Sec. 30612. Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program
931 words·~4 min read·
/bill/116/hr/6800/ih/section-30612A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new subpart: The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish a program to be known as the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (referred to in this section as the Program ) to assure an adequate supply of and encourage recruitment of public health professionals to eliminate critical public health workforce shortages in local, State, territorial, and Tribal public health agencies.
To be eligible to participate in the Program, an individual shall— be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, as a student in an accredited academic educational institution in a State or territory in the final semester or equivalent of a course of study or program leading to a public health degree, a health professions degree or certificate, or a degree in computer science, information science, information systems, information technology, or statistics and have accepted employment with a local, State, territorial, or Tribal public health agency, or a related training fellowship, as recognized by the Secretary, to commence upon graduation; or have graduated, during the preceding 10-year period, from an accredited educational institution in a State or territory and received a public health degree, a health professions degree or certificate, or a degree in computer science, information science, information systems, information technology, or statistics; and be employed by, or have accepted employment with, a local, State, territorial, or Tribal public health agency or a related training fellowship, as recognized by the Secretary; be a United States citizen; submit an application to the Secretary to participate in the Program; and execute a written contract as required in subsection (c); and not have received, for the same service, a reduction of loan obligations under section 428K or 428L of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1078–11 , 1078–12).
The written contract referred to in subsection (b)(3)(B) between the Secretary and an individual shall contain— an agreement on the part of the Secretary that the Secretary will repay, on behalf of the individual, loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the relevant degree or certificate in accordance with the terms of the contract; an agreement on the part of the individual that the individual will serve in the full-time employment of a local, State, or Tribal public health agency or a related fellowship program in a position related to the course of study or program for which the contract was awarded for a period of time equal to the greater of— 2 years; or such longer period of time as determined appropriate by the Secretary and the individual; an agreement, as appropriate, on the part of the individual to relocate to a priority service area (as determined by the Secretary) in exchange for an additional loan repayment incentive amount to be determined by the Secretary; a provision that any financial obligation of the United States arising out of a contract entered into under this section and any obligation of the individual that is conditioned thereon, is contingent on funds being appropriated for loan repayments under this section; a statement of the damages to which the United States is entitled, under this section for the individual’s breach of the contract; and such other statements of the rights and liabilities of the Secretary and of the individual as the Secretary determines appropriate, not inconsistent with this section.
A loan repayment provided for an individual under a written contract referred to in subsection (b)(3)(B) shall consist of payment, in accordance with paragraph (2), for the individual toward the outstanding principal and interest on education loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the relevant degree in accordance with the terms of the contract. In awarding contracts under this section, the Secretary shall ensure— a certain percentage of contracts are awarded to individuals who are not already working in public health departments; an equitable distribution of funds geographically; and an equitable distribution among State, local, territorial, and Tribal public health departments.
For each year of service that an individual contracts to serve pursuant to subsection (c)(2), the Secretary may pay not more than $35,000 on behalf of the individual for loans described in paragraph (1). With respect to participants under the Program whose total eligible loans are less than $105,000, the Secretary shall pay an amount that does not exceed ⅓ of the eligible loan balance for each year of such service of such individual. For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a payment made under this section shall be treated in the same manner as an amount received under section 338B(g) of this Act, as described in section 108(f)(4) of such Code.
With respect to an individual receiving a degree or certificate from a health professions or other related school, the date of the initiation of the period of obligated service may be postponed as approved by the Secretary. An individual who fails to comply with the contract entered into under subsection
(c)shall be subject to the same financial penalties as provided for under section 338E of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 254o ) for breaches of loan repayment contracts under section 338B of such Act (42 U.S.C. section 254l–1). For purposes of this section, the term full-time means full-time as such term is used in section 455(m)(3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965. There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2021. .
Connectionstraces to 2
Traces to 2 documents
2 references not yet in our index
- 20 USC 1078–11
- 42 USC 254l–1
Citation graph
cites case law
Sec. 30612
Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program
Cite20 USC 1078–11
Cite42 USC 254l–1
Cites 4Cited by 0 across 0 sources