[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6551 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6551

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a loan repayment 
    program for faculty members at programs of general dentistry or 
          pediatric dentistry to alleviate faculty shortages.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 17, 2008

 Ms. Solis (for herself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Jones of North Carolina, Mr. 
  Cummings, and Mr. Simpson) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a loan repayment 
    program for faculty members at programs of general dentistry or 
          pediatric dentistry to alleviate faculty shortages.

    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 ``Primary Care Dental Academic 
Workforce Development Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR FACULTY AT DENTISTRY PROGRAMS.

    Section 747 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293k) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ``financial 
                assistance to residents'' and inserting ``financial 
                assistance to residents and faculty''; and
                    (B) at the end of the matter following paragraph 
                (6), by adding the following: ``Programs supported 
                under paragraph (6) may include loan repayment programs 
                described in subsection (e).'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (f); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
    ``(e) Loan Repayment Program for Faculty at Dentistry Programs.--
            ``(1) In general.--A grant or contract under subsection 
        (a)(6) may be awarded to a program of general dentistry or 
        pediatric dentistry described in such subsection to plan, 
        develop, and operate a loan repayment program under which--
                    ``(A) individuals agree to serve full-time as 
                faculty members; and
                    ``(B) the program of general dentistry or pediatric 
                dentistry agrees to pay the principal and interest on 
                the outstanding student loans of the individuals.
            ``(2) Manner of payments.--The payments described in 
        paragraph (1)(B) shall be made as follows:
                    ``(A) Upon completion by an individual of each of 
                the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth years of 
                service specified in the agreement between the 
                individual and the program of general dentistry or 
                pediatric dentistry, the program shall pay an amount 
                equal to 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 percent, respectively, 
                of the individual's student loan balance as calculated 
                based on principal and interest owed at the initiation 
                of the agreement.
                    ``(B) The payments with respect to any individual--
                            ``(i) shall not exceed $250,000 in 
                        aggregate;
                            ``(ii) shall not exceed the total principal 
                        and interest owed by the individual; and
                            ``(iii) shall be applied to the principal, 
                        interest, and related expenses of government 
                        (whether Federal, State, or local) and 
                        commercial loans obtained by the individual for 
                        school tuition, other reasonable educational 
                        expenses, and reasonable living expenses.
            ``(3) Diversity.--The Secretary shall encourage programs 
        receiving support through a grant or contract described in 
        paragraph (1) to use such support to broadly recruit diverse 
        faculty.
            ``(4) Penalties.--The Secretary shall establish, and 
        require that loan repayment agreements between programs and 
        individuals under paragraph (1) include, appropriate financial 
        penalties to be applied with respect to individuals not 
        completing their service obligations under such agreements.''.
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