This bill aims to amend the Public Health Service Act to expand public health research and investment into understanding and eliminating structural racism and police violence, defining "antiracism" as policies leading to racial equity. The legislation seeks to address the profound public health impacts of these issues. A core provision establishes the National Center on Antiracism and Health within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This Center is tasked with declaring racism a public health crisis, developing new knowledge in antiracism science, and translating that knowledge into interventions that dismantle racist mechanisms and promote equitable structures. Its duties include conducting research, collecting and analyzing data on structural racism's public health impacts—including implicit bias, White supremacy, and social determinants of health—and identifying effective intervention strategies. The Center will also award grants, establish regional centers of excellence, and create a clearinghouse for comprehensive, disaggregated public health data, while protecting individual privacy. Additionally, the bill mandates the establishment of a law enforcement violence prevention program within the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. This program will research the public health impacts of law enforcement uses of force, including police brutality and violence, and develop public health interventions to eliminate associated deaths, injuries, trauma, and negative mental health effects. It will ensure comprehensive data collection, analysis, and reporting on police violence and misconduct, in consultation with the Department of Justice and independent researchers. The program will also award grants for epidemiologic research and interventions, and submit annual reports to Congress with recommendations to disrupt processes in policing that perpetuate racism and racial disparities in public health.
This bill aims to amend the Public Health Service Act to expand public health research and investment into understanding and eliminating structural racism and police violence, defining "antiracism" as policies leading to racial equity. The legislation seeks to address the profound public health impacts of these issues. A core provision establishes the National Center on Antiracism and Health within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This Center is tasked with declaring racism a public health crisis, developing new knowledge in antiracism science, and translating that knowledge into interventions that dismantle racist mechanisms and promote equitable structures. Its duties include conducting research, collecting and analyzing data on structural racism's public health impacts—including implicit bias, White supremacy, and social determinants of health—and identifying effective intervention strategies. The Center will also award grants, establish regional centers of excellence, and create a clearinghouse for comprehensive, disaggregated public health data, while protecting individual privacy. Additionally, the bill mandates the establishment of a law enforcement violence prevention program within the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. This program will research the public health impacts of law enforcement uses of force, including police brutality and violence, and develop public health interventions to eliminate associated deaths, injuries, trauma, and negative mental health effects. It will ensure comprehensive data collection, analysis, and reporting on police violence and misconduct, in consultation with the Department of Justice and independent researchers. The program will also award grants for epidemiologic research and interventions, and submit annual reports to Congress with recommendations to disrupt processes in policing that perpetuate racism and racial disparities in public health.