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                                                      PRINTER'S NO. 1517

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA


SENATE BILL

No. 1132 Session of 2007


        INTRODUCED BY WONDERLING, VANCE, SCARNATI, ORIE, FERLO,
           RAFFERTY, O'PAKE, GORDNER, KITCHEN, BOSCOLA, REGOLA AND
           C. WILLIAMS, NOVEMBER 2, 2007

        REFERRED TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, NOVEMBER 2, 2007

                                     AN ACT

     1  Providing for the collection and banking of placental and
     2     umbilical cord blood for therapeutic transplantation and
     3     research; and making an appropriation.

     4     The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     5  hereby enacts as follows:
     6  Section 1.  Short title.
     7     This act shall be known and may be cited as the Statewide
     8  Public Cord Blood Banking Act.
     9  Section 2.  Findings and purpose.
    10     (a)  Findings.--The General Assembly finds as follows:
    11         (1)  Scientists have determined that placental and
    12     umbilical cord blood hold tremendous promise in their ability
    13     to provide a rich supply of stem cells for new treatments for
    14     many lethal blood diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma,
    15     severe aplastic anemia, myelodysplasia, and for some immune
    16     and metabolic diseases, including severe combined
    17     immunodeficiency, "Bubble Boy" disease, Adrenoleukodystrophy
    18     "Lorenzo's Oil" disease and Krabbe Disease.

