A bill to reauthorize and enhance Johanna's Law to increase public awareness and knowledge with respect to gynecologic cancers.

Mr. President, I rise today to discuss a bill that I filed, called the Electric Consumer Right to Know Act. This bill takes a common-sense step toward broadening consumers' access to data about their electricity usage. On top of that, I am proud to say that this idea came directly from one of my Colorado constituents.

In today's marketplace, consumers have a clear understanding of the price of gasoline and what their car mileage means for their pocket books. They also have ready access to the number of minutes remaining on their cell phone. However, consumers lack clear, timely data about their electricity use and its price. Providing increased transparency will help consumers with their decisions about electricity usage in their home or business.

The bill I filed today would provide timely access to these data by establishing consumers' clear right to access data on their own electricity usage. This right is an important step toward a more effective, reliable and efficient electrical grid, and a step toward helping consumers use electricity more efficiently and save money on their electric bills.

For the past year I have been travelling across Colorado as part of a work force tour to talk directly to Coloradans and hear their innovative policy ideas to create jobs, including hosting an Energy Jobs Summit in Denver back in February. As part of this Summit, we asked experts in energy policy and business to join us for a conversation about how we can better position Colorado and the United States to lead in the 21st century clean energy economy.

We heard from Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Governor Bill Ritter, Senator Michael Bennet, and Congressman Ed Perlmutter. But, more importantly, we heard from Coloradans who came to share their views on what the Federal Government can do, or in some instances not do, to support job creation and transition to cleaner and more efficient energy use.

One consumer participant at the Summit noted that, even though he had a smart meter at his home, his power company would not let him access his electrical meter readings to learn how he was using electricity. If he could access those readings, he could better understand his energy use, learn how to be more energy efficient and save money. That is why I am introducing the Electric Consumer Right to Know Act to improve communication between the consumers and their utility, spur innovation in developing creative technologies that will save energy, and provide clarity while these programs are being developed.

This bill has several important parts. First, it establishes a framework for the right to access information, defining specifically what that right means, and giving clarity to those who will further develop and enforce that right. This bill says that if you have a smart meter, or similar electronic device that reads electric energy usage, that you ought to have access to the utility company's data on your energy use.

How that access is granted is delineated in three ways in this bill:

If your meter communicates with your utility on an hourly or shorter time interval, my bill states that your meter readings should be available within 24 hours.

Second, if your smart meter is capable of communicating energy use data directly from your meter, under this bill, you have the right to access those data and use them directly at your home or business.

Third, for consumers who have standard meters, with this bill, there are no additional requirements except that your readings shall be available electronically in a timely manner.

Next, the bill directs the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission to convene an open, extensive and inclusive stakeholder process to work through the details of this measure to ensure that implementing the consumers' right to access their information also retains consumer privacy, and ensures the integrity and reliability of the grid.

The outcome of this process will be national guidelines establishing the right of consumers to access their electricity data, including minimum national standards that utilities must meet to ensure that right of access. In developing those minimum standards, the FERC will take into consideration the ongoing and important work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in developing a smart grid roadmap, as well as the innovative state and local programs already being developed across the country to integrate smart meters into the electrical grid, including Colorado, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and others.

In Colorado, Xcel Energy has been working with the City of Boulder on a pilot program called SmartGridCity to develop a community-scale smart grid with over 20,000 residents participating. Not only are these consumers improving their understanding of their electricity use, Xcel notes that they have already avoided several blackouts due to the improved communication between consumers and the grid. Power interruptions cost the American economy roughly $80 billion per year and \2/3\ of those losses come from interruptions lasting less than five minutes. I am proud to see Coloradans and our state's utilities taking important steps together in learning how to make the grid more reliable, efficient, and help save everyone money.

Finally, part of ensuring the right to access your data includes the right to retain the privacy of your data. When consumers gain access to their data, they will also need to clearly understand how it will be used, especially when consumers grant third-party access to it. This is why this bill states that the FERC will establish, among other important measures, guidelines for consumer consent requirements. Retaining privacy is critical to building consumer trust in the smart grid and facilitating the transition to when the smart grid becomes a part of everyday life for every American family.

I look forward to working with my colleagues and all interested stakeholders in establishing this right, defining it in a way that eliminates unintended consequences, and enforcing this right in a way that improves the efficient use of electrical energy.

This bill is an important first step in implementing smart meters across the country, moving us toward an electrical grid that is more reliable and more efficient a smart grid' if you will. There are several pieces of the puzzle that will be required to realize that future, and one critical part of that puzzle is the right of consumers to access their electricity data. I urge my colleagues of both parties to join me in supporting this important legislation.

Mr. President, I have sought recognition today to introduce The Gynecological Cancer Education and Awareness Act of 2010 also known as Johanna's Law.

Every year, over 80,000 women in the United States are newly diagnosed with some form of gynecologic cancer such as ovarian, uterine, or cervical cancer. In 2009, 28,000 American women are estimated to have died from these cancers.

Early detection of these cancers must be improved to decrease this tragic loss of life. Unfortunately, thousands of women in the U.S. each year aren't diagnosed until their cancers have progressed to more advanced and far less treatable stages. In the case of ovarian cancer, which kills more women in the U.S. than all other gynecologic cancers combined, more than 40 percent of all new diagnoses take place after this cancer has progressed beyond its earliest and most survivable stage.

