Safely Back to School and Back to Work Act
Sec. 1. Short Title
 Establishes “Safely Back to School and Back to Work Act” as the short title.
Title I – Health Provisions
Sec. 101. Improving Earlier Access to Diagnostic Tests
 Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in coordination with the
Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), to establish and publish policies and procedures for public and
private entities to access samples of specimens containing infectious disease agents, or
suitable surrogates or alternatives to support the development of products, including
the development of diagnostic tests, treatments, or vaccines, to address emerging
infectious diseases for biomedical research.
 Requires the Secretary to issue guidance regarding the procedures for accessing such
samples.
 Clarifies that CDC can to enter into agreements with public and private entities to assist
in the immediate and rapid development, validation, and dissemination of diagnostic
tests for purposes of biosurveillance or other immediate public health response
activities to address an emerging infectious disease.
 Requires the Secretary, in coordination with the FDA and CDC, to consult with medical
product manufacturers, suppliers, and other relevant stakeholders to identify specific
supply needs, including specimen collection and transport materials, reagents, or other
supplies; identify projected demand and availability of such supplies; and support
activities to increase the availability of such supplies or appropriate alternatives.
Sec. 102. Sustained On-Shore Manufacturing Capacity for Public Health Emergencies
 Improves and supports sustained manufacturing surge capacity and capabilities to
produce needed medical countermeasures, such as vaccines and therapeutics, to
respond to public health threats like COVID-19.
 Ensures that the Medical Countermeasure Innovation Partner can be fully implemented
to improve the advanced research and development of medical countermeasures
against public health threats.
Sec. 103. Improving and Sustaining State Stockpiles
 Establishes state stockpiles of medical products and supplies needed during a public
health emergency, such as personal protective equipment, ventilators, and other
medical products.
 Requires states to submit a stockpiling plan to the Secretary of Health and Human
Services for maintaining the state stockpile, and coordinate with the state and relevant
state preparedness plans.
 Requires HHS to provide guidance and technical assistance to states on maintaining
their stockpiles.
 Ensures that state stockpiles will be appropriately administered and maintained by
directing the Secretary to establish an auditing process and withholding funds if a state
fails to submit a state stockpiling plan or meet certain benchmarks and other metrics.
 Authorizes funding to sustain state medical stockpiles.

 Sec. 104. Strengthening the Strategic National Stockpile
 Improves the Strategic National Stockpile by partnering with medical product
manufacturers, distributors, or other entities to increase the stockpiling and
manufacturing capacity of reserve amounts of medical products to be provided during
or in advance of a public health emergency.
Sec. 105. Guidance for States and Indian Tribes on Accessing the Strategic National
Stockpile
 Requires HHS to publish guidance on how states and tribes can request and access
resources from the Strategic National Stockpile.
Sec. 106. Modernizing Infectious Disease Data Collection
 Strengthens public health preparedness and situational awareness by integrating
laboratory testing and epidemiology systems into existing surveillance programs,
improving the exchange of electronic health information between health care providers,
public health departments, and federal agencies to better provide detection of
infectious diseases and inform public health preparedness and response.
Sec. 107. Centers for Public Health Preparedness
 Authorizes a network of ten regional Centers for Public Health Preparedness, which will
support state and local health departments, health care coalitions, and the public by:
o disseminating research related to public health preparedness and response;
o identifying and developing relevant evidence-based practices;
o helping to prepare through drills, exercises, and trainings; and
o providing technical assistance and expertise during public health emergencies.
Sec. 108. Telehealth Plans
 Allows employers to offer telehealth as an excepted benefit to employees who are not
full-time or do not qualify for their employer’s coverage.
Sec. 109. Protection of Human Genetic Information
 Prohibits the use of human genetic information collected incidental to diagnostic and
serologic testing for purposes other than the primary diagnostic or serologic test,
unless permitted with explicit patient consent.
Sec. 110. Reagan-Udall Foundation and Foundation for the National Institutes of
Health
 Updates the amount of funding required to be transferred to public-private
partnerships by FDA and NIH. Reagan-Udall Foundation and FNIH are supporting many
activities to research and develop tests, treatments, and vaccines for COVID-19.
Title II – Education Provisions
Sec. 201. Simplifying Student Loan Repayment
 Reduces 9 current repayment options to two:
o a standard ten year mortgage-style payment plan; and
o an income-based payment plan that limits payments to 10% of discretionary
income (the income amount above 150% of the federal poverty line).

