Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on March 20, 2013
S. 330 would amend provisions of the Public Health Service Act that authorize the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish guidelines and quality standards for conducting research relating to donated organs and for acquiring and procuring such organs.
The bill would remove a provision in current law that prohibits the acquisition and procurement of donated organs that are infected with the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome. S. 330 also would require the Secretary of HHS to develop guidelines for conducting research relating to organ transplants from donors who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The Secretary would be required to annually review the results of the research to determine whether the results warrant revising the quality standards for acquiring and procuring donated organs. Finally, the bill would authorize the Secretary to establish standards for acquiring and procuring donated organs that are infected with HIV, provided that any such standards ensure that an organ infected with HIV may be transplanted only into individuals who are infected with HIV before receiving such organ.
To implement S. 330, CBO estimates that HHS would incur administrative costs of less than $500,000 annually and about $1 million over the 2014-2018 period. Any such costs would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply to this legislation because it would not affect direct spending or revenues.
The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
