42 U.S.C. § 203 — Organization of Service

Page 56 TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE § 203 1 So in original. The ‘‘and’’ probably should not appear. 2 So in original. Probably should be followed by ‘‘(5)’’. 3 See 1993 Amendment note below. the President under the Public Health Service Act (58 Stat. 682), as amended [42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.]: (a) The authority under Section 203 (42 U.S.C. 204): to appoint commissioned officers of the Reserve Corps [now Ready Reserve Corps]. (b) The authority under Section 206(b) (42 U.S.C. 207(b)) to prescribe titles, appropriate to the several grades, for commissioned officers of the Public Health Service other than medical officers. (c) The authority under Section 207(a)(2) (42 U.S.C. 209(a)(2)) to terminate commissions of officers of the Reserve Corps without the consent of the officers con- cerned. (d) The authority under Section 210(a), (k), and (l) (42 U.S.C. 211(a), (k), and (l)) to make or terminate tem- porary promotions of commissioned officers of the Reg- ular Corps and Reserve Corps. (e) The authority under Section 211(a)(5) (42 U.S.C. 212(a)(5)) to approve voluntary retirements under that section. (f) The authority to prescribe regulations under the following-designated Sections: 207(a), 207(b), 208(e), 210(a), 210(b), 210(d)(1), 210(h), 210(i), 210(j)(1), 210(k), 215(a), 218(a), 219(a), and 510 (42 U.S.C. 209(a), 209(b), 210(e), 211(a), 211(b), 211(d)(1), 211(h), 211(i), 211(j)(1), 211(k), 216(a), 218a(a), 210–1(a), and 228). (g) The authority under Sections 321(a) and 364(a) (42 U.S.C. 248(a) and 267(a)) to approve the selection of suit- able sites for and the establishment of additional insti- tutions, hospitals, stations, grounds, and anchorages; subject, however, to the approval of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, except as he may otherwise provide. SEC. 2. The Surgeon General is hereby authorized and empowered, without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President, to perform the function vested in the President by Sections 203 and 207(a)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (58 Stat. 683, 685), as amend- ed (42 U.S.C. 204 and 209(a)(2)), or otherwise, of accept- ing voluntary resignations of commissioned officers of the Regular Corps or the Reserve Corps [now Ready Re- serve Corps]. SEC. 3. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is hereby authorized and empowered, without the ap- proval, ratification, or other action of the President, to exercise the authority vested in the President by Sec- tion 704 of Title 37 of the United States Code to pre- scribe regulations. SEC. 4. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is hereby authorized to redelegate all or any part of the functions set forth under (a), (b), (c), and (d) of Section 1 hereof to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service or other official of that Service who is required to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. SEC. 5. All actions heretofore taken by appropriate authority with respect to the matters affected by this order and in force at the time of the issuance of this order, including any regulations prescribed or approved with respect to such matters, shall, except as they may be inconsistent with the provisions of this order, re- main in effect until amended, modified, or revoked pur- suant to the authority conferred by this order. SEC. 6. As used in this order, the term ‘‘functions’’ embraces duties, powers, responsibilities, authority, or discretion, and the term ‘‘perform’’ may be construed to mean ‘‘exercise’’. SEC. 7. (a) Executive Order No. 10506 of December 10, 1953, entitled ‘‘Delegating Certain Functions of the President under the Public Health Service Act,’’ is hereby superseded. (b) Executive Orders Nos. 9993 of August 31, 1948, 10031 of January 26, 1949, 10280 of August 16, 1951, 10354 of May 26, 1952, and 10497 of October 27, 1953, which prescribed regulations relating to commissioned officers and em- ployees of the Public Health Service, are hereby re- voked. Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to alter or otherwise affect the regulations prescribed by the Surgeon General (42 CFR Parts 21 and 22) to replace the regulations prescribed by the orders described in the preceding sentence. § 203. Organization of Service The Service shall consist of (1) the Office of the Surgeon General, (2) the National Institutes of Health, (3) the Bureau of Medical Services, and 1 (4) the Bureau of State Services, and 2 the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The Secretary is authorized and directed to as- sign to the Office of the Surgeon General,3 to the National Institutes of Health, to the Bureau of Medical Services, and to the Bureau of State Services, respectively, the several functions of the Service, and to establish within them such divisions, sections, and other units as he may find necessary; and from time to time abolish, transfer, and consolidate divisions, sections, and other units and assign their functions and per- sonnel in such manner as he may find necessary for efficient operation of the Service. No divi- sion shall be established, abolished, or trans- ferred, and no divisions shall be consolidated, except with the approval of the Secretary. The National Institutes of Health shall be adminis- tered as a part of the field service. The Sec- retary may delegate to any officer or employee of the Service such of his powers and duties under this chapter, except the making of regula- tions, as he may deem necessary or expedient. (July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title II, § 202, 58 Stat. 683; June 16, 1948, ch. 481, § 6(b), 62 Stat. 469; 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 1, §§ 5, 8, eff. Apr. 11, 1953, 18 F.R. 2053, 67 Stat. 631; Pub. L. 103–43, title XX, § 2008(g), June 10, 1993, 107 Stat. 212; Pub. L. 106–129, § 2(b)(2), Dec. 6, 1999, 113 Stat. 1670.) Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1999—Pub. L. 106–129 substituted ‘‘Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’’ for ‘‘Agency for Health Care Policy and Research’’. 1993—Pub. L. 103–43, § 2008(g)(2), inserted ‘‘, and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research’’ in first sentence. Pub. L. 103–43, § 2008(g)(1), which directed the amend- ment of this section by striking ‘‘Surgeon General’’ the second and subsequent times that such term appears and inserting ‘‘Secretary’’, was executed by making the substitution before ‘‘is authorized and directed’’ and before ‘‘may delegate to any officer’’ and by leaving un- changed ‘‘Surgeon General’’ in the phrase ‘‘assign to the Office of the Surgeon General’’ in second sentence, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. 