I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 245
To establish a grant program for nebulizers in elementary and secondary
schools.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY10, 2023
Ms. J
ACKSONLEEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish a grant program for nebulizers in elementary
and secondary schools.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Breath of Fresh Air 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
The Congress finds as follows: 7
(1) 25,000,000 people, including 7,000,000 8
children, have asthma. 9
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(2) Almost 13,000,000 people report having an 1
asthma attack in the past year and asthma accounts 2
for nearly 2,000,000 emergency department visits 3
each year. 4
(3) Every day in the United States— 5
(A) 30,000 people have an asthma attack; 6
and 7
(B) 11 people die from asthma. 8
(4) Nearly 5,000,000 asthma sufferers are 9
under 18 years of age, and 1 out of every 10 school- 10
aged children has asthma. 11
(5) Minorities are adversely affected by asthma, 12
as— 13
(A) African Americans are 3 times more 14
likely to die from asthma; and 15
(B) Hispanics may have an elevated risk 16
for exposure to air pollution since a dispropor-17
tionate number live in areas failing to meet one 18
or more national standards for air pollutants. 19
(It is estimated that 80 percent of Hispanics 20
live in areas that failed to meet one United 21
States Environmental Protection Agency air 22
quality standard, compared to 65 percent of Af-23
rican Americans and 57 percent of Whites.) 24
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SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM FOR NEBULIZERS. 1
(a) P
ROGRAMREQUIRED.—The Secretary of Edu-2
cation shall carry out a program under which the Sec-3
retary makes grants to local educational agencies, to be 4
used by the local educational agencies for one or both of 5
the following: 6
(1) To purchase nebulizers for use in elemen-7
tary and secondary schools served by the local edu-8
cational agency. 9
(2) To provide training to enable elementary 10
and secondary schools served by the local edu-11
cational agency to meet the requirements of sub-12
section (d)(1), but only if nebulizers are already in 13
use at such schools or are acquired through this pro-14
gram. 15
(b) E
LIGIBILITY.— 16
(1) L
OCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES .—To be el-17
igible to receive a grant under this section, a local 18
educational agency shall submit an application to 19
the Secretary at such time, in such form, and con-20
taining such information as the Secretary may re-21
quire. 22
(2) E
LEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS .— 23
To be eligible to receive a nebulizer through a grant 24
under this section, a school may be any public or 25
private school served by the local educational agency, 26
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except that an internet- or computer-based commu-1
nity school is not eligible. 2
(c) M
ATCHINGFUNDSREQUIRED.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 4
grant under this section, the local educational agen-5
cy must provide matching funds from non-Federal 6
sources equal to not less than 25 percent of the 7
amount of the grant. 8
(2) W
AIVER.—The Secretary shall waive the re-9
quirement of paragraph (1) for a local educational 10
agency if the number of children counted under sec-11
tion 1124(c)(1)(A) of the Elementary and Secondary 12
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6333(c)(1)(A)) is 13
20 percent or more of the total number of children 14
aged 5 to 17, inclusive, served by the local edu-15
cational agency. 16
(d) T
RAINING ANDCOORDINATIONREQUIRED.—A 17
local educational agency that receives a grant under this 18
section shall demonstrate that, for each elementary and 19
secondary school at which the nebulizers are to be used— 20
(1) there is a full-time certified school nurse on 21
staff; 22
(2) the school has the trained personnel and 23
other resources necessary to use the nebulizers; 24
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(3) local paramedics and other emergency serv-1
ices personnel are notified where on school grounds 2
the nebulizers are to be located; 3
(4) the nebulizer will be integrated into the 4
school’s emergency response plan or procedures; and 5
(5) the school has procedures in place to ensure 6
that parents are notified of the availability of the 7
nebulizers, how to provide their child’s prescription 8
asthma medication to the school, and how to author-9
ize use of a nebulizer to assist their child when 10
medically appropriate. 11
(e) P
RIORITY.—In making grants under this section, 12
the Secretary shall give priority to local educational agen-13
cies— 14
(1) having jurisdiction over a geographic area 15
with respect to which the Director of the Centers for 16
Disease Control and Prevention has determined that 17
the prevalence of asthma is at least 10 percent high-18
er than the national average; 19
(2) that do not already have at least one 20
nebulizer in each school served by the local edu-21
cational agency; 22
(3) that serve schools at which a significant 23
number of students, staff, and visitors are present 24
on school grounds during a typical day; and 25
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(4) that have not received funds under the 1
Rural Access to Emergency Devices Act (42 U.S.C. 2
254c note). 3
(f) ESEA D
EFINITIONS.—The terms used in this sec-4
tion shall have the meanings given to such terms in section 5
8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 6
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 7
(g) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 8
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 9
such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 10
2023 through 2028. 11
SEC. 4. CONSTRUCTION. 12
Nothing in this Act shall be construed— 13
(1) to create liability for use of a nebulizer or 14
affect liability for such use that exists under other 15
law; or 16
(2) to supersede a State law regulating nursing. 17
Æ
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