they
are more likely to be hospitalized than older White adults.
(12) In addition, the Federal Government's failure to honor
the unique political status of American Indian and Alaska
Native people, to respect the inherent sovereignty of Tribal
Nations, and to uphold its trust and treaty obligations to
Tribal Nations and American Indian and Alaska Native people, is
an ongoing and unjust manifestation of centuries of oppression,
with the consequence of adverse health outcomes for Native
peoples.
(13) The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the devastating
impact of structural racism on the United States ability to
ensure equitable health outcomes for people of color, and made
these communities more likely to suffer from severe outcomes
due to the coronavirus infection.
(14) Racial and ethnic inequity in public health is a
result of systematic, personally mediated, and internalized
racism and racist public and private policies and practices,
and dismantling structural racism is integral to addressing
public health.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Antiracism.--The term ``antiracism'' is a collection of
antiracist policies that lead to racial equity, and are
substantiated by antiracist ideas.
(2) Antiracist.--The term ``antiracist'' is any measure
that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups.
SEC. 4. PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH AND INVESTMENT IN DISMANTLING STRUCTURAL
RACISM.
Part B of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 243
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 320B. NATIONAL CENTER ON ANTIRACISM AND HEALTH.
``(a) In General.--
``(1) National center.--There is established within the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a center to be known
as the `National Center on Antiracism and Health' (referred to
in this section as the `Center'). The Director of the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention shall appoint a director to
head the Center who has experience living in and working with
racial and ethnic minority communities. The Center shall
promote public health by--
``(A) declaring racism a public health crisis and
naming racism as an historical and present threat to
the physical and mental health and well-being of the
United States and world;
``(B) aiming to develop new knowledge in the
science and practice of antiracism, including by
identifying the mechanisms by which racism operates in
the provision of health care and in systems that impact
health and well-being;
``(C) transferring that knowledge into practice,
including by developing interventions that dismantle
the mechanisms of racism and replace such mechanisms
with equitable structures, policies, practices, norms,
and values so that a healthy society can be realized;
and
``(D) contributing to a national and global
conversation regarding the impacts of racism on the
health and well-being of the United States and world.
``(2) General duties.--The Secretary, acting through the
Center, shall undertake activities to carry out the mission of
the Center as described in paragraph (1), such as the
following:
``(A) Conduct research into, collect, analyze and
make publicly available data on, and provide leadership
and coordination for the science and practice of
antiracism, the public health impacts of structural
racism, and the effectiveness of intervention
strategies to address these impacts. Topics of research
and data collection under this subparagraph may include
identifying and understanding--
``(i) policies and practices that have a
disparate impact on the health and well-being
of communities of color;
``(ii) the public health impacts of
implicit racial bias, White supremacy,
weathering, xenophobia, discrimination, and
prejudice;
``(iii) the social determinants of health
resulting from structural racism, including
poverty, housing, employment, political
participation, and environmental factors; and
``(iv) the intersection of racism and other
systems of oppression, including as related to
age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and
disability status.
``(B) Award noncompetitive grants and cooperative
agreements to eligible public and nonprofit private
entities, including State, local, territorial, and
Tribal health agencies and organizations, for the
research and collection, analysis, and reporting of
data on the topics described in subparagraph (A).
``(C) Establish, through grants or cooperative
agreements, at least 3 regional centers of excellence,
located in racial and ethnic minority communities, in
antiracism for the purpose of developing new knowledge
in the science and practice of antiracism in health by
researching, understanding, and identifying the
mechanisms by which racism operates in the health
space, racial and ethnic inequities in health care
access and outcomes, the history of successful
antiracist movements in health, and other antiracist
public health work.
``(D) Establish a clearinghouse within the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention for the collection
and storage of data generated under the programs
implemented under this section for which there is not
an otherwise existing surveillance system at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such data
shall--
``(i) be comprehensive and disaggregated,
to the extent practicable, by including racial,
ethnic, primary language, sex, gender identity,
sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status,
and disability disparities;
``(ii) be made publicly available;
``(iii) protect the privacy of individuals
whose information is included in such data; and
``(iv) comply with privacy protections
under the regulations promulgated under section
264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996.
