BAI20343 S.L.C. 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. ll 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 Ms. HARRIS llllllllll introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on llllllllll 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. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Racial and 5 Ethnic Disparities Task Force Act of 2020’’. BAI20343 S.L.C. 2 1 SEC. 2. COVID–19 RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES TASK 2 3 FORCE. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 4 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec5 retary’’) shall establish an interagency task force, to be 6 known as the ‘‘COVID–19 Racial and Ethnic Disparities 7 Task Force’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘task 8 force’’), to gather data about disproportionately affected 9 communities and provide recommendations to combat the 10 racial and ethnic disparities in the COVID–19 response 11 throughout the United States and in response to future 12 public health crises. 13 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The task force shall be composed 14 of the following: 15 16 (1) The Secretary of Health and Human Services. 17 (2) The Assistant Secretary for Planning and 18 Evaluation of the Department of Health and Human 19 Services. 20 (3) The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness 21 and Response of the Department of Health and 22 Human Services. 23 24 25 26 (4) The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (5) The Director of the National Institutes of Health. BAI20343 S.L.C. 3 1 (6) The Commissioner of Food and Drugs. 2 (7) The Administrator of the Federal Emer- 3 4 5 gency Management Agency. (8) The Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. 6 (9) The Director of the Indian Health Service. 7 (10) The Administrator of the Centers for 8 9 10 Medicare & Medicaid Services. (11) The Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 11 (12) The Surgeon General. 12 (13) The Administrator of the Health Re- 13 14 15 16 17 sources and Services Administration. (14) The Director of the Office of Minority Health. (15) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 18 (16) The Secretary of Education. 19 (17) The Secretary of Labor. 20 (18) The Secretary of Defense. 21 (19) The Secretary of Transportation. 22 (20) The Secretary of the Treasury. 23 (21) The Administrator of the Small Business 24 Administration. BAI20343 S.L.C. 4 1 2 (22) The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 3 (23) Five health care professionals with exper- 4 tise in addressing racial and ethnic disparities, with 5 at least one representative from a rural area, to be 6 appointed by the Secretary. 7 (24) Five policy experts specializing in address- 8 ing racial and ethnic disparities in education or ra- 9 cial and ethnic economic inequality to be appointed 10 by the Secretary. 11 (25) Six representatives from community-based 12 organizations specializing in providing culturally 13 competent care or services and addressing racial and 14 ethnic disparities, to be appointed by the Secretary, 15 with at least one representative from an urban In- 16 dian organization and one representative from a na- 17 tional organization that represents Tribal govern- 18 ments with expertise in Tribal public health. 19 (26) Six State, local, territorial, or Tribal public 20 health officials representing departments of public 21 health, who shall represent jurisdictions from dif- 22 ferent regions of the United States with relatively 23 high concentrations of historically marginalized pop- 24 ulations, to be appointed by the Secretary, with at BAI20343 S.L.C. 5 1 least one territorial representative and one rep- 2 resentative of a Tribal public health department. 3 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.— 4 (1) APPOINTMENT OF NON-GOVERNMENT MEM- 5 BERS.—Notwithstanding 6 the Secretary shall appoint all non-government mem- 7 bers of the task force within 30 days of the date en- 8 actment of this section. any other provision of law, 9 (2) CHAIRPERSON.—The Secretary shall serve 10 as the chairperson of the task force. The Director of 11 the Office of Minority Health shall serve as the vice 12 chairperson. 13 14 (3) STAFF.—The task force shall have 10 fulltime staff members. 15 (4) MEETINGS.—Not later than 45 days after 16 the date of enactment of this section, the full task 17 force shall have its first meeting. The task force 18 shall convene at least once a month thereafter. 19 (5) SUBCOMMITTEES.—The chairperson and 20 vice chairperson of the task force are authorized to 21 establish subcommittees to consider specific issues 22 related to the broader mission of addressing racial 23 and ethnic disparities. BAI20343 S.L.C. 6 1 (d) FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 2 RESOURCE ALLOCATION REPORTING 3 4 AND RECOMMENDA- TIONS.— (1) WEEKLY REPORTS.