[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1367 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.1367
One Hundred Eighth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE FIRST SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the seventh day of January, two thousand and three
An Act
To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a loan repayment
program regarding the provision of veterinary services in shortage
situations, and for other purposes.
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 ``National Veterinary Medical Service
Act''.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM REGARDING VETERINARY
MEDICINE.
The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after
section 1415 the following new section:
``SEC. 1415A. VETERINARY MEDICINE LOAN REPAYMENT.
``(a) Program.--
``(1) Service in shortage situations.--The Secretary shall
carry out a program of entering into agreements with veterinarians
under which the veterinarians agree to provide, for a period of
time as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement,
veterinary services in veterinarian shortage situations. For each
year of such service under an agreement under this paragraph, the
Secretary shall pay an amount, as determined by the Secretary and
specified in the agreement, of the principal and interest of
qualifying educational loans of the veterinarians.
``(2) Service to federal government in emergency situations.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary may enter into agreements
of 1 year duration with veterinarians who have agreements
pursuant to paragraph (1) for such veterinarians to provide
services to the Federal Government in emergency situations, as
determined by the Secretary, under terms and conditions
specified in the agreement. Pursuant to an agreement under this
paragraph, the Secretary shall pay an amount, in addition to
the amount paid pursuant to the agreement in paragraph (1), as
determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, of
the principal and interest of qualifying educational loans of
the veterinarians.
``(B) Requirements.--Agreements entered into under this
paragraph shall include the following:
``(i) A veterinarian shall not be required to serve
more than 60 working days per year of the agreement.
``(ii) A veterinarian who provides service pursuant to
the agreement shall receive a salary commensurate with the
duties and shall be reimbursed for travel and per diem
expenses as appropriate for the duration of the service.
``(b) Determination of Veterinarian Shortage Situations.--In
determining `veterinarian shortage situations' the Secretary may
consider the following:
``(1) Urban or rural areas that the Secretary determines have a
shortage of veterinarians.
``(2) Areas of veterinary practice that the Secretary
determines have a shortage of veterinarians, such as public health,
epidemiology, and food safety.
``(3) Areas of veterinary need in the Federal Government.
``(4) Other factors that the Secretary considers to be
relevant.
``(c) Administration.--
``(1) Authority.--The Secretary may carry out this program
directly or enter into agreements with another Federal agency or
other service provider to assist in the administration of this
program.
``(2) Breach remedies.--
``(A) In general.--Agreements with program participants
shall provide remedies for any breach of an agreement by a
participant, including repayment or partial repayment of
financial assistance received, with interest.
``(B) Amounts recovered.--Funds recovered under this
subsection shall be credited to the account available to carry
out this section and shall remain available until expended.
``(3) Waiver.--The Secretary may grant a waiver of the
repayment obligation for breach of contract in the event of extreme
hardship or extreme need, as determined by the Secretary.
``(4) Amount.--The Secretary shall develop regulations to
determine the amount of loan repayment for a year of service by a
veterinarian. In making the determination, the Secretary shall
consider the extent to which such determination--
``(A) affects the ability of the Secretary to maximize the
number of agreements that can be provided under the Veterinary
Medicine Loan Repayment Program from the amounts appropriated
for such agreements; and
``(B) provides an incentive to serve in veterinary service
shortage areas with the greatest need.
``(5) Qualifying educational loans.--Loan repayments provided
under this section may consist of payments on behalf of
participating individuals of the principal and interest on
government and commercial loans received by the individual for
attendance of the individual at an accredited college of veterinary
medicine resulting in a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or
the equivalent, which loans were made for--
``(A) tuition expenses;
``(B) all other reasonable educational expenses, including
fees, books, and laboratory expenses, incurred by the
individual; or
``(C) reasonable living expenses as determined by the
Secretary.
``(6) Repayment schedule.--The Secretary may enter into an
agreement with the holder of any loan for which payments are made
under this section to establish a schedule for the making of such
payments.
``(7) Tax liability.--In addition to educational loan
repayments, the Secretary shall make such additional payments to
participants as the Secretary determines to be appropriate for the
purpose of providing reimbursements to participants for individual
tax liability resulting from participation in this program.
``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated for carrying out this section such sums as may be
necessary and such sums shall remain available to the Secretary for the
purposes of this section until expended.''.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.