§204a — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary must set and check rules so members of the Active Duty Regular Corps and the Ready Reserve Corps are ready to respond to urgent or emergency public health needs. Those rules must include training and medical checks. The Secretary must review every member each year. If a member does not meet the rules or does not follow orders to respond, the Secretary can take disciplinary action unless the Secretary allows a waiver for a disability, a temporary medical problem, or another serious limitation and makes rules for giving such waivers. An "urgent or emergency public health care need" means a need from a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), an emergency or major disaster under the Robert T. Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.), a public health emergency under section 247d of this title, or any other emergency the Secretary decides needs Corps deployment. The Secretary must organize Corps members into units that can be sent quickly. The Secretary must make clear command-and-control rules when the President or the Secretary sends units or members for national, State, or local emergencies. The Secretary must ensure members are trained, equipped, and prepared. Deployment plans must consider any exemptions the Secretary may allow because of an agency’s needs or a person’s job, and must consider the type of emergency. If a commissioned officer is detailed or assigned to a federal agency, being deployed by the Secretary is treated as an authorized activity of that agency for pay, allowances, and benefits.

Title 42, §204a

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)The Secretary, with respect to members of the following Corps components, shall establish requirements, including training and medical examinations, to ensure the readiness of such components to respond to urgent or emergency public health care needs that cannot otherwise be met at the Federal, State, and local levels:

(A)Active duty Regular Corps.

(B)Ready Reserve Corps.

(2)The Secretary shall annually determine whether each member of the Corps meets the applicable readiness requirements established under paragraph (1).

(3)A member of the Corps who fails to meet or maintain the readiness requirements established under paragraph (1) or who fails to comply with orders to respond to an urgent or emergency public health care need shall, except as provided in paragraph (4), in accordance with procedures established by the Secretary, be subject to disciplinary action as prescribed by the Secretary.

(4)(A)The Secretary may waive one or more of the requirements established under paragraph (1) for an individual who is not able to meet such requirements because of—

(i)a disability;

(ii)a temporary medical condition; or

(iii)any other extraordinary limitation as determined by the Secretary.

(B)The Secretary shall promulgate regulations under which a waiver described in subparagraph (A) may be granted.

(5)For purposes of this section and section 215 of this title, the term “urgent or emergency public health care need” means a health care need, as determined by the Secretary, arising as the result of—

(A)a national emergency declared by the President under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.);

(B)an emergency or major disaster declared by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.);

(C)a public health emergency declared by the Secretary under section 247d of this title; or

(D)any emergency that, in the judgment of the Secretary, is appropriate for the deployment of members of the Corps.

(b)The Secretary shall—

(1)organize members of the Corps into units for rapid deployment by the Secretary to respond to urgent or emergency public health care needs;

(2)establish appropriate procedures for the command and control of units or individual members of the Corps that are deployed at the direction of the President or the Secretary in response to an urgent or emergency public health care need of national, State or local significance;

(3)ensure that members of the Corps are trained, equipped and otherwise prepared to fulfill their public health and emergency response roles; and

(4)ensure that deployment planning takes into account—

(A)any deployment exemptions that may be granted by the Secretary based on the unique requirements of an agency and an individual’s functional role in such agency; and

(B)the nature of the urgent or emergency public health care need.

(c)For purposes of pay, allowances, and benefits of a Commissioned Corps officer who is detailed or assigned to a Federal entity, the deployment of such officer by the Secretary in response to an urgent or emergency public health care need shall be deemed to be an authorized activity of the Federal entity to which the officer is detailed or assigned.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The National Emergencies Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(5)(A), is Pub. L. 94–412, Sept. 14, 1976, 90 Stat. 1255, which is classified principally to chapter 34 (§ 1601 et seq.) of Title 50, War and National Defense. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

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note set out under section 1601 of Title 50 and Tables. The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(5)(B), is Pub. L. 93–288, May 22, 1974, 88 Stat. 143, which is classified principally to chapter 68 (§ 5121 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

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note set out under section 5121 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

2020—Subsec. (a)(1)(B). Pub. L. 116–136 substituted “Ready Reserve Corps” for “Active Reserves”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Purpose Pub. L. 109–417, title II, § 206(a), Dec. 19, 2006, 120 Stat. 2851, provided that: “It is the purpose of this section [enacting this section and amending section 215 and 254d of this title] to improve the force management and readiness of the Commissioned Corps to accomplish the following objectives: “(1) To ensure the Corps is ready to respond rapidly to urgent or emergency public health care needs and challenges. “(2) To ensure the availability of the Corps for assignments that address clinical and public health needs in isolated, hardship, and hazardous duty positions, and, when required, to address needs related to the well-being, security, and defense of the United States. “(3) To establish the Corps as a resource available to Federal and State Government agencies for assistance in meeting public health leadership and service roles.”

§204a Deployment Readiness

Summary

Title 42, §204a

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