An Act to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide authority for health information and health promotion programs, to revise and extend the authority for disease prevention and control programs, and to revise and extend the authority for venereal disease programs, and to amend the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act to revise and extend that Act.
Public Law 94-317 · S. 1466 · 94th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Gerald Ford (R) on Jun 23, 1976 · Health
Sponsor: Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
Cosponsors (9): Sen. Jacob Javits, Sen. Harrison Williams,
Passage votes
- HouseMethod not stated
- SenateMethod not stated
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
(Senate agreed to House amendment with an amendment)
=Title I: Health Information and Health Promotion= - National Consumer Health Information and Health Promotion Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to add Title XVII (Health Information and Health Promotion). Directs the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to formulate national goals with respect to health information and health promotion, preventive health services, and education in the appropriate use of health care. Directs the Secretary to undertake and support activities necessary to achieve such goals. Authorizes the appropriation of specified sums for fiscal years 1977 through 1978 to carry out such purposes.
Directs the Secretary to conduct research programs in health information and health promotion, preventive health services, and education in the appropriate use of health care, and to determine the best methods of disseminating information about such areas. Directs the Secretary to study environmental, occupational, social, and behavioral factors which affect health. Directs the Secretary to formulate methods of evaluting the costs and effectiveness of activities funded under this title.
Directs the Secretary to make a continuing survey of the needs, interest, attitudes, knowledge, and behavior of the American public regarding health and health care. Directs the Secretary to conduct and support, by grant or contract, new and innovative programs in health promotion, preventive health services, and education in the appropriate use of health care, including development of health information and health promotion materials and teaching programs which encompass assistance in health professionals and their patients in selecting and making appropriate use of institutions and alternatives to institutions in the provision of long-term care.
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States and other public and nonprofit private entities for the purpose of demonstration and evaluation programs which provide information respecting the costs and guality of health care or information respecting health insurance policies and prepaid health plans.
Authorizes the Secretary to support nonprofit private entities working in health information and health promotion, preventive health services, and education in the appropriate use of health care.
Directs the Secretary to conduct and support, by grant or contract, such activities as are necessary to make health information and health promotion information available to the consumers of medical care, providers of such care, schools, and other interested parties.
Requires the Secretary to submit an annual report to Congress on the status of health concerns reflected by this title, each such report to include a description and evaluation of activities carried out under this title and relevant legislative recommendations.
Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of health education services and preventive health services to determine the coverage of such services under public and private health insurance programs.
Directs the Secretary to establish within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare an Office of Health Information and Health Promotion to establish a national information clearinghouse to facilitate the exchange of information on health concerns under this title.
=Title II: Disease Control= - Disease Control Amendments - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States and public nonprofit entities to assist them in meeting the costs of disease prevention and control programs. Directs the Secretary to give special consideration to programs to increase the immunization rates of any population identified as not having received the generally recognized disease immunizations. Authorizes the appropriation of specified amounts to carry out the purposes of this title in fiscal years 1976 through 1978.
Requires the Secretary to submit to the President for submission to Congress an annual report on the effectiveness of all Federal, public and private activities in preventing and controlling specified diseases.
Authorizes the Secretary to develop a plan under which resources of the Public Health Service and other agencies under the Secretary's jurisdiction could be effectively used to control epidemics of specified diseases and other health emergencies. Permits the Secretaries to extend temporary assistance to States or localities in meeting health emergencies.
Extends programs to combat veneral disease through fiscal year 1978 and authorizes specified sums to carry out such programs.
Amends the Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Act in require federally funded following-up programs to include measures to eliminate lead-based paint hazards from surfaces in and around residential dwelling units.
Directs the Consumer Product Safety Commission to take such steps as are necessary to prohibit the application of lead-based paint to any toy or furniture article. Directs the Commission to determine whether or not a level of lead in paint greater than six one-hundredeths of one percent but not in excess of five-tenth of one percent is safe, the definition of "lead-based paint" under such Act to be revised in accordance unit the Commission's findings.
Authorizes the appropriation of specified sums for fiscal year years 1976 through 1978 to carry out the purposes of such Act.
=Title III: Miscellaneous Amendment= - Amends the Public Health Service Act to redefine "State" as, in addition to the several States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Jun 23, 1976Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- PresidentPresident · Public law 94-317.
- Jun 11, 1976PresidentPresident · Measure presented to President.
- Jun 10, 1976PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in Senate.
- Jun 9, 1976PresidentPresident · Measure enrolled in House.
- Jun 7, 1976Resolving differencesResolving differences · House agreed to Senate amendment.
- May 26, 1976Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to House amendment with an amendment.
- Apr 7, 1976FloorFloor · Measure passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 12678.
- Aug 1, 1975CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Energy and Commerce Committee
- Jul 30, 1975FloorFloor · Measure passed Senate, amended.
- Jul 24, 1975CommitteeCommittee · Reported by Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
- Apr 17, 1975CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.