To improve homeland security by providing for national resilience in preparation for, and in the event of, a terrorist attack, and for other purposes.

February 4, 2004

Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island (for himself, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr. TURNER of Texas, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. FROST, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

To improve homeland security by providing for national resilience in preparation for, and in the event of, a terrorist attack, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `National Resilience Development Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows:

(1) According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security should analyze terrorism preparedness to ensure that the public health infrastructure is prepared to respond to the psychological consequences of terrorism, and Federal, State, and local disaster planners should address these psychological consequences in their planning and preparedness for terrorist attacks.

(2) Research concerning the psychological impact of ongoing terrorism in Israel published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and ongoing research undertaken by the National Institutes of Health demonstrate that there are effective ways to enhance resilience and minimize the damaging psychological impact of terrorism.

(3) According to the New England Journal of Medicine, after September 11, 2001, Americans across the country, including children, had substantial symptoms of stress. Even clinicians who practice in regions that are far from the sites of the attacks should be prepared to assist people with trauma-related symptoms of stress.

(4) According to Military Medicine, experiences from the 1995 chemical weapons attack by terrorists in the Tokyo subway system suggest that psychological casualties from a chemical attack will outnumber physical casualties by approximately 4 to 1.

(5) According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the lessons learned from the 2001 anthrax attacks should motivate local health departments, health care organizations, and clinicians to engage in collaborative programs to enhance their communications and local preparedness and response capabilities.

(6) According to the National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism, it is important to recognize that the means through which the effects of terrorism are propagated are largely psychological and that it will generally be the terror generated by a major event, not the event itself, that will have the greatest long-term negative impact on children and families throughout the Nation. There is a great need for increased attention to the promotion of family and community resilience in terror and disaster planning.

(7) According to `Schools and Terrorism: A Supplement to the National Advisory Committee on

Children and Terrorism Recommendations to the Secretary', schools may or may not be the targets of terrorism, but they are certain to be affected by terrorism, because on any given weekday more than one-fifth of the United States population can be found in schools. Although the United States Department of Education strongly encourages every school to have an emergency management plan, few plans address how the school fits in with the larger public health and emergency management response to a community-wide event, such as a terrorist attack.

(8) According to a national study by leading health care foundations, in this time of growing threats of terrorism, many doctors and other primary care providers are increasingly being confronted with patients who complain of aches and pains, or more serious symptoms, which mask serious anxiety or depression.

(9) Substantial effort and funding are still needed to adequately understand and prepare for the psychological consequences associated with bioterrorism.

(10) The integration of mental health into public health efforts, including integration and cooperation across Federal agencies and State public health and mental health authorities, is critical in addressing the psychological needs of the Nation with regard to terrorism.

SEC. 3. GOALS.

The goals of this Act are as follows:

(1) To identify effective strategies to respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management and to integrate these strategies into the United States' plans to mitigate, plan for, respond to, and recover from potential and actual terrorist attacks.

(2) To coordinate the efforts of different government agencies in researching, developing, and implementing programs and protocols designed to increase the psychological resilience and mitigate distress reactions and maladaptive behaviors of the American public as they relate to terrorism.

(3) To facilitate the work of the Department of Homeland Security and other departments and agencies by incorporating programs and protocols designed to increase the psychological resilience of the American public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management, into those Departments' and agencies' efforts in reducing the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism.

(4) To enable the States and localities to effectively respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management and to integrate appropriate strategies into their terrorism planning, preparedness, and response efforts.

(5) To integrate mental health and public health emergency preparedness and response efforts in the United States.

SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON NATIONAL RESILIENCE.

Title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 319K the following:

`SEC. 319L. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE ON NATIONAL RESILIENCE.

`(a) ESTABLISHMENT- The Secretary shall convene and lead an interagency task force for the purpose of increasing the psychological resilience of the American public and improving the ability of Federal, State, and local governments to respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management.

`(b) MEMBERS- The task force convened under this section shall include the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, and such other members as the Secretary deems appropriate.

