Senate Bills - 108th Congress

S. 1159—Hispanic Health Improvement Act

On May 23, 2003, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced S. 1159, the Hispanic Health Improvement Act, respectively. Specific to NIH, this legislation would authorize $2.5 million for each of the Fiscal Years 2004 through 2008 for the NCI Special Populations Networks, including Redes en Accion. In addition, NCI, HRSA, and IHS would be authorized to award grants for model programs that provide prevention, early detection, treatment, and appropriate followup care services for individuals from health disparity populations with cancer or chronic diseases. Finally, NIH would be called to sit on the Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis, which would be tasked with developing a plan to guide the involvement of the United States in global and cross-border tuberculosis control activities and developing a biennial congressional report on the activities of the National Program for Tuberculosis Elimination. S. 1159 was referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. (See H.R. 2258 for companion legislation.)

Legislative Update (August 2003): Hispanic Health Improvement Act of 2003