| 1 | 1 | | I |
|---|
| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
|---|
| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
|---|
| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 766 |
|---|
| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary to award |
|---|
| 6 | 6 | | grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to eligible entities to estab- |
|---|
| 7 | 7 | | lish, maintain, or improve activities related to the detection and moni- |
|---|
| 8 | 8 | | toring of infectious diseases through wastewater for public health emer- |
|---|
| 9 | 9 | | gency preparedness and response purposes, and for other purposes. |
|---|
| 10 | 10 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
|---|
| 11 | 11 | | JANUARY28, 2025 |
|---|
| 12 | 12 | | Mr. G |
|---|
| 13 | 13 | | ARCIAof California (for himself and Mr. BACON) introduced the |
|---|
| 14 | 14 | | following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce |
|---|
| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
|---|
| 16 | 16 | | To amend the Public Health Service Act to require the |
|---|
| 17 | 17 | | Secretary to award grants, contracts, or cooperative |
|---|
| 18 | 18 | | agreements to eligible entities to establish, maintain, or |
|---|
| 19 | 19 | | improve activities related to the detection and monitoring |
|---|
| 20 | 20 | | of infectious diseases through wastewater for public |
|---|
| 21 | 21 | | health emergency preparedness and response purposes, |
|---|
| 22 | 22 | | and for other purposes. |
|---|
| 23 | 23 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
|---|
| 24 | 24 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
|---|
| 25 | 25 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
|---|
| 26 | 26 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Surveilling Effluent 4 |
|---|
| 27 | 27 | | Water for Epidemic Response Act’’ or the ‘‘SEWER Act’’. 5 |
|---|
| 28 | 28 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:38 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H766.IH H766 |
|---|
| 29 | 29 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
|---|
| 30 | 30 | | •HR 766 IH |
|---|
| 31 | 31 | | SEC. 2. NATIONAL WASTEWATER SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM. 1 |
|---|
| 32 | 32 | | (a) I |
|---|
| 33 | 33 | | NGENERAL.—Subtitle C of title XXVIII of the 2 |
|---|
| 34 | 34 | | Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300hh–31 et seq.) 3 |
|---|
| 35 | 35 | | is amended by adding at the end the following: 4 |
|---|
| 36 | 36 | | ‘‘SEC. 2827. NATIONAL WASTEWATER SURVEILLANCE SYS-5 |
|---|
| 37 | 37 | | TEM. 6 |
|---|
| 38 | 38 | | ‘‘(a) N |
|---|
| 39 | 39 | | ATIONALWASTEWATERSURVEILLANCESYS-7 |
|---|
| 40 | 40 | | TEM.—The Secretary, acting through the Director of the 8 |
|---|
| 41 | 41 | | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in coordi-9 |
|---|
| 42 | 42 | | nation with Federal departments and agencies and rel-10 |
|---|
| 43 | 43 | | evant State and local departments and agencies, shall ex-11 |
|---|
| 44 | 44 | | pand, intensify, and coordinate the activities of the Na-12 |
|---|
| 45 | 45 | | tional Wastewater Surveillance System to detect and mon-13 |
|---|
| 46 | 46 | | itor pathogens in wastewater, such as SARS–CoV–2, in-14 |
|---|
| 47 | 47 | | fluenza, mpox, dengue, West Nile virus, and respiratory 15 |
|---|
| 48 | 48 | | syncytial virus. 16 |
|---|
| 49 | 49 | | ‘‘(b) A |
|---|
| 50 | 50 | | UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 17 |
|---|
| 51 | 51 | | carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro-18 |
|---|
| 52 | 52 | | priated $150,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 19 |
|---|
| 53 | 53 | | through 2030, to remain available until expended.’’. 20 |
|---|
| 54 | 54 | | (b) R |
|---|
| 55 | 55 | | ULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the 21 |
|---|
| 56 | 56 | | amendment made by subsection (a) shall be construed as 22 |
|---|
| 57 | 57 | | requiring a wastewater utility or service provider to com-23 |
|---|
| 58 | 58 | | ply with a request for wastewater surveillance. 24 |
|---|
| 59 | 59 | | Æ |
|---|
| 60 | 60 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:38 Feb 24, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H766.IH H766 |
|---|
| 61 | 61 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS |
|---|