Tick Act renewed: US Lyme disease programs extended to 2030

Those two parts do three jobs, according to the release from Senator Susan Collins. She's the Maine Republican who wrote the bill with Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith.

First, it keeps the four Regional Centers of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases going through fiscal year 2030. They're at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of California, Davis, the University of Florida and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Second, it renews CDC grants to state health departments. That money pays for better data, early detection and diagnosis, treatment and public awareness. Collins's office says that since 2019 it's helped lift the number of health departments reporting tick-surveillance data from 6 to 44.

Third, it tells the Department of Health and Human Services to keep carrying out, and updating, its National Public Health Strategy to Prevent and Control Vector-Borne Diseases in People.

There's one small housekeeping change too. The strategy section used to name the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group, set up under the 21st Century Cures Act, as a body to consult. The new text swaps that for "appropriate individuals."

How much money is involved

Representative Chris Smith, the New Jersey Republican who carried the House version, put a number on it. In a statement after the House vote, his office said the law provides "$150 million over five years," made up of $50 million for the regional centers and $100 million in cooperative agreement funding for states and local areas.

Here's the catch. That's an authorization. It sets a ceiling and keeps the programs alive in law, but it doesn't hand over any cash by itself. The actual dollars still have to be approved year by year in Congress's spending bills.

Chris Smith's speech on the House floor is on his official channel. "Vector borne diseases are now endemic in regions of the country where they have not historically been present," he said, according to his office. "Disease-laden ticks are now found in all 48 contiguous U.S. states," he went on, and the problem, in his words, is "exploding" and "not abating."

Why it's named for Kay Hagan

Kay Hagan was a Democratic senator from North Carolina. She died on 28 October 2019 from complications of Powassan virus, a rare infection spread by ticks. During the House debate, Rep. Chris Smith said she "suffered a tick bite and died in 2019 from encephalitis caused by Powassan virus."

The original Kay Hagan Tick Act passed that same year, led by Collins, Tina Smith and Chris Smith. It became law as part of the fiscal 2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act. It set up the national strategy and the regional centers that this law now extends.

The case numbers behind it

The sponsors pointed to their home states. Collins's office says Maine has set a new record for Lyme disease cases every year since 2022, with more than 4,200 reported statewide last year.

In Minnesota, Tina Smith's office cited state health department figures for 2024. There were 3,551 probable Lyme cases, 627 cases of anaplasmosis, 89 of babesiosis and 14 of Powassan virus disease. "The number of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses has been rising at an alarming rate," Smith said. "This law will save lives, especially in states like Minnesota, where tick populations have been rising."

Collins's office says tick-borne diseases now make up about 75% of vector-borne diseases in the United States. The centers and grants aren't just about ticks, though. They cover the whole family of diseases spread by insects and similar carriers, including the ones mosquitoes spread.

"With Maine continuing to experience record levels of Lyme disease, we must continue working to address the growing threat posed by tick-borne diseases," Collins said. "The Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act builds on the progress we have made in combatting these diseases since the original law was enacted and ensures this important work can continue across the country."

Who backed it

Researchers and patient groups got behind the bill. The University of Maine Tick Lab, the Center for Lyme Action and the Entomological Society of America all endorsed it, according to Collins's office.

"Reauthorization of the Kay Hagan TICK Act helps maintain a national strategy for addressing these diseases and supporting the science, coordination, and public health capacity needed to respond effectively," said Griffin Dill, who runs the University of Maine Tick Lab.

Meghan Bradshaw, executive director of the Center for Lyme Action, called it "a landmark victory for the millions of Americans impacted by tick-borne diseases and a testament to what is possible when policymakers, patients, families, and advocates come together to address a growing public health crisis."

Dr Melissa Siebert, the society's 2026 president, said reauthorizing the regional centers and backing the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity grant program "will help protect communities across the country from the growing challenges posed by diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes through research, surveillance, management, and outreach."

Collins's office also says money from the original law has backed work in Maine. That includes research at the MaineHealth Institute for Research tied to a clinical trial for a Lyme disease vaccine, and the Maine CDC's tracking of diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes.

The bill's easy ride fits a pattern on Capitol Hill this year. Narrow, practical bills have moved without much drama. In September, for example, six nuclear permitting and fuel bills cleared a House committee without a single no vote.

For the four regional centers and the state health departments, the upshot's simple. Programs whose authorization had lapsed on paper are back in law for another five years. The next fight is over the money each year.