Bill Summary
The Critical Infrastructure Employee Protection Act of 2020 is a bill that requires the Secretary of Transportation to support state and local governments in providing priority testing for essential critical infrastructure workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes coordinating with other agencies to ensure these workers have access to personal protective equipment and other necessary supplies. The bill does not prioritize these workers over other individuals, such as patients, healthcare workers, and first responders, who may have a higher priority for testing and protective equipment.
Possible Impacts
1. This legislation could potentially affect essential critical infrastructure workers, as they would be given priority for COVID-19 testing and access to necessary supplies. This could benefit these workers by allowing them to continue their work safely and minimize the spread of the virus.
2. State and local governments may be affected by this legislation as they would be responsible for coordinating with the Department of Transportation to provide priority testing and access to supplies for essential critical infrastructure workers. This could require additional resources and coordination efforts.
3. Patients, healthcare workers, and first responders may also be affected by this legislation as it clarifies that essential critical infrastructure workers will not have priority over them for testing and access to supplies. This could potentially ease concerns about unfair prioritization and ensure that those with a higher risk of exposure and vulnerability are still prioritized.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7904 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7904
To require the Secretary of Transportation to support the efforts of
State and local governments to provide for priority testing of
essential critical infrastructure workers with respect to the
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 31, 2020
Mr. Crawford (for himself and Mr. Cohen) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and
Infrastructure
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Transportation to support the efforts of
State and local governments to provide for priority testing of
essential critical infrastructure workers with respect to the
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Critical Infrastructure Employee
Protection Act of 2020''.
SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF COVID-19 TESTING NEEDS OF CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE EMPLOYEES.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Transportation shall--
(1) adopt, for use by the Department of Transportation in
carrying out response efforts relating to, and operations
during, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the
categorization of ``essential critical infrastructure workers''
identified in the Guidance on the Essential Critical
Infrastructure Workforce published by the Department of
Homeland Security on March 28, 2020 (or a subsequent version of
that guidance); and
(2) coordinate with the Director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency to support efforts of State and
local governments to provide for--
(A) priority testing of essential critical
infrastructure workers (as such term is used in
paragraph (1)) with respect to the Coronavirus Disease
2019 (COVID-19); and
(B) priority access to personal protective
equipment, sanitizers, nonmedical-grade facial
coverings, and other health-related or protective
supplies necessary to safely perform essential critical
infrastructure work.
(b) Application.--Nothing in this section requires the provision of
priority testing or priority access to personal protective equipment
for essential critical infrastructure workers (as such term is used in
subsection (a)(1)) to be prioritized over the provision of that testing
or access to personal protective equipment for other individuals who
are identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or any
other relevant Federal, State, or local agency as having a higher
priority for that testing or access to personal protective equipment,
including--
(1) patients;
(2) healthcare workers; and
(3) first responders.
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