`(c) DUTIES- The duties of the task force convened under this section shall include the following:

`(1) Coordinating and facilitating the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, and the Office of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service in their endeavors to develop and implement programs and protocols designed to increase the psychological resilience of the American public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management, including by integrating appropriate strategies into the Department of Health and Human Service's terrorism preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.

`(2) Consulting with, and providing guidance to, the Department of Homeland Security to integrate into its efforts in reducing the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism, programs and protocols designed to increase the psychological resilience of the American public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management.

`(3) Consulting with the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor, the American Red Cross, national organizations of health care and health care providers, national organizations representing public safety officials, and such other organizations and agencies as the task force deems appropriate to advance understanding of successful strategies to respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management and to coordinate implementation of such strategies.

`(4) Consulting with the Department of Education on the impact of terrorism on children and schools' role in the development, implementation, and coordination of strategies to increase children's psychological resilience and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism.

`(5) Consulting with and providing guidance to the States and local governments for the purpose of enabling them to effectively respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management.

`(6) Developing strategies for encouraging State and local public health and mental health agencies to closely collaborate in the development of integrated, science-based programs and protocols designed to increase the psychological resilience of the American public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management.

`(7) Preparing and presenting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security specific recommendations on how their respective departments, agencies, and offices can strengthen existing and planned terrorism preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation initiatives by integrating programs and protocols designed to increase the psychological resilience of the American public and respond to the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional impacts of terrorism and their implications for disaster management.

`(d) MEETINGS- The task force convened under this section shall meet not less than 4 times each year.

`(e) STAFF- The Secretary shall staff the task force as necessary to ensure it is able to perform the duties described in subsection (c).'.

SEC. 5. ACTIVITIES OF STATES, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND TERRITORIES REGARDING NATIONAL RESILIENCE.

(a) PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT- Subsection (d) of section 319C-1 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d-3a) is amended by inserting after paragraph (18) the following:

`(19) To enable State mental health authorities, in close collaboration with the respective State public health authorities and the interagency task force convened under section 319L, to better understand and manage human emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses to disasters, including by increasing the psychological resilience of the public and mitigating distress reactions and maladaptive behaviors that could occur in response to a conventional, biological, chemical, or radiological attack on the United States.'.

(b) USA PATRIOT ACT- Subsection (b) of section 1014 of the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 3714) is amended--

(1) by striking `may be used to purchase' and inserting `may be used for the following:

`(1) To purchase';

(2) by striking `In addition, grants under this section may be used to construct' and inserting the following:

`(2) To construct'; and

(3) by inserting at the end the following:

`(3) To enable State mental health authorities, in close collaboration with the respective State public health authorities and the interagency task force convened under section 319L of the Public Health Service Act, to better understand and manage human emotional, behavioral, and cognitive responses to disasters, including by increasing the psychological resilience of the public and mitigating distress reactions and maladaptive behaviors that could occur in response to a conventional, biological, chemical, or radiological attack on the United States.'.

SEC. 6. EFFORTS BY FEMA REGARDING NATIONAL RESILIENCE.

Paragraph (2) of section 507(a) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 317(a)) is amended--

(1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting `, including the risk of psychological injury' before the semicolon;

(2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting `and the psychological consequences of trauma' before the semicolon; and

(3) in subparagraph (D), by inserting `overcome the psychological consequences of trauma,' before `life,'.

SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT BY SECRETARIES OF HHS AND HOMELAND SECURITY.

Not less than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly, shall submit a report to the Congress that includes the following:

(1) The recommendations of the interagency task force convened under section 319L of the Public Health Service Act (as amended by section 4 of this Act) that are relevant to the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Homeland Security.

(2) A description of the steps that have or have not been taken by each Federal department to implement the recommendations described in paragraph (1).

(3) Thorough explanations for rejection of any recommendations made by the interagency task force convened under section 319L.

(4) Other steps undertaken to meet the goals of this Act.

END