[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6186 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6186

  To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants for the 
 purpose of carrying out activities to increase the number of faculty 
  members at collegiate schools of nursing in States with significant 
                          shortages of nurses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 2006

 Mr. Hayworth introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants for the 
 purpose of carrying out activities to increase the number of faculty 
  members at collegiate schools of nursing in States with significant 
                          shortages of nurses.

    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 ``America's Partnership for Nursing 
Education Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Many States with rapidly-increasing populations have a 
        serious shortage of nurses.
            (2) A new Federal program is needed to support State and 
        private efforts to address the lack of capacity in schools of 
        nursing at colleges and universities.
            (3) Such lack of capacity is the critical driving force 
        behind the serious shortage of nurses.
            (4) The nursing shortage has a detrimental impact on the 
        quality of care patients receive in health care settings, and 
        plays a role in the rising costs of health care.
            (5) States that have established partnerships with 
        educational institutions to develop strategies to address the 
        nursing shortage, and that have allocated funds toward 
        implementing the strategies, are well suited to make effective 
        use of matching Federal funds.

SEC. 3. INCREASING NUMBER OF QUALIFIED FACULTY AT COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS OF 
              NURSING IN STATES WITH SIGNIFICANT SHORTAGES OF NURSES.

    Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

                     ``PART J--ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS

``SEC. 861. INCREASING NUMBER OF FACULTY AT COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS OF 
              NURSING IN STATES WITH SIGNIFICANT SHORTAGES OF NURSES.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may make grants to qualifying 
States for the purpose of carrying out activities to increase the 
number of faculty at collegiate schools of nursing in qualifying States 
in order to assist in alleviating the shortage of nurses in such 
States.
    ``(b) Qualifying States.--A State is a qualifying State for 
purposes of this section if the State meets the following conditions:
            ``(1) The population of the State increased by more than 50 
        percent between 1995 and 2005 (inclusive), according to data 
        from the Bureau of the Census.
            ``(2) The State is projected to have fewer than 555 nurses 
        per 100,000 State residents by 2020, according to data from the 
        Health Resources and Services Administration.
            ``(3) As of January 1, 2006, the State had a program in 
        place to assist in increasing the number of faculty at 
        collegiate schools of nursing.
    ``(c) Uses of Grants.--
            ``(1) In general.--The purposes for which a grant under 
        subsection (a) may be expended for a collegiate school of 
        nursing include salaries, benefits, training, and related 
        expenses for increasing the number of faculty, and other 
        operational costs necessary to increase such number, relative 
        to the average number of such faculty at the school for the 
        fiscal year preceding the first fiscal year for which such a 
        grant is made for the school.
            ``(2) Limitation.--A grant under subsection (a) may not be 
        expended for any capital expenses.
    ``(d) Maintenance of Effort.--A grant may be made under subsection 
(a) for a fiscal year only if the qualifying State involved, and each 
collegiate school of nursing for which the grant will be expended, 
agree to maintain expenditures at such school for the purpose described 
in subsection (a) at a level that is not less than the average level of 
such expenditures maintained by the State and the school, respectively, 
for such purpose for the five-year period preceding the first fiscal 
year for which a grant under subsection (a) is made with respect to the 
school.
    ``(e) Reports to Congress.--For each fiscal year for which amounts 
are appropriated under subsection (f), the Secretary shall submit to 
the Congress a report that identifies the collegiate schools of nursing 
with respect to which grants under subsection (a) have been made and 
that provides an evaluation of the extent to which the grants have been 
effective in carrying out the purpose described in subsection (a).
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying 
out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 
for each of the fiscal years 2007 through 2011.''.
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