[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.