42 U.S.C. § 284g — Expansion, intensification, and coordination of activities of National Institutes of Health with respect to research on autism spectrum disorder

(a) In general. (1) The Director of NIH, working with relevant federal agencies as needed, must — as money is appropriated — expand, intensify, and coordinate NIH's research on autism spectrum disorder, in fields like pathology, genetics, neurobiology, and psychiatry, and on interventions that improve outcomes. (2) That research must investigate causes (including possible environmental ones), diagnosis, early detection, prevention, treatment, and support across a person's whole life, including for co-occurring conditions; it must also look at support for caregivers, and reflect the full range of people with autism spectrum disorder, including their safety and well-being needs. The Director may combine program activities where that improves efficiency, and must carry out this section through the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, working with other agencies as appropriate. (b) Centers of excellence. (1) The Director must award grants and contracts to public or nonprofit entities to plan, set up, improve, and operate centers of excellence for autism spectrum disorder research. (2) Each center must do basic and clinical research into causes, diagnosis, detection, prevention, and treatment across the lifespan, in fields like developmental neurobiology, genetics, genomics, and psychology. (3) A center may run a program telling people about opportunities to join research studies, and — under criteria the Director sets — provide referrals to services and cover required patient-care costs. The Director will weigh whether a center can show real access to clinical services, including for people from diverse racial, ethnic, geographic, or language backgrounds, when deciding on grants. (4) Each center must use one institution or a group of cooperating institutions meeting the Director's rules. (5) The Director must set up at least seven centers, each supported for up to 5 years, extendable in additional 5-year blocks if a scientific peer-review group recommends it. (c) Facilitation of research. The Director must run a program that collects, preserves, and makes available tissue and genetic material samples useful for autism spectrum disorder research, following accepted scientific and medical standards for handling such samples. (d) Public input. (1) The Director must give the public a way to learn about NIH's autism spectrum disorder programs and to send comments about them. (2) The Director may guide centers on how to engage people with autism spectrum disorder and their families, guardians, and advocates in the centers' work. (e) Budget estimate. For each fiscal year from 2026 through 2029, the Director must send a yearly budget estimate for NIH's autism spectrum disorder initiatives directly to the President, to be passed on to Congress — based on the strategic plan under section 280i–2(b)(5) and its later updates, after the Secretary and the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee get a chance to comment (though their comments can't change the estimate).