[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1317 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1317
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 26, 2023
Ms. Warren (for herself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Markey, Ms. Smith, Ms.
Hirono, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
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
2023''.
SEC. 2. 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. 3. 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. 320C. 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. 4. 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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