``(E) Provide information and education to the
public on the public health impacts of structural
racism and on antiracist public health interventions.
``(F) Consult with other Centers and National
Institutes within the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, including the Office of Minority Health and
Health Equity and the Center for State, Tribal, Local,
and Territorial Support, to ensure that scientific and
programmatic activities initiated by the agency
consider structural racism in their designs,
conceptualizations, and executions, which shall
include--
``(i) putting measures of racism in
population-based surveys;
``(ii) establishing a Federal Advisory
Committee on racism and health for the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention;
``(iii) developing training programs,
curricula, and seminars for the purposes of
training public health professionals and
researchers around issues of race, racism, and
antiracism;
``(iv) providing standards and best
practices for programming and grant recipient
compliance with Federal data collection
standards, including section 4302 of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and
``(v) establishing leadership and
stakeholder councils with experts and leaders
in racism and public health disparities.
``(G) Coordinate with the Indian Health Service and
with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
Tribal Advisory Committee to ensure meaningful Tribal
consultation, the gathering of information from Tribal
authorities, and respect for Tribal data sovereignty.
``(H) Engage in government to government
consultation with Indian Tribes and Tribal
organizations.
``(I) At least every 2 years, produce and publicly
post on the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's website a report on antiracist activities
completed by the Center, which may include newly
identified antiracist public health practices.
``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this
section.''.
SEC. 5. PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH AND INVESTMENT IN POLICE VIOLENCE.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
establish within the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (referred to in this
section as the ``Center'') a law enforcement violence prevention
program.
(b) General Duties.--In implementing the program under subsection
(a), the Center shall conduct research into, and provide leadership and
coordination for--
(1) the understanding and promotion of knowledge about the
public health impacts of uses of force by law enforcement,
including police brutality and violence;
(2) developing public health interventions and perspectives
for eliminating deaths, injury, trauma, and negative mental
health effects from police presence and interactions, including
police brutality and violence; and
(3) ensuring comprehensive data collection, analysis, and
reporting regarding police violence and misconduct in
consultation with the Department of Justice and independent
researchers.
(c) Functions.--Under the program under subsection (a), the Center
shall--
(1) summarize and enhance the knowledge of the
distribution, status, and characteristics of law enforcement-
related death, trauma, and injury;
(2) conduct research and prepare, with the assistance of
State public health departments--
(A) statistics on law enforcement-related death,
injury, and brutality;
(B) studies of the factors, including legal,
socioeconomic, discrimination, and other factors that
correlate with or influence police brutality;
(C) public information about uses of force by law
enforcement, including police brutality and violence,
for the practical use of the public health community,
including publications that synthesize information
relevant to the national goal of understanding police
violence and methods for its control;
(D) information to identify socioeconomic groups,
communities, and geographic areas in need of study, and
a strategic plan for research necessary to comprehend
the extent and nature of police uses of force by law
enforcement, including police brutality and violence,
and determine what options exist to reduce or eradicate
death and injury that result; and
(E) best practices in police violence prevention in
other countries;
(3) award grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to
provide for the conduct of epidemiologic research on uses of
force by law enforcement, including police brutality and
violence, by Federal, State, local, and private agencies,
institutions, organizations, and individuals;
(4) award grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to
community groups, independent research organizations, academic
institutions, and other entities to support, execute, or
conduct research on interventions to reduce or eliminate uses
of force by law enforcement, including police brutality and
violence;
(5) coordinate with the Department of Justice, and other
Federal, State, and local agencies on the standardization of
data collection, storage, and retrieval necessary to collect,
evaluate, analyze, and disseminate information about the extent
and nature of uses of force by law enforcement, including
police brutality and violence, as well as options for the
eradication of such practices;
(6) submit an annual report to Congress on research
findings with recommendations to improve data collection and
standardization and to disrupt processes in policing that
preserve and reinforce racism and racial disparities in public
health;
(7) conduct primary research and explore uses of force by
law enforcement, including police brutality and violence, and
options for its control; and
(8) study alternatives to law enforcement response as a
method of reducing police violence.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
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