1948—Act June 16, 1948, substituted ‘‘National Insti- tutes of Health’’ for ‘‘National Institute of Health’’ in cl. (2). Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries CHANGE OF NAME ‘‘Secretary of Health and Human Services’’ sub- stituted in text for ‘‘Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare’’ pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96–88, which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Edu- cation. Executive Documents TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS Bureau of Medical Services, Bureau of State Services, National Institutes of Health, excluding several re- Page 57 TITLE 42—THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE § 204 search Institutes in agency, and Office of Surgeon Gen- eral abolished by section 3 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1966, eff. June 25, 1966, 31 F.R. 8855, 80 Stat. 1610, and all func- tions thereof transferred to Secretary of Health, Edu- cation, and Welfare by section 1 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1966, set out as a note under section 202 of this title. Of- fice of Surgeon General reestablished within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, see Notice of De- partment of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Mar. 30, 1987, 52 F.R. 11754. Functions of Federal Security Administrator trans- ferred to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and all agencies of Federal Security Agency transferred to Department of Health, Education, and Welfare by section 5 of Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1953, set out as a note under section 3501 of this title. Federal Security Agen- cy and office of Administrator abolished by section 8 of Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1953. § 204. Commissioned Corps and Ready Reserve Corps (a) Establishment (1) In general There shall be in the Service a commis- sioned Regular Corps and, for service in time of a public health or national emergency, a Ready Reserve Corps. (2) Requirement All commissioned officers shall be citizens of the United States and shall be appointed with- out regard to the civil-service laws and com- pensated without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended. (3) Appointment Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall be appointed by the President and commissioned officers of the Regular Corps shall be appointed by the President. (4) Active duty Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall at all times be subject to call to active duty by the Surgeon General, including active duty for the purpose of training. (5) Warrant officers Warrant officers may be appointed to the Service for the purpose of providing support to the health and delivery systems maintained by the Service and any warrant officer ap- pointed to the Service shall be considered for purposes of this chapter and title 37 to be a commissioned officer within the Commis- sioned Corps of the Service. (b) Assimilating Reserve Corps officers into the Regular Corps Effective on March 23, 2010, all individuals classified as officers in the Reserve Corps under this section (as such section existed on the day before March 23, 2010) and serving on active duty shall be deemed to be commissioned officers of the Regular Corps. (c) Purpose and use of Ready Reserve Corps (1) Purpose The purpose of the Ready Reserve Corps is to fulfill the need to have additional Commis- sioned Corps personnel available on short no- tice (similar to the uniformed service’s reserve program) to assist regular Commissioned Corps personnel to meet both routine public health and emergency response missions dur- ing public health or national emergencies. (2) Uses The Ready Reserve Corps shall, consistent with paragraph (1)— (A) participate in routine training to meet the general and specific needs of the Com- missioned Corps; (B) be available and ready for involuntary calls to active duty during national emer- gencies and public health crises, similar to the uniformed service reserve personnel; (C) be available for backfilling critical po- sitions left vacant during deployment of ac- tive duty Commissioned Corps members dur- ing such emergencies, as well as for deploy- ment to respond to public health emer- gencies, both foreign and domestic; and (D) be available for service assignment in isolated, hardship, and medically under- served communities (as defined in section 295p of this title) to improve access to health services, consistent with subparagraph (C). (3) Statutory references to reserve A reference in any Federal statute, except in the case of subsection (b), to the ‘‘Reserve Corps’’ of the Public Health Service or to the ‘‘reserve’’ of the Public Health Service shall be deemed to be a reference to the Ready Reserve Corps. (d) Funding For the purpose of carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the Commissioned Corps under this section, there are authorized to be ap- propriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for recruitment and training and $12,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for the Ready Reserve Corps. (July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title II, § 203, 58 Stat. 683; Feb. 28, 1948, ch. 83, § 2, 62 Stat. 39; Oct. 28, 1949, ch. 782, title XI, § 1106(a), 63 Stat. 972; Pub. L. 96–76, title III, § 302(a), Sept. 29, 1979, 93 Stat. 584; Pub. L. 111–148, title V, § 5210, Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 614; Pub. L. 112–166, § 2(ff)(1), Aug. 10, 2012, 126 Stat. 1290; Pub. L. 116–136, div. A, title III, § 3214(a), Mar. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 372.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The Classification Act of 1923, as amended, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), is act Mar. 4, 1923, ch. 265, 42 Stat. 1488, which was classified to section 661 et seq. of former Title 5, Executive Departments and Government Offi- cers and Employees, and was repealed by act Oct. 28, 1949, ch. 782, title XII, § 1202, 63 Stat. 972. AMENDMENTS 2020—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 116–136, § 3214(a)(1), sub- stituted ‘‘, for service in time of a public health or na- tional emergency, a Ready Reserve Corps’’ for ‘‘a Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency’’. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 116–136, § 3214(a)(2)(A), substituted ‘‘Reserve Corps’’ for ‘‘Research’’ in heading. Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 116–136, § 3214(a)(2)(B), inserted ‘‘during public health or national emergencies’’ before period at end. Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 116–136, § 3214(a)(2)(C)(i), in- serted ‘‘, consistent with paragraph (1)’’ after ‘‘shall’’ in introductory provisions.