HR 6989
Public Health Nursing Act
Take action
Record your position on this measure.
Sign in to record your position, submit testimony, or contact your legislator.
Sign in to take action- Introduced
- Passed House
- Passed Senate
- To President
- Became Law
Bill overview
This bill, the Public Health Nursing Act, aims to strengthen and expand the public health nursing workforce in the United States. It directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish, expand, and sustain this workforce through grants to state, local, and territorial public health departments. The grants can be used to recruit, hire, and train registered nurses, particularly in underserved areas, and to provide necessary medical supplies and administrative support.
Key provisions
- Grants to state, local, and territorial public health departments to support public health nursing.
- Funding for recruiting, hiring, and training registered nurses for public health roles.
- Priority given to applicants serving medically underserved areas, low-income populations, and rural communities.
- Requirement for grant recipients to maintain expenditures at a level equal to or greater than the previous year.
- Definition of a ‘public health nurse’ encompassing a range of health care and education services.
- Authorization of $5 billion annually from 2026-2035.
Who is affected
- State and local public health departments
- Licensed registered nurses
- Medically underserved populations
- Low-income populations
- Rural communities
Notable changes
- Establishes a dedicated funding stream for public health nursing workforce development.
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
Primary sponsor
Cosponsors
Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] Norton
Arguments in favor
Reasons to support this legislation.
No arguments in favor have been submitted.
Submit yoursArguments opposed
Reasons to oppose this legislation.
No arguments opposed have been submitted.
Submit yoursRead the latest version inline or switch to a previous version.
119th CONGRESS — 2d Session
H. R. 6989
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to carry out activities to establish, expand, and sustain a public health nursing workforce, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Public Health Nursing Act
.
Part E of title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 294n et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
The Secretary shall carry out activities relating to establishing, expanding, and sustaining a public health nursing workforce, including by making grants to State, local, and territorial public health departments.
who are employed by the State, territorial, or local public health department involved, particularly in medically underserved areas; and
who work in public health facilities, including mobile health clinics and acute care hospitals, or who provide home visitation.
Costs of medical supplies, including personal protective equipment, necessary to carry out the activities described in subparagraph (A).
Administrative costs and activities relating to grant activities.
The recipient of a grant under subsection (a) may make subgrants to local health departments to be used for the activities described in paragraph (1).
In selecting recipients of grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to applicants that—
propose to serve—
areas with populations that have a high rate of chronic disease, infant mortality, or maternal morbidity and mortality;
low-income populations, including medically underserved populations (as defined in section 330(b));
populations residing in health professional shortage areas (as defined in section 332(a));
populations residing in maternity care health professional target areas identified under section 332(k); or
rural or traditionally underserved populations;
demonstrate a plan for providing services, to the maximum extent practicable, in the language and cultural context more appropriate to individuals expected to be served by the program; and
have a documented collective bargaining agreement with 1 or more labor organizations representing employees of the applicant or have an explicit policy not to interfere with the rights of employees of the applicant under section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.
The recipient of a grant under subsection (a) shall agree to maintain expenditures of non-Federal amounts for activities described in subsection (b) at a level that is not less than the level of such expenditures maintained by the recipient for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the recipient receives such a grant.
public health nursemeans a nurse providing health care services and education regarding preventive health, nutrition, infectious diseases, chronic disease management, and maternal health, prenatal, and postpartum care in order to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $5,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2035.