On May 4, 2018, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) submitted a letter to members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on a discussion draft of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (PAHPAI). Among many other recommendations outlined in the letter, NACCHO requests an increased authorization level of $824 million for PHEP and continued allocation of a base amount of funds to each existing PHEP awardee. NACCHO developed the letter with input from local health departments via NACCHO’s standing preparedness advisory groups and in partnership with other national public health organizations, such as the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO.)

PAHPAI would reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Authorization Act (PAHPA), which was originally authorized in 2006 and reauthorized in 2013. Among other programs, PAHPAI would reauthorize the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) and Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), which provide funding to state and local health departments to build readiness for all-hazards emergencies. A section by section analysis of the draft is available here.