1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the “United States Public Health Service Modernization Act of 2019”.
United States Public Health Service Modernization Act of 2019
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the Public Health Service Corps.
2. Amendments
Commissioned corps and ready reserve corps— Section 203 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 204) is amended—
in subsection (a)(1), by striking “ a Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency” and inserting “, for service in time of a public health or national emergency, a Ready Reserve Corps”; and
in subsection (c)—
in the heading, by striking “research” and inserting “Reserve Corps”;
in paragraph (1), by inserting “during public health or national emergencies” before the period;
in paragraph (2)—
in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting “, consistent with paragraph (1)” after “shall”;
in subparagraph (C), by inserting “during such emergencies” after “members”; and
in subparagraph (D), by inserting “, consistent with subparagraph (C)” before the period; and
by adding at the end the following:
“(3) Statutory references to reserve—A reference in any Federal statute, except in the case of subsection (b), to the “Reserve Corps” of the Public Health Service or to the “reserve” of the Public Health Service shall be deemed to be a reference to the Ready Reserve Corps.”
Deployment readiness— Section 203A(a)(1)(B) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 204a(a)(1)(B)) is amended by striking “Active Reserves” and inserting “Ready Reserve Corps”.
Retirement of commissioned officers— Section 211 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 212) is amended—
by striking “(in the case of an officer in the Reserve Corps)” each place it appears;
by striking “the Service” each place it appears and inserting “the Regular Corps”;
in subsection (c)—
in paragraph (1)—
by striking “or an officer of the Reserve Corps”; and
by inserting “or under section 221(a)(19)” after “subsection (a)”; and
in paragraph (2), by striking “Regular or Reserve Corps” and inserting “Regular Corps or Ready Reserve Corps”; and
in subsection (f), by striking “the Regular or Reserve Corps of”.
Rights, privileges, etc. of officers and surviving beneficiaries— Section 221 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 213a) is amended—
in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following:
“(19) Chapter 1223, Retired Pay for Non-Regular Service.
“(20) Section 12601, Compensation: Reserve on active duty accepting from any person.
“(21) Section 12684, Reserves: separation for absence without authority or sentence to imprisonment.”
in subsection (b)—
by striking “Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare or his designee” and inserting “Secretary of Health and Human Services or the designee of such secretary”;
by striking “(b) The authority vested” and inserting the following:
“(b)
“(1) The authority vested”
by striking “For purposes of” and inserting the following:
“(2) For purposes of”
by adding at the end the following:
“(3) For purposes of paragraph (19) of subsection (a), the terms Military department, Secretary concerned, and Armed forces in such title 10 shall be deemed to include, respectively, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Commissioned Corps.”
in sections 204, 207(c), and 208(a), by striking “Regular or Reserve Corps” and inserting “Regular Corps or Ready Reserve Corps”; and
in sections 205(c), 206(c), 210, and 219, and in subsections (a), (b), and (d) of section 207, by striking “Reserve Corps” each place it appears and inserting “Ready Reserve Corps”.