REVITALIZATION OF COMMISSIONED CORPS.

SEC. 206. REVITALIZATION OF COMMISSIONED CORPS.(a) Purpose.—It is the purpose of this section to improve the force management and readiness of the Commissioned Corps to accomplish the following objectives:(1) To ensure the Corps is ready to respond rapidly to urgent or emergency public health care needs and challenges.(2) To ensure the availability of the Corps for assignments that address clinical and public health needs in isolated, hardship, and hazardous duty positions, and, when required, to address needs related to the well-being, security, and defense of the United States.(3) To establish the Corps as a resource available to Federal and State Government agencies for assistance in meeting public health leadership and service roles.(b) Commissioned Corps Readiness.—Title II of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 202 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 203 the following:“SEC. 203A. DEPLOYMENT READINESS.“(a) Readiness Requirements for Commissioned Corps Officers.—“(1) In general.—The Secretary, with respect to members of the following Corps components, shall establish requirements, including training and medical examinations, to ensure the readiness of such components to respond to urgent or emergency public health care needs that cannot otherwise be met at the Federal, State, and local levels:“(A) Active duty Regular Corps.“(B) Active Reserves.“(2) Annual assessment of members.—The Secretary shall annually determine whether each member of the Corps 120 STAT. 2852 meets the applicable readiness requirements established under paragraph (1).“(3) Failure to meet requirements.—A member of the Corps who fails to meet or maintain the readiness requirements established under paragraph (1) or who fails to comply with orders to respond to an urgent or emergency public health care need shall, except as provided in paragraph (4), in accordance with procedures established by the Secretary, be subject to disciplinary action as prescribed by the Secretary.“(4) Waiver of requirements.—“(A) In general.—The Secretary may waive one or more of the requirements established under paragraph (1) for an individual who is not able to meet such requirements because of—“(i) a disability;“(ii) a temporary medical condition; or“(iii) any other extraordinary limitation as determined by the Secretary.“(B) Regulations.—The Secretary shall promulgate regulations under which a waiver described in subparagraph (A) may be granted.“(5) Urgent or emergency public health care need.—For purposes of this section and section 214, the term ‘urgent or emergency public health care need’ means a health care need, as determined by the Secretary, arising as the result of—“(A) a national emergency declared by the President under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.);“(B) an emergency or major disaster declared by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.);“(C) a public health emergency declared by the Secretary under section 319 of this Act; or“(D) any emergency that, in the judgment of the Secretary, is appropriate for the deployment of members of the Corps.“(b) Corps Management for Deployment.—The Secretary shall—“(1) organize members of the Corps into units for rapid deployment by the Secretary to respond to urgent or emergency public health care needs;“(2) establish appropriate procedures for the command and control of units or individual members of the Corps that are deployed at the direction of the President or the Secretary in response to an urgent or emergency public health care need of national, State or local significance;“(3) ensure that members of the Corps are trained, equipped and otherwise prepared to fulfill their public health and emergency response roles; and“(4) ensure that deployment planning takes into account—“(A) any deployment exemptions that may be granted by the Secretary based on the unique requirements of an agency and an individual’s functional role in such agency; and“(B) the nature of the urgent or emergency public health care need.120 STAT. 2853“(c) Deployment of Detailed or Assigned Officers.—For purposes of pay, allowances, and benefits of a Commissioned Corps officer who is detailed or assigned to a Federal entity, the deployment of such officer by the Secretary in response to an urgent or emergency public health care need shall be deemed to be an authorized activity of the Federal entity to which the officer is detailed or assigned.” .(c) Personnel Deployment Authority.—(1) Personnel detailed.—Section 214 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 215) is amended by adding at the end the following:“(e) Except with respect to the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Defense, and except as provided in agreements negotiated with officials at agencies where officers of the Commissioned Corps may be assigned, the Secretary shall have the sole authority to deploy any Commissioned Corps officer assigned under this section to an entity outside of the Department of Health and Human Services for service under the Secretary’s direction in response to an urgent or emergency public health care need (as defined in section 203A(a)(5)).”.(2) National health service corps.—Section 331(f) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254d(f)(1)) is amended by inserting before the period the following: “, except when such members are Commissioned Corps officers who entered into a contract with Secretary under section 338A or 338B after December 31, 2006 and when the Secretary determines that exercising the authority provided under section 214 or 216 with respect to any such officer to would not cause unreasonable disruption to health care services provided in the community in which such officer is providing health care services”.