The National Plan for Epilepsy Act must advance through the House of Representatives before it can be signed into law. It is being cosponsored by Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA-21) & Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC-03). In August the Senate passed their version of the bill (S.494, cosponsored by Senators Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)) with bipartisan and unanimous support.
If passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, this bill would direct the federal government to develop a National Plan for Epilepsy to prevent, diagnose, treat, and cure the epilepsies and improve the well-being of people with epilepsy and their families. This could have tremendous impact for the 85% of individuals with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) that experience epilepsy.
The House has scheduled a hearing on H.R. 1189 on Tuesday, September 15, starting at 10:15 am ET. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be live streamed online at energycommerce.house.gov. The National Plan for Epilepsy Act is 12 of 17 agenda items. Access the agenda here.
To assist with your advocacy efforts, the Epilepsy Action Network (EAN) has put together a One-Stop Voter Voice Tool to help with personalizing a message to your members of Congress urging them to support H.R. 1189.
Additional information
Save the Date – On Thursday, September 30 at 4 pm ET the Epilepsy Action Network will hold a webinar for anyone in the epilepsy community interested in learning more about the National Plan for Epilepsy and how to stay updated and engaged in its progress.
Register to join the zoom webinar here and help spread the word.
Please contact Katie Smith, Director of Government and Global Affairs at ksmith@tscalliance.org if you have any questions. Thank you for your continued advocacy on this critical initiative.