H.R. 2271 would authorize the appropriation of $33 million annually over the 2021-2024 period for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out activities that address sudden unexpected infant death (SUID). Those activities would include awarding grants to states and other organizations to develop best practices to reduce SUID, support systems to report fatalities, and provide services to families who have had a child die of SUID. In 2019, approximately $2 million was allocated to support systems to report fatalities. The legislation also would require HHS to report biennially on the activities implemented related to SUID and to provide technical assistance to states receiving grants.
Assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts and based on historical spending for similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would cost $121 million over the 2020-2025 period. The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 550 (health).
On November 27, 2019, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S.1130, the Scarlett’s Sunshine on Sudden Unexpected Death Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on November 27, 2019. The two pieces of legislation are similar. However, unlike S. 1130, H.R. 2271 would authorize HHS to provide grants to states to provide services to families who have had a child die of SUID. Thus, CBO’s estimate of the cost of implementing H.R. 2271 is correspondingly higher.
