42 U.S.C. § 247d — Public health emergencies

(a) Emergencies The Secretary of Health and Human Services can declare a public health emergency. First, the Secretary talks with public health officials. Then the Secretary can declare an emergency if a disease or disorder is a threat, or if some other public health emergency exists, like a disease outbreak or a bioterrorist attack. Once declared, the Secretary can respond in many ways: giving out grants, paying for expenses, signing contracts, and supporting investigations into the cause, treatment, or prevention of the disease. An emergency declaration ends automatically after 90 days, or sooner if the Secretary says the emergency is over. The Secretary can renew the declaration using the same facts or new ones, and each renewal follows this same 90-day rule. Within 48 hours of declaring or renewing an emergency, the Secretary must send Congress a written notice. (b) Public Health Emergency Fund (1) In general. The law creates a "Public Health Emergency Fund" in the U.S. Treasury. The Secretary can use it without a yearly spending limit, but only for emergency response under subsection (a) — either after declaring an emergency or after deciding there is a significant chance of one. The goal is to let the Secretary respond fast to urgent needs. The Secretary must plan ahead for how to get money out to agencies and groups quickly. Congress can add money to the Fund as needed. (2) Uses. The Secretary can spend Fund money to: (A) help federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies and health care groups work together, including talking with relevant international groups; (B) give grants, awards, and contracts, and support investigations tied to the emergency, including boosting the programs described in sections 247d–3a, 247d–3b, and 247d–3c; (C) speed up research and development of security countermeasures, qualified countermeasures, or qualified pandemic or epidemic products connected to the emergency; (D) strengthen disease-tracking and lab systems, including the ones under section 247d–4; (E) help set up emergency response teams and the Medical Reserve Corps; (F) help get Strategic National Stockpile supplies moving; and (G) do other things the Secretary decides are needed. (3) Report. Within 90 days after each fiscal year ends, the Secretary must send a report to congressional committees. It must describe: (A) that year's spending from the Fund, including how much was committed, who got it, what it paid for, and which emergency it was for; and (B) each emergency the Fund paid for and what was done for it. (4) Review. By around two years after June 24, 2019, the Secretary, working with the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, must review the Fund and give Congress recommendations for improving it. (5) GAO report. By around four years after June 24, 2019, the Comptroller General must review the Fund — including how it is used and what money is available — and send Congress a report with recommendations. (c) Supplement not supplant. Money from this section must be used to respond to emergencies fast. It cannot replace other federal, state, or local public money already available for the same emergency response work. (d) Data submittal and reporting deadlines. If a declared emergency makes it hard for people or organizations to meet deadlines for sending the Secretary data or reports required under any law the Secretary runs, the Secretary can extend those deadlines and waive — fully or partly — any penalties for missing them. The Secretary must tell Congress and publish a notice in the Federal Register, either before granting the extension or waiver or soon after. (e) Temporary reassignment of State and local personnel during a public health emergency (1) Emergency reassignment of federally funded personnel. If a state's Governor, a tribal organization, or their designee asks, the Secretary can let that state or tribe temporarily move state and local public health staff — even staff paid by federal programs under this chapter — to work directly on an emergency. (2) Activation of emergency reassignment. (A) The Secretary can only allow this during a declared public health emergency. (B) To ask for this flexibility, the Governor or tribal organization must send a request that includes: an assurance the emergency cannot be handled by the workforce already available; an assurance that moving staff would handle the emergency better; an assurance the plan matches the state's or tribe's preparedness plan under section 247d–3a; a list of which federal programs the staff would come from and how many from each; and any other information the Secretary and the requester agree to include. (C) When reviewing a request, the Secretary must think about how much the programs losing staff would be hurt. (D) The reassignment ends at whichever comes first: the Secretary deciding the emergency is over, or 30 days after the Secretary approved the request. The Secretary can extend it past 30 days if the emergency is still happening, but only if the state or tribe asks for an extension and includes the same information required for the original request. (3) Voluntary nature of temporary reassignment. (A) Unless state or tribal law says otherwise, staff eligible for reassignment can choose to volunteer, but cannot be forced to accept it. (B) The Secretary cannot make a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement depend on a state or