PRINTER'S NO. 1422
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.1269
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY LABS, STENDER, PICKETT, MIHALEK, RIVERA, K.HARRIS
AND WARREN, APRIL 21, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, APRIL 21, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), entitled
"An act providing for and reorganizing the conduct of the
executive and administrative work of the Commonwealth by the
Executive Department thereof and the administrative
departments, boards, commissions, and officers thereof,
including the boards of trustees of State Normal Schools, or
Teachers Colleges; abolishing, creating, reorganizing or
authorizing the reorganization of certain administrative
departments, boards, and commissions; defining the powers and
duties of the Governor and other executive and administrative
officers, and of the several administrative departments,
boards, commissions, and officers; fixing the salaries of the
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and certain other executive
and administrative officers; providing for the appointment of
certain administrative officers, and of all deputies and
other assistants and employes in certain departments, boards,
and commissions; providing for judicial administration; and
prescribing the manner in which the number and compensation
of the deputies and all other assistants and employes of
certain departments, boards and commissions shall be
determined," in administrative organization, further
providing for advisory boards and commissions; and, in powers
and duties of the Department of Health and its departmental
administrative and advisory boards, establishing the Brain
Injury Advisory Board .
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 203 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177,
No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, is amended to
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29 read:
Section 203. Advisory Boards and Commissions.--The following
advisory boards and commissions are placed in and made parts of
the respective administrative departments, as follows:
In the Department of Military Affairs,
State Military Reservation Commission,
In the Department of Environmental Protection,
Citizens Advisory Council;
In the Department of Health,
Advisory Health Board[ ;],
Brain Injury Advisory Board;
In the Department of Labor and Industry,
Advisory Council on Affairs of the Handicapped,
Advisory Board on Problems of Older Workers,
Policy, Planning and Evaluation Advisory Committee;
In the Department of Public Welfare,
State Board of Public Welfare,
Advisory Committee for the Blind,
Advisory Committee for General and Special Hospitals,
Advisory Committee for Children and Youth,
Advisory Committee for Public Assistance,
Advisory Committee for Mental Health and Mental
Retardation.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 2126.1. Brain Injury Advisory Board.--( a) The Brain
Injury Advisory Board is established within the Department of
Health.
(b) The advisory board shall consist of twenty-five voting
members appointed by the Governor. Members of the advisory board
shall consist of all of the following:
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30 (1) Family members of brain injury survivors.
(2) Individuals living with brain injury.
(3) Individuals from Statewide associations that promote the
rights of individuals with disabilities or represent
rehabilitation facilities or individuals with brain injuries.
(4) Individuals from Statewide or community-based
organizations that provide brain injury services or advocacy.
(5) Individuals from Statewide or community-based
organizations involved with injury control or injury prevention
programs.
(6) Veterans who have been diagnosed with brain injury.
(7) Individuals from public and nonprofit private health-
related organizations.
(c) The advisory board shall consist of ad hoc, nonvoting
members. One ad hoc, nonvoting member shall be appointed by each
of the following:
(1) The Secretary of Aging or the secretary's designee.
(2) The Secretary of Corrections or the secretary's
designee.
(3) The Secretary of Education or the secretary's designee.
(4) The Secretary of Health or the secretary's designee.
(5) The Secretary of Human Services or the secretary's
designee.
(6) The Secretary of Labor and Industry or the secretary's
designee.
(7) The Secretary of Military and Veterans Affairs or the
secretary's designee.
(8) The Insurance Commissioner or the commissioner's
designee.
(d) The term of office of each voting member of the advisory
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30 board under subsection (b) shall be four years from the time of
appointment or until the voting member's successor has been
appointed, but shall not extend one hundred eighty days beyond
the four-year period.
(e) A vacancy in the voting membership of the advisory board
under subsection (b) shall be filled for the balance of an
unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointment.
(f) Members of the advisory board shall serve without
compensation but shall be entitled to reimbursement for travel
and other actual expenses incurred in the performance of their
duties.
(g) The Governor shall designate different voting members of
the advisory board under subsection (b) as chair, vice chair and
secretary of the advisory board. A voting member may not serve
more than one term in the same office specified under this
subsection.
(h) The advisory board shall meet publicly at least four
times a year at a time and place determined by the advisory
board, which may include virtual meetings.
(i) The Secretary of Health shall publicize meetings of the
advisory board by transmitting a notice to the Legislative
Reference Bureau for publication in the next available issue of
the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
(j) The Department of Health shall provide staff support to
the advisory board as determined by the Secretary of Health.
(k) Notwithstanding any provision of this section, a member
who is serving on the Brain Injury Advisory Board on the
effective date of this section established in 2001 by the
Secretary of Health as required under 42 U.S.C. § 300d-52
(relating to State grants for projects regarding traumatic brain
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30 injury) may complete the member's term on the advisory board
established under subsection (a).
(l) The advisory board shall have the following duties:
(1) Advise the Governor and the departments represented on
the advisory board in the determination of service and support
needs of individuals with brain injury and the implementation of
services to those individuals and their families.
(2) Make recommendations regarding future activities to be
placed in the brain injury State Action Plan with the goal of
improving access to brain injury services in this Commonwealth
through information and education.
(3) Apply for grants made available for projects regarding
brain injury, including the Health Resources and Services
Administration Federal Traumatic Brain Injury Planning Grant
under 42 U.S.C. § 300d-52 or successor grant program. The
Department of Health shall provide the necessary resources for
applying for a grant under this paragraph, including serving as
the applicant for a grant if a State agency applicant is
required.
(4) Encourage citizen participation through the
establishment of public hearings and other types of community
outreach programs.
(5) Issue an annual report regarding all of the following:
(i) Brain injury data.
(ii) Funding from all sources received for brain injury
programs and educational materials.
(iii) Required State matching funds needed to apply for and
obtain non-State funded grants.
(iv) Other information that advances the goals of brain
injury programs and the advisory board.
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30 (m) As used in this section, the term "brain injury"
includes a traumatic brain injury or nontraumatic brain injury.
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 180 days.
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