[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.