tribe forcing its staff to accept reassignment. (4) Notice to Congress. The Secretary must tell Congress whenever approving an initial reassignment request or an extension. (5) Guidance. The Secretary had to issue proposed guidance on this reassignment process within 6 months of March 13, 2013, and finalize it after a 60-day public comment period. (6) Report to Congress. By around four years after March 13, 2013, the Comptroller General had to independently evaluate this reassignment power and report to Congress on: (A) how and when states and tribes used it; (B) how it helped them respond to emergencies; (C) how it improved efficiency; (D) whether the programs that lost staff were hurt; and (E) recommendations for improving medical surge capacity. (7) Definitions. "Indian tribe" and "tribal organization" mean what they mean in section 5304 of title 25. "State" includes everything covered by the definition in section 201 of this title, plus the Freely Associated States. (8) Sunset. This subsection (e) ends on December 31, 2026. (f) Determination with respect to Paperwork Reduction Act waiver during a public health emergency (1) Determination. The Secretary can waive certain paperwork rules if, after consulting public health officials, the Secretary finds two things: (A) either the emergency criteria in subsection (a)(1) or (2) are met, or a disease or disorder — including a new emerging threat — is very likely to become an emergency; and (B) the situation requires waiving the "Paperwork Reduction Act" (rules in subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44) so the Secretary can prepare for and respond to the emergency. If both are true, those rules about voluntarily collecting information stop applying while the Secretary investigates and responds, for as long as the emergency lasts or as long as it takes to figure out if a disease will become one. Those rules also do not apply during a reasonable period of review right after the response. (2) Transparency. If the Secretary decides a waiver is needed, the Secretary must quickly post on the HHS website a short explanation for it, how long it is expected to last, and which HHS offices it covers — and keep that posted information updated. (3) Effectiveness of waiver. The waiver starts on the day the Secretary posts this information online. (4) Termination of waiver. Once the reasons for the waiver no longer apply, the Secretary must quickly update the website to show the waiver has ended. (5) Limitations. (A) A waiver cannot last longer than the related emergency, including any reasonable post-response review period. (B) If a project is still going after its waiver ends, it must follow the Paperwork Reduction Act again, and the Secretary must make sure it comes into compliance as fast as possible — no later than 30 calendar days after the waiver ends. (g) Certain appointments to support public health emergency responses (1) In general. To help respond right away to a declared emergency, the Secretary can hire people directly into publicly announced HHS jobs, skipping the normal federal hiring steps in sections 3309 through 3318 of title 5. This is allowed to: (A) fill an urgent hiring need tied directly to the declared emergency; or (B) fix a severe shortage of qualified candidates that is hurting HHS's ability to respond. (2) Number of appointments. In any fiscal year the Secretary declares an emergency (not counting renewals of an existing one), the Secretary can directly hire no more than 400 people under (1)(A) and no more than 100 people under (1)(B). (3) Compensation. Pay for these hires follows the normal federal pay rules in chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5. (4) Reporting. The Secretary must keep records showing: (A) how many positions were filled this way; (B) what kinds of appointments they were; (C) their job titles, job categories, and pay grades; (D) how many positions were publicly announced; (E) how many qualified people applied; (F) what qualifications were required; and (G) demographic information about the people hired. (5) Notification to Congress. If in one fiscal year the Secretary directly hires more than half of the allowed number under either (2)(A) or (2)(B), the Secretary must tell the relevant Senate and House committees within 15 days. While protecting personal privacy as required by law, this notice must include: (A) information about each hire that year; (B) how each job relates to (1)(A) or (1)(B); and (C) how many more staff the Secretary expects to need that year using this power. (6) Reports to Congress. By September 30, 2023, and every year after that in which this hiring power is used, the Secretary must report to Congress the total number of people hired this way and how their jobs relate to (1)(A) or (1)(B). (7) Sunset. This hiring power ends on September 30, 2028. (h) Stockpile depletion reporting. Whenever supplies are sent out from the Strategic National Stockpile (under section 247d–6b(a)) to respond to either a declared public health emergency or a disaster declared by the President under the Stafford Act, the Secretary must report to relevant congressional committees within 30 days — and then every 30 days after that until the emergency or disaster ends. Each report must cover: (1) how stockpile supplies were sent out to meet state, local, and tribal requests; (2) how much of those supplies is left in the stockpile; and (3) plans, timelines, and any obstacles to restocking them.