Sponsors (2)
The bill improves pediatric-focused cancer planning and guidance—likely benefiting children, adolescents, and families—at the cost of added administrative and fiscal burdens on states (especially small/rural ones), potential reallocation of limited MCH funds, and limited long-term oversight if the advisory committee sunsets.
Children and their families with cancer will see stronger pediatric-specific representation in state cancer planning, yielding more attention to pediatric prevention, treatment, and survivorship needs and likely improving care coordination and outcomes.
Adolescents and young adults with cancer will receive tailored best-practice guidance and resources to improve transitions and outcomes specific to their age group.
States and health systems will get clearer federal guidance on using HRSA/Title V and MCH block grant funds to support pediatric cancer care, improving coordination of services across programs.
States that cannot identify or designate pediatric oncology expertise risk delays or reductions in CDC funding, which could slow development or implementation of comprehensive cancer-control plans and harm broader prevention and care programs.
Smaller and rural states may incur material costs and administrative burdens to recruit, designate, or compensate pediatric oncology specialists to meet the requirement.
Requiring or encouraging use of MCH block grant funds for pediatric cancer initiatives could reduce funding available for other maternal and child health priorities at the state level.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Conditions CDC grant eligibility on states having two pediatric cancer experts on their cancer coalitions, creates a pediatric cancer advisory committee, and expands MCH block grant purposes to fund pediatric cancer initiatives.
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to ensure that pediatric cancer experts are represented in State comprehensive cancer control coalitions, to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a pediatric cancer advisory committee, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 16, 2026 by Josh S. Gottheimer · Last progress September 16, 2026
Conditions federal funding for state comprehensive cancer control plans on having at least two pediatric cancer experts on each state's cancer control coalition, creates a short-lived federal advisory committee to develop pediatric-cancer guidance and best practices, and explicitly allows Maternal and Child Health (MCH) block grant funds to be used for pediatric cancer initiatives that implement the committee's recommendations. The advisory committee must meet annually, produce a report within two years of its first meeting, and sunsets two years after that first meeting.