     1         (2)  Stem cells can be isolated from placental and cord
     2     blood that would normally be discarded or destroyed after a
     3     healthy birth. However, many women are not aware of their
     4     option to donate placental and umbilical cord blood, and thus
     5     the blood is often discarded as medical waste after
     6     childbirth.
     7         (3)  Cord blood transplants are a real alternative to
     8     bone marrow transplants. Public cord blood donations are
     9     especially critical for racial and ethnic minorities having
    10     special difficulty in finding matching unrelated bone marrow
    11     donors for therapeutic treatment of various diseases.
    12         (4)  Annually, there are over 4,000,000 births in the
    13     United States and over 144,000 births in this Commonwealth.
    14         (5)  There are a limited number of public cord blood
    15     banks in the United States and there are no public blood
    16     banks operating in this Commonwealth. Currently, there are no
    17     Pennsylvania hospitals that have collaborating arrangements
    18     with regional public cord blood banks due to the expense of
    19     ensuring appropriate screening, testing, collecting and
    20     storing of cord blood units.
    21         (6)  Although the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Act
    22     of 2005 (Public Law 109-129, 42 U.S.C. § 274l-1 et seq.) has
    23     the goal of creating a public inventory of 150,000 high-
    24     quality cord blood units to be made available for
    25     transplantation, additional regional qualified public cord
    26     banks are critical to help meet this goal.
    27         (7)  Investing in public cord blood banking in this
    28     Commonwealth will lead to better treatments of diseases that
    29     will ultimately help to reduce long-term health care costs on
    30     taxpayers of this Commonwealth.
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     1     (b)  Purpose.--The purpose of this act is to do all of the
     2  following:
     3         (1)  Establish a coordinating Statewide Public Cord Blood
     4     Bank:
     5             (i)  To establish collaborating arrangements with
     6         qualified hospital facilities that would allow consenting
     7         cord blood donors to donate, free of charge, placental
     8         and umbilical cord blood following delivery.
     9             (ii)  To acquire, tissue-type, cryopreserve and store
    10         donated units of cord blood.
    11             (iii)  To make cord blood units available to
    12         transplant centers for stem cell transplantation with the
    13         primary goal of serving residents of this Commonwealth
    14         who require transplantation.
    15             (iv)  To make cord blood units that are collected,
    16         but not appropriate for clinical use, available for peer-
    17         reviewed research.
    18             (v)  To coordinate with and make cord blood data
    19         available to C. W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation
    20         Program.
    21         (2)  Require the Department of Health to develop and
    22     distribute educational materials for health care
    23     professionals to inform them of the value of placental and
    24     umbilical cord blood donations.
    25  Section 3.  Definitions.
    26     The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
    27  have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
    28  context clearly indicates otherwise:
    29     "Cord blood donor."  A mother who has delivered a baby and
    30  consents to donate the neonatal blood remaining in the placenta
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     1  and umbilical cord after separation from the newborn baby.
     2     "Cord blood unit."  The neonatal blood collected from the
     3  placenta and umbilical cord of a single newborn baby.
     4     "C. W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program."  The program
     5  established under section 379 of the Public Health Service Act
     6  (58 Stat. 682, 42 U.S.C. § 274k).
     7     "Department."  The Department of Health of the Commonwealth.
     8     "Qualified cord blood bank."  A cord blood bank as defined
     9  under the Public Health Service Act (58 Stat. 682, 42 U.S.C. §
    10  274k).
    11     "Qualified hospital facilities."  A hospital or birthing
    12  center licensed under the laws of this Commonwealth that meets
    13  the standards for cord blood collection facilities as set forth
    14  under standards of the American Association of Blood Banks, the
    15  Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy or other
    16  accreditation entity recognized by the Secretary of Health and
    17  Human Services under the Public Health Service Act (58 Stat.
    18  682, 42 U.S.C. § 274k).
    19  Section 4.  Grant.
    20     The department shall make a grant to a qualified cord blood
    21  bank located in this Commonwealth which shall be designated as
    22  the Statewide Public Cord Blood Bank and which shall carry out
    23  the purposes authorized under this act from any funds
    24  appropriated for these purposes. In the event no entity
    25  satisfies the definition of a qualified cord blood bank, the
    26  department may award a grant to an entity in order to enable the
    27  entity to become a qualified cord blood bank.
    28  Section 5.  Limits on use of funds.
    29     (a)  Agreement.--Funds appropriated to carry out the purposes
    30  of this act may be expended only for the establishment or
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     1  operation of the Statewide Public Cord Blood Bank.
     2     (b)  Human embryonic stem cell research.--Any entity seeking
     3  a grant under this act shall not be awarded a grant if it does
     4  any of the following:
     5         (1)  Performs or engages in research involving stem cell
     6     lines derived from a living human embryo, other than research
     7     conducted on human embryonic stem cell lines existing on
     8     August 9, 2001, and for which Federal funding is available.
     9         (2)  Controls, is a subsidiary or an affiliate of an
    10     entity or facility performing or engaging in research under
    11     paragraph (1).
    12  Section 6.  Access and delivery of cord blood units.
    13     The Statewide Public Cord Blood Bank shall not charge for a
    14  search of its cord blood inventory made by or on behalf of a
    15  resident of this Commonwealth for the purpose of locating cord
    16  blood units for therapeutic transplant. The Statewide Public
    17  Cord Blood Bank is authorized to charge for access to and
    18  delivery of cord blood units to transplant facilities or to
    19  facilities performing or engaging in research involving cord
    20  blood units.
    21  Section 7.  Donations.
    22     Any person making a donation to the Statewide Public Cord
    23  Blood Bank relinquishes all claims to the material. A parent or
    24  guardian may donate cord blood unit or related material to the
    25  Statewide Public Cord Blood Bank. All donors of cord blood unit
    26  or related material shall be entitled to the immunity granted
    27  under 42 Pa.C.S. § 8333(a) (relating to body fluid and tissue
    28  limited civil immunity).
    29  Section 8.  Educational materials.
    30     The department, in consultation with the qualified cord blood
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     1  bank awarded a grant under this act, shall prepare educational
     2  materials which shall be distributed to all health care
     3  professionals and facilities in this Commonwealth providing
     4  health care services to expectant mothers.
     5  Section 9.  Appropriation.
     6     The sum of $5,000,000 is appropriated to the Department of
     7  Health to carry out the provisions of this act.
     8  Section 20.  Effective date.
     9     This act shall take effect in 60 days.














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