Children’s asthma treatment grants program

In addition to any other payments made under this chapter or title V of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 701 et seq.], the Secretary shall award grants to eligible entities to carry out the following purposes: In making grants under paragraph (1), the Secretary may make grants designed to develop and expand the following projects: An eligible entity shall submit an application to the Secretary for a grant under this section in such form and manner as the Secretary may require. An application submitted under this subparagraph shall include a plan for the use of funds awarded under the grant and such other information as the Secretary may require. In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall give preference to eligible entities that demonstrate that the activities to be carried out under this section shall be in localities within areas of known or suspected high prevalence of childhood asthma or high asthma-related mortality or high rate of hospitalization or emergency room visits for asthma (relative to the average asthma prevalence rates and associated mortality rates in the United States). Acceptable data sets to demonstrate a high prevalence of childhood asthma or high asthma-related mortality may include data from Federal, State, or local vital statistics, claims data under title XIX or XXI of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq., 1397aa et seq.], other public health statistics or surveys, or other data that the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deems appropriate. For purposes of this section, the term “eligible entity” means a public or nonprofit private entity (including a State or political subdivision of a State), or a consortium of any of such entities. An eligible entity shall identify in the plan submitted as part of an application for a grant under this section how the entity will coordinate operations and activities under the grant with— one or more of the following— An eligible entity that receives a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary an evaluation of the operations and activities carried out under the grant that includes— The Secretary, in making any grant under this section or any other grant that is asthma-related (as determined by the Secretary) to a State, shall give preference to any State that satisfies the following: The State must require that each public elementary school and secondary school in that State will grant to any student in the school an authorization for the self-administration of medication to treat that student’s asthma or anaphylaxis, if— An authorization granted under subparagraph (A) must allow the student involved to possess and use his or her medication— An authorization granted under subparagraph (A)— The State must require that backup medication, if provided by a student’s parent or guardian, be kept at a student’s school in a location to which the student has immediate access in the event of an asthma or anaphylaxis emergency. The State must require that information described in subparagraphs (A)(iii) and (A)(iv) be kept on file at the student’s school in a location easily accessible in the event of an asthma or anaphylaxis emergency. In determining the preference (if any) to be given to a State under this subsection, the Secretary shall give additional preference to a State that provides to the Secretary the certification described in subparagraph (G) and that requires that each public elementary school and secondary school in the State satisfy the criteria described in clause (ii) or clause (iii). For purposes of clause (i), the criteria described in this clause, with respect to each public elementary school and secondary school in the State, are that each such school— For purposes of clause (i), the criteria described in this clause, with respect to each public elementary school and secondary school in the State, are that each such school— has in place, under the direction of a school nurse or other individual designated under subclause (I), a comprehensive school-based allergies and asthma management program that includes— The certification required in subparagraph (F) shall be a certification made by the State attorney general that the State has reviewed any applicable civil liability protection law to determine the application of such law with regard to elementary and secondary school trained personnel who may administer epinephrine to a student reasonably believed to be having an anaphylactic reaction and has concluded that such law provides adequate civil liability protection applicable to such trained personnel. For purposes of the previous sentence, the term “civil liability protection law” means a State law offering legal protection to individuals who give aid on a voluntary basis in an emergency to an individual who is ill, in peril, or otherwise incapacitated. Nothing in this subsection creates a cause of action or in any other way increases or diminishes the liability of any person under any other law. For purposes of this subsection: The term “trained personnel” means, with respect to an elementary or secondary school, an individual, such as the school nurse— For the purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2005.