Congress expands brain injury research, names program after sitting lawmaker
H.R. 1493 — To reauthorize and make improvements to Federal programs relating to the prevention, detection, and treatment of traumatic brain injuries, and for other purposes. · Filed by Frank Pallone (D-NJ) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 21, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill reauthorizes and expands federal programs for traumatic brain injury (TBI) prevention, detection, and treatment. It renames the CDC's TBI surveillance program after Bill Pascrell Jr., increases funding to $9.25 million annually (2026–2030) for CDC programs and $13.1 million for state grants, expands data collection to include high-risk populations (domestic violence survivors, sexual assault survivors, public safety officers), mandates public reporting of TBI data, and requires a two-year study on long-term TBI effects and gaps in care.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is reauthorizing and expanding federal TBI surveillance, research, and state grant programs with increased appropriations and broadened data collection mandates. The naming provision is secondary to the substantive public health mechanism.
What the text implies
- Expansion of occupational injury tracking may increase visibility of workplace TBI rates, potentially creating pressure on employers and OSHA to strengthen workplace safety standards.
- Mandatory data collection on domestic violence and sexual assault survivors with TBI may reveal previously undocumented prevalence, affecting victim services funding and policy priorities.
- Public availability of aggregated TBI data by population and risk factor creates a baseline for future litigation or regulatory action against industries or entities with high injury rates.
- The study on long-term TBI effects and dementia correlation may establish causal links that trigger new disability benefits, workers' compensation claims, or product liability exposure.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands public health surveillance, research, and state-level prevention programs for a serious injury affecting millions of Americans, with explicit focus on underserved and high-risk populations. It mandates transparency through public data availability and congressional reporting, strengthening accountability and evidence-based policy.
Who stands to gain
- nonprofit research organizations (contract recipients for TBI study)
- state health departments (grant recipients)
- American Indian tribal health programs (grant recipients)
Named in the bill
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Bill Pascrell Jr., House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, American Indian consortiums, State health agencies, Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.)
Where it stands
6 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- Feb 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 21, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
- May 21, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- May 21, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 43 - 0”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4646-4647)”
- Jul 20, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Guthrie moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Mar 2025 to Mar 2025. Those filings disclosed $286,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 30 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Frank Pallone, the sponsor, reported $1,601,749 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Service Employees International Union Ctw-clc — $286,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 9, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (8,680 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Mar 2025 to Mar 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 9, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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