 Sec. 202. Emergency Education Freedom Grants
 Authorizes one-time, emergency appropriations funding for scholarship-granting
organizations (SGOs) in each state.
o States subgrant funds to SGOs that administer scholarships for students to use
towards qualified educational expenses (as determined by the state), such as
private school tuition and home schooling expenses.
o If States choose not to subgrant funds to SGOs, funds get returned to the
Secretary to be re-distributed among participating States.
Sec. 203. Back to Work Child Care Grants
 Authorizes short-term assistance to help child care providers reopen and stay open so
that parents have a safe place to send their children when they return to work.
 Allows states to build out programs to help child care providers reopen and maintain
operations for 9 months.
Sec. 204. National Emergency Educational Waivers
 Provides the Secretary with the authority to provide waivers from the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act, except civil rights laws, that are
necessary and appropriate due to the COVID-19 declaration of disaster.
 Provides modest flexibilities within the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to
allow for children to receive services as they transition from Part C to Part B and also to
provide a deferral of the work or repayment requirements to personnel development
scholarship recipients if employment was interrupted due to the COVID-19 declaration
of disaster.
Sec. 205. Waivers for Career, Technical and Adult Education
 Provides the Secretary with the authority to provide waivers from the Carl D. Perkins
Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, the Adult Education and Family Literacy
Act, and the General Education Provisions Act that are necessary and appropriate due
to the COVID-19 declaration of disaster.
Sec. 206. Additional Workforce Activities
 Allows local boards to use more of their existing funds on incumbent worker training or
transitional jobs by authorizing 40 percent of funds provided under the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act to be used for either activity.
 Provides the Secretary of Labor with the authority to waive requirements for Job Corps
and YouthBuild related to age at enrollment and program length.
 Authorizes additional funding to support youth activities under the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act.
 Authorizes additional funding for the Reentry Employment Opportunities program at
the Department of Labor.
 Authorizes additional funding for National Dislocated Worker grants.
 Authorizes additional funding to support apprenticeship.

 Sec. 207. Workforce Recovery and Training Services
 Authorizes funding for a formula grant to States to support job training, including
through activities authorized under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
such as customized training, on-the-job training, Individual Training Accounts, or
transitional jobs.
Sec. 208. Impact Aid Provisions
 Allows school districts to use their FY21 student counts for the purposes of Impact Aid
applications in the coming year to mitigate inaccuracies in student counts due to school
closures and distance learning.
Sec. 209. Amendments to Education Provisions of CARES
 Campus-based aid –
o Clarifies that the CARES Act waiver for matching funds in Federal Work Study
extends to participating non-profit organizations that provide opportunities for
students to work in community service positions.
o Extends existing CARES authority to reallocate Supplemental Education
Opportunity Grant or Federal Work Study funds through the end of the 20202021 award year or the end of the qualifying emergency, whichever is later.
o Extends existing CARES waivers for Federal Work Study into 2020-2021 award
year.
 Foreign institutions – Extends existing CARES waivers for foreign institutions through
the end of the 2020-2021 award year or the end of the qualifying emergency, whichever
is later.
 Clarifies that the CARES Act relief for Federal student loan borrowers, which provides
0% interest accrual until September 30, 2020, also applies to students in in-school
deferment.
 Perkins loans – Creates parity with TEACH and Stafford loan teacher forgiveness for
Perkins Loans cancellation.
 Clarifies that any funds received by a student or family during the national emergency
under the CARES Act should not be counted toward taxed or untaxed income in the
Needs Analysis formula for the Expected Family Contribution for the current or any
upcoming award years.
 Allows financial aid administrators to determine that a single unemployed person has
zero income earned from work within Needs Analysis during the so-called “Professional
Judgement” analysis instead of looking at previous year tax data to help those recently
unemployed due to the coronavirus.
 Allows financial aid administrators to also make appropriate adjustments for other
family members if the student is married or a dependent student, including considering
an unemployed family member’s income earned from work as zero.
 Requires that the Secretary adjusts program review criteria for institutions of higher
education during this time to account for an unusually high number of professional
judgements.
 Adds notice on FAFSA applications for 2020-2021 award year (current application) and
2021-2022 award year (application available in October) for professional judgment and
dislocated worker.
 Adds a temporary check box on the FAFSA for applicants to report incidences of recent
income loss to financial aid administrators to help those recently unemployed due to
the coronavirus.