110th Congress

Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Act of 2008

P.L. 110-392 (H.R. 1532/S. 1551)

Impact of Public Law

P.L. 110-392 amends section 317E of the Public Health Service Act to expand and intensify public health efforts to prevent, control, and eliminate tuberculosis (TB). Provisions authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, as part of a national strategy for combating and eliminating TB, to carry out 1) priority research on latent TB infection, strains resistant to drugs, and certain at-risk populations and research and development (R&D) to develop new tools for its elimination, along with public health interventions and methods to enhance detection and response to TB outbreaks; 2) demonstration projects for the development of regional capabilities to prevent, control, and eliminate TB and prevent multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB, including intensifying efforts to reduce health disparities in the incidence of TB; 3) public information and education activities; 4) education, training, clinical skills improvement activities, and workplace exposure prevention for health professionals; and 5) development, enhancement, and expansion of information technologies that support TB control.

Provisions specific to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) authorize the Director of NIH to expand, intensify, and coordinate TB R&D and related activities of the national research institutes with the goal of eliminating the disease. These activities may include enhancing basic and clinical research on TB, including drug-resistant TB; expanding research on the relationship between TB and HIV; and developing new tools for the elimination of TB, including public health interventions and methods to enhance the detection of and responses to outbreaks of TB and its drug-resistant forms.

Legislative History

H.R. 1532 was introduced by Representative Gene Green (D-TX) on March 15, 2007, and was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. On September 23, 2008, the Committee marked up and adopted H.R. 1532 with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and ordered the measure to be reported out. The substitute amendment eliminated provisions that would have 1) required the Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to expand, intensify, and coordinate Institute activities with respect to TB and authorize TB academic awards and TB/pulmonary infection awards; 2) required the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to carry out research to develop a TB vaccine in accordance with the blueprint for TB vaccine development as contained in a March 1998 report; and 3) required the Fogarty International Center to expand, intensify, and coordinate the Center’s relevant international research and training activities and carry out an international TB training program. H.R. 1532 was passed by the House by a voice vote on September 24. The measure was received in the Senate on September 25 and was passed by the Senate without amendments on September 27. On October 13, President Bush signed H.R. 1532 into law as P.L. 110-392.

S. 1551, the Senate companion bill, was introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) on June 6, 2007, and was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. On November 14, the Committee marked up and adopted S. 1551 with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and ordered the measure to be reported out. The substitute amendment was the same as for H.R. 1532. The report was filed on April 22, 2008. No further action has occurred on this legislation.

October 2008