Sponsors (12)
The bill expands federal support, research, and national coordination to improve FASD prevention, diagnosis, and services, but it shifts some guarantees to discretionary funding, increases federal costs, and may impose burdens on smaller local and Tribal providers.
Children and families will get broader and more coordinated access to FASD identification, diagnosis, and local services because the bill funds Centers of Excellence, integrates a case definition into surveillance, supports clinical diagnostic guidance, and creates a national clearinghouse/directory.
State, Tribal, and local systems will receive funding, training, and technical assistance to build capacity and deliver culturally appropriate, FASD-informed prevention and intervention services.
Pregnant people and families may face lower risk of prenatal alcohol exposure because the bill authorizes public awareness and outreach about alcohol risks during pregnancy.
Children and families could lose guaranteed services because activities that were formerly mandatory are now discretionary, making funding and implementation less certain.
Smaller Tribal and local entities may face heavier administrative and eligibility burdens when applying for grants, reducing their ability to compete for funds and deliver services locally.
Allowing extensive subcontracting could shift grant dollars away from local service providers if large recipients subcontract broadly, weakening local capacity and continuity of services.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Rewrites and expands the federal FASD program to define FASD, add awareness/identification and research priorities, require a surveillance case definition, and set grant eligibility/application rules.
Official title: Amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize and extend the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Prevention and Services program, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 16, 2025 by Lisa Murkowski · Last progress January 16, 2025
Revises federal FASD program law to define “FASD,” expand program activities (including awareness, identification, and research), require integrating a case definition into surveillance, and direct federal collaboration to develop evidence-based clinical diagnostic guidelines. It also updates eligibility and application requirements for grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts under the program and converts some mandatory duties into permissive authorities for the Secretary of HHS. The changes aim to strengthen surveillance, research, clinical guidance, state and Tribal capacity building, and public awareness around fetal alcohol spectrum disorders while clarifying who can apply for federal support and what applicants must include in proposals.