[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1367 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
1st Session
H. R. 1367
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 18, 2003
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
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 one 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.''.
Passed the House of Representatives November 17, 2003.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.