S.Amdt. 2946

SA 2946 is an amendment submitted by Mr. Schatz and Ms. Hirono to be added to bill S. 2296. It aims to add a section to title III focused on the Red Hill Health Registry.

The purpose of this amendment is to require the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to create a voluntary registry to collect data on the health effects of petroleum-contaminated water for impacted and potentially impacted individuals.

The amendment adds the following requirements:

• Data Collection and Reporting: The Secretary of Defense must submit an annual report to congressional defense committees and publish it online. This report must include the number of people enrolled, the frequency of follow-up for data and specimens, and a summary of analyses regarding health, exposure, and developmental milestones.

• Collaboration: The Secretary of Defense can hire independent research institutes, consultants, nonprofits, public entities, laboratories, or medical schools to help. They must also consult with non-Federal experts in fields such as toxicology, epidemiology, pediatrics, environmental health, and mental health, as well as members of the impacted community.

• Funding: The activities must be paid for using money previously appropriated for the Defense Health Agency.

• Definitions:

  • Red Hill Incident: The release of fuel from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility into the basal aquifer on November 20, 2021, which contaminated the water system at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
  • Impacted individual: Someone who lived or worked in a building served by that water system at the time of the incident.
  • Potentially impacted individual: Someone who lived or worked in a building served by that water system after the incident, including those who are not beneficiaries of the military health system.