[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 944 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 944

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 
procedures for requesting waivers on behalf of qualified international 
     medical graduates of the 2-year foreign residency requirement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 20, 1997

  Mr. D'Amato introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 
procedures for requesting waivers on behalf of qualified international 
     medical graduates of the 2-year foreign residency requirement.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Community Health Care Access Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. PROCEDURES.

    (a) Establishment.--Pursuant to section 212(e) and section 214(l) 
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(e) and 8 U.S.C. 
1184(l)), the Secretary shall establish procedures under which an 
individual may apply to the Secretary to request the Director of the 
United States Information Agency to recommend a waiver of the foreign 
residence requirement under section 212(e) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(e)) for that individual.
    (b) Requirements.--The procedures under subsection (a) shall 
require the Secretary to issue a request on behalf of an applicant 
whenever the applicant--
            (1) meets the requirements under section 214(l) (8 U.S.C. 
        1184(l)) of the Immigration and Nationality Act; and
            (2) meets such other terms and conditions established by 
        the Secretary, which may include a requirement for the 
        applicant to include as part of the waiver application a 
        written agreement on the part of the health facility or health 
        care organization named in the application to provide the 
        Secretary with--
                    (A) periodic notification of the applicant's 
                continued employment; and
                    (B) immediate notification of a failure on the part 
                of the applicant to comply with the terms of the 
                contract between the applicant and the health facility 
                or health care organization.

SEC. 3. HHS REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

    At least biannually, the Secretary shall submit a report to the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services setting forth the number of 
requests issued under section 2 and identifying the geographic areas in 
which aliens serve under those requests.

SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall issue final regulations to implement the provisions of 
the Act. Such regulations shall be issued only after notice and 
opportunity for public comment pursuant to the provisions of section 
553 of title 5, United States Code, regarding notice or opportunity for 
comment.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Applicant.--The term ``applicant'' means an alien as 
        described in clause (iii) of section 212(e) of the Immigration 
        and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(e)).
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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