Veterinary Services to Improve Public Health in Rural Communities Act

This Act may be cited as the “Veterinary Services to Improve Public Health in Rural Communities Act”.

It is the sense of Congress that the Indian Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services is uniquely suited to empower Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations to address zoonotic disease threats in the communities they serve by providing public health veterinary services through a One Health approach that recognizes the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.

Title II of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act is amended by inserting after section 223 (25 U.S.C. 1621v) the following:

“224. Public health veterinary services.—

(a) Definitions.— In this section:

(1) Public health veterinary services.— The term public health veterinary services includes any of the following:

(A) Spaying and neutering services for domestic animals.

(B) Diagnoses.

(C) Surveillance.

(D) Epidemiology.

(E) Control.

(F) Prevention.

(G) Elimination.

(H) Vaccination.

(I) Any other related service or activity that reduces the risk of zoonotic disease transmission or antimicrobial resistance in humans, food, or animals.

(2) Zoonotic disease.— The term zoonotic disease means a disease or infection that may be transmitted naturally from vertebrate animals to humans, or from humans to vertebrate animals.

(b) Authorization for veterinary services.— The Secretary, acting through the Service, may expend funds, directly or pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), for public health veterinary services to prevent and control zoonotic disease infection and transmission in Service areas where the risk for disease occurrence in humans and wildlife is endemic.

(c) Public health officers; coordination.— In providing public health veterinary services under subsection (b), the Secretary may—

(1) assign or deploy veterinary public health officers from the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service to Service areas; and

(2) coordinate and implement activities with—

(A) the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and

(B) the Secretary of Agriculture.

(d) Report.— The Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a biennial report on the use of funds, the assignment and deployment of veterinary public health officers from the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, data related to the monitoring and disease surveillance of zoonotic diseases, and related services provided under this section.”.

Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct a feasibility study—

(1) on the delivery of oral rabies vaccines to wildlife reservoir species that are directly or indirectly connected to the transmission of rabies to Tribal members living in Arctic regions of the United States; and

(2) that—

(A) evaluates the efficacy of the vaccines described in paragraph (1); and

(B) makes recommendations to improve the delivery of those vaccines.

Section 2235(b) of the Prepare for and Respond to Existing Viruses, Emerging New Threats, and Pandemics Act (42 U.S.C. 300hh–37(b)) is amended by striking “and the Secretary of the Interior” and inserting “, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Director of the Indian Health Service”.