[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2672 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2672

To provide incentives to physicians to practice in rural and medically 
                        underserved communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 27, 2008

  Mr. Conrad (for himself and Mr. Brownback) introduced the following 
    bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide incentives to physicians to practice in rural and medically 
                        underserved communities.

    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 ``Conrad State 30 Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF SUNSET PROVISION OF CONRAD STATE 30 PROGRAM.

    Section 220(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Technical 
Corrections Act of 1994 (8 U.S.C. 1182 note) is amended by striking 
``and before June 1, 2008.''.

SEC. 3. INCENTIVES FOR PHYSICIANS TO PRACTICE IN MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED 
              COMMUNITIES.

    Section 214 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1184) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (g), by adding at the end the following:
    ``(12) An alien physician described in section 212(j)(2)(B) who 
entered the United States as a nonimmigrant described in section 
101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) to pursue graduate medical education or training 
shall not be subject to the limitations described in paragraphs (1) and 
(4) if--
            ``(A) an interested State agency submits a request for an 
        exemption under section 214(l)(1)(B); and
            ``(B) the Secretary of State recommends that the alien be 
        exempted from such limitations.''; and
            (2) in subsection (l)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``the Attorney General 
                        shall not grant such waiver unless'' and 
                        inserting ``or for an exemption from the 
                        limitations described in paragraphs (1) and (4) 
                        of subsection (g) on behalf of an alien 
                        described in subsection (g)(12), the Secretary 
                        shall not grant such waiver or exemption 
                        unless'';
                            (ii) in subsection (A), by inserting ``or 
                        exemption'' before the semicolon at the end;
                            (iii) in subsection (B), by striking 
                        ``would not cause the number of waivers 
                        allotted for that State for that fiscal year to 
                        exceed 30'' and inserting ``or exemption would 
                        not cause the total number of waivers plus the 
                        total number of exemptions allotted for that 
                        State for that fiscal year to exceed 30, unless 
                        such allotment is increased pursuant to 
                        paragraph (4)'';
                            (iv) in subsection (C)(ii), by inserting 
                        ``or exemption'' after ``waiver'';
                            (v) in subsection (D)--
                                    (I) in clause (ii), by striking 
                                ``would not cause the number of the 
                                waivers'' and inserting ``or exemption 
                                would not cause the total number of 
                                waivers and exemptions'';
                                    (II) in clause (iii), by inserting 
                                ``or exemption'' after ``waiver'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ``status of an 
                alien'' and inserting ``status of an alien described in 
                212(e)(iii)''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(4) If at least 90 percent of the total number of waivers and 
exemptions allotted under paragraph (1)(B) to States that were granted 
not fewer than 5 such waivers or exemptions, in the aggregate, during 
any 1 of the 3 previous fiscal years are granted, on a nationwide 
basis, in the current fiscal year, the allotment of such waivers and 
exemptions in the current fiscal year shall be increased from 30 to 35 
for each State. Such allotments shall be further increased in 
increments of 5 each time such 90 percent threshhold of the adjusted 
allotment level is reached, on a nationwide basis. The allotment for 
each State shall reset to 30 at the beginning of each fiscal year.''.

SEC. 4. RETAINING PHYSICIANS IN MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES.

    Section 201(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1151(b)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(F) Alien physicians who have completed service 
        requirements of a waiver or exemption requested by a State 
        under section 214(l), including those alien physicians who 
        completed such service before the date of the enactment of this 
        subparagraph.''.

SEC. 5. EXPANDING THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE CONRAD STATE 30 PROGRAM.

    Section 214(l)(1)(D)(ii) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 
amended by section 3(2)(A)(v)(I), is further amended by striking ``5'' 
and inserting ``10''.
                                 <all>