Women are often diagnosed many months, sometimes more than a year after they first experience symptoms due to a lack of knowledge of early warning signs of gynecological cancers. Adding to the challenge of a prompt and accurate diagnosis is the similarity of gynecological cancer symptoms to those of more common gastrointestinal conditions and benign gynecologic conditions such as perimenopause and menopause. Women too often receive diagnoses reflecting these benign conditions without their physicians having first considered gynecologic cancers as a possible cause of the symptoms.

The Gynecological Cancer Education and Awareness Act has improved early detection of gynecologic cancers by creating a national awareness and an education outreach campaign to inform physicians and individuals of the risk factors and symptoms of these diseases. When gynecological cancer is detected in its earliest stage, patients 5-year survival rates are greater than 90 percent and many go on to live normal, healthy lives.

The national awareness campaign has been carried out by the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, to increase women's awareness and knowledge of gynecologic cancers. The campaign has maintained and distributed a supply of written materials that provide information to the public about gynecologic cancers. Further, the program has developed public service announcements encouraging women to discuss their risks for gynecologic cancers with their physicians, and inform the public about the availability of written materials and how to obtain them. The cost of continuing this awareness campaign is $5.5 million per year from 2010-2012, totaling $16.5 million.

The educational outreach campaign will be carried out through demonstration grants through HHS. These demonstration grants will go to local and national non-profits to test different outreach and education strategies, including those directed at providers, women, and their families. Groups with demonstrated expertise in gynecologic cancer education, treatment, or in working with groups of women who are at especially high risk will be given priority. Grant funding recipients will also be asked to work in cooperation with health providers, hospitals, and state health departments. The projected cost of the educational outreach campaign is $5 million per year from 2010-2012, totaling $15 million.

This legislation was brought to my attention by my friend Fran Drescher, who was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2000 and whose diagnosis was also delayed due to her lack of knowledge about symptoms of this disease. She has recovered from uterine cancer and is advocating on behalf of gynecological cancer awareness. She also brought to my attention one of the many victims of gynecological cancers, Johanna Silver Gordon, after whom this bill is named, who was diagnosed at an advanced stage of ovarian cancer.

Johanna, the daughter and sister of physicians, was extremely health conscious taking the appropriate measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle including exercising regularly, eating nutritiously, and receiving annual pap smears and pelvic exams. Johanna however did not have the information to know that the gastric symptoms she experienced in the fall of 1996 were common symptoms of ovarian cancer. She didn't learn these crucial facts until after she was diagnosed at an advanced stage of this cancer. Despite aggressive treatment that included four surgeries, various types of chemotherapy, and participation in two clinical trials, Johanna died from ovarian cancer 3 1/2 years after being diagnosed. Johanna is survived by her sister Sheryl Silver who has tirelessly worked to increase the information available regarding gynecological cancers.

As former Chairman and Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, I led, along with Senator Harkin, the effort to double funding for the National Institutes of Health, NIH, over 5 years. Funding

for the NIH has increased from $12 billion in fiscal year 1995 to $27 billion in fiscal year 2003. In 2004, the NIH, through the National Cancer Institute provided $243 million for gynecological cancer research. We must continue this growth to gain more information about gynecological cancers so that we can find a cure for this cancer.

I believe this bill can provide desperately needed information to physicians and individuals so that women can be diagnosed faster and more effectively. I urge my colleagues to move this legislation forward promptly.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague Senator Barrasso in introducing the Rural Mobility and Access for America Act.

The transportation challenges in rural States are unique. In my State of North Dakota, we have more miles of road per capita than any State in the Nation. There are more than 11,000 miles of highway in North Dakota, which translates into approximately 166 miles of road for every 1,000 people in North Dakota. We have a very large road network with a small population base to support it. In fact, North Dakota only has 16 people supporting each lane mile of Federal-aid road. The national average is 129 people per lane mile.

Highways in North Dakota and other rural States connect the Nation and help ensure the effective movement of people and goods across the country. Today, the highways in the western part of my State are being impacted by a rise in truck traffic as a result of the oil boom occurring from the development of the Bakken formation. Our roads and highways are seeing a dramatic increase in trucks that are transporting supplies to the oil fields or oil to gathering lines.

The agriculture industry is also reliant on a strong, nationally connected road network to move products and services. Approximately 69 percent of the goods shipped annually from North Dakota are carried by truck. Significant and growing agricultural businesses throughout my state rely on the road network to receive raw goods and transport their finished products to market.

In addition, we have a large percentage of truck traffic that crosses our state. Sixty percent of the truck traffic does not originate or terminate within the state, but it still has an impact on our highways. In the next 10 years, commercial trucking in North Dakota is expected to increase by 42 percent.

Discussions surrounding the reauthorization of the highway bill have focused on congestion and the needs of large metropolitan areas. Some of the proposals being advanced shift money from the traditional highway formula programs to set-asides for large metro areas. However, maintaining a nationally connected system requires substantial investments in highways in and across rural areas as well.

It is important that our transportation policy continues to recognize the importance of investment in rural States, like North Dakota. The bill I am introducing with Senator Barrasso makes certain rural States are not left behind. Under this proposal, if a metro mobility program is included in the highway reauthorization, a corresponding rural program would be funded at a level equal to \1/3\ of the amount provided for the metro mobility program. The funds would be distributed evenly to the 18 States that qualify under our bill, and the States could use the funds for any of the eligible uses under the Surface Transportation Program.

Our bill provides an important balance to make sure our roads, both urban and rural, get the support necessary to maintain a nationally connected system. I urge my colleagues to support it.