Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · May 11, 2006
Emergency Preparedness and Response Security, Accountability, and Flexibility Enhancement Act or the SAFE ACT - Amends the Public Health Service Act to revise provisions relating to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies preparedness grants, including to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop measurable critical benchmarks and performance standards.
Authorizes the Secretary to develop a real-time surveillance program for collecting and reporting information on notifiable diseases and conditions (infectious diseases, environmental exposures or poisons, and other conditions, the real-time surveillance and control of which in the United States constitute a critical public health need). Requires the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish a national electronic surveillance program for such diseases. Provides for a health alert in the case of a public health emergency or other circumstance requiring active surveillance.
Requires the Secretary to award grants to enable states to conduct surveillance and report with respect to notifiable diseases. Makes ineligible for certain funding states or health care providers that do not report notifiable diseases.
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Allows grantees to use grant funds to develop benchmarks for meeting critical capacity for food or water borne disease detection and response.
Requires the Director to provide for the evaluation of the progress made by state and local governments in meeting the benchmarks established under this Act.
Requires the Secretary to establish procedures for the inspection, screening, and quarantine of live animals entering the United States for commercial purposes.
Requires the federal agency partners of the National Disaster Medical System to conduct a review of the National Disaster Medical System infrastructure.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 15, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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