—Not later than 7 days 5 after the task force first meets, and weekly there- 6 after, the task force shall submit to Congress and 7 the Federal Emergency Management Agency a re- 8 port that includes— 9 (A) a description of COVID–19 patient 10 outcomes, including cases, hospitalizations, pa- 11 tients 12 disaggregated by race and ethnicity (where such 13 data is missing, the task force shall utilize ap- 14 propriate authorities to improve data collec- 15 tion); on ventilation, and mortality, 16 (B) the identification of communities that 17 lack resources to combat the COVID–19 pan- 18 demic, including personal protective equipment, 19 ventilators, hospital beds, testing kits, testing 20 supplies, vaccinations (when available), re- 21 sources to conduct surveillance and contact 22 tracing, funding, staffing, and other resources 23 the task force deems essential as needs arise; 24 (C) the identification of communities where 25 racial and ethnic disparities in COVID–19 in- BAI20343 S.L.C. 7 1 fection, hospitalization, and death rates are out 2 of proportion to the community’s population by 3 a certain threshold, to be determined by the 4 task force based on available public health data; 5 (D) recommendations about how to best al- 6 locate critical COVID–19 resources to— 7 (i) communities with disproportion- 8 ately 9 pitalization, and death rates; and 10 high COVID–19 infection, hos- (ii) communities identified in subpara- 11 graph (C); 12 (E) with respect to communities that are 13 able to reduce racial and ethnic disparities ef- 14 fectively, a description of best practices in- 15 volved; and 16 (F) an update with respect to the response 17 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 18 to the task force’s previous weeks’ recommenda- 19 tions under this section. 20 (2) GENERAL CONSULTATION.—In submitting 21 weekly reports and recommendations under this sub- 22 section, the task force shall consult with and notify 23 State, local, territorial, and Tribal officials and com- 24 munity-based organizations from communities iden- 25 tified as disproportionately impacted by COVID–19. BAI20343 S.L.C. 8 1 (3) CONSULTATION WITH INDIAN TRIBES.—In 2 submitting weekly reports and recommendations 3 under this subsection, the Director of Indian Health 4 Service shall, in coordination with the task force, 5 consult with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations 6 that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 on 7 a government to government basis to identify spe- 8 cific needs and recommendations. 9 (4) DISSEMINATION.—Reports under this sub- 10 section shall be disseminated to all relevant stake- 11 holders, including State, local, territorial, and Tribal 12 officials, and public health departments. 13 (5) TRIBAL DATA.—The task force, in consulta- 14 tion with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, 15 shall ensure that an Indian Tribe consents to any 16 public reporting of health data. 17 (e) COVID–19 RELIEF OVERSIGHT 18 TATION AND IMPLEMEN- REPORTS.—Not later than 14 days after the task 19 force first meets, and not later than every 14 days there20 after, the task force shall submit to Congress and the rel21 evant Federal agencies a report that includes— 22 (1) an examination of funds distributed under 23 COVID–19-related relief and stimulus laws (enacted 24 prior to and after the date of enactment of this Act), 25 including the Coronavirus Preparedness and Re- BAI20343 S.L.C. 9 1 sponse Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2 2020 (Public Law 116-123), the Families First 3 Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116–127), 4 the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security 5 Act (Public Law 116–136), and the Paycheck Pro- 6 tection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act 7 (Public Law 116–139), and how that distribution 8 impacted racial and ethnic disparities with respect to 9 the COVID–19 pandemic; and 10 (2) recommendations to relevant Federal agen- 11 cies about how to disburse any undisbursed funding 12 from COVID–19-related relief and stimulus laws 13 (enacted prior to and after the date of enactment of 14 this Act), including those laws described in para- 15 graph (1), to address racial and ethnic disparities 16 with respect to the COVID–19 pandemic, including 17 recommendations to— 18 (A) the Department of Health and Human 19 Services about disbursement of funds under the 20 Public Health and Social Service Emergency 21 Fund; 22 (B) the Small Business Administration 23 about disbursement of funds under the Pay- 24 check Protection Program and the Economic 25 Injury Disaster Loan Program; and BAI20343 S.L.C. 10 1 (C) the Department of Education about 2 disbursement of funds under the Education 3 Stabilization Fund. 4 (f) FINAL COVID–19 REPORTS.—Not later than 90 5 days after the date on which the President declares the 6 end of the COVID–19 public health emergency first de7 clared by the Secretary on January 31, 2020, the task 8 force shall submit the to Congress a report that— 9 (1) describes inequities within the health care 10 system, implicit bias, structural racism, and social 11 determinants of health (including housing, nutrition, 12 education, economic, and environmental factors) that 13 contributed to racial and ethnic health disparities 14 with respect to the COVID–19 pandemic and how 15 these factors contributed to such disparities; 16 (2) examines the initial Federal response to the 17 COVID–19 pandemic and its impact on the racial 18 and ethnic disparities in COVID–19 infection, hos- 19 pitalization, and death rates; and 20 (3) contains recommendations to combat racial 21 and ethnic disparities in future infectious disease re- 22 sponses, including future COVID–19 outbreaks. 23 (g) SUNSET AND SUCCESSOR TASK FORCE.— 24 (1) SUNSET.—The task force shall terminate on 25 the date that is 90 days after the date on which the BAI20343 S.L.C. 11 1 President declares the end of the COVID–19 public 2 health emergency first declared by the Secretary on 3 January 31, 2020. 4 (2) SUCCESSOR.—Upon the termination of the 5 task force under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 6 establish a permanent Infectious Disease Racial and 7 Ethnic Disparities Task Force based on the mem- 8 bership, convening, and reporting requirements rec- 9 ommended by the task force in reports submitted 10 under this section. 11 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 12 authorized to be appropriated, such sums as may be nec13 essary to carry out this section.