[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 628 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 628

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 2009

 Mr. Conrad (for himself, Mr. Brownback, Ms. Collins, Mr. Johnson, and 
 Mrs. Murray) 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 September 30, 2009.''.

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), provided that the period of authorized admission of such alien as 
an H-1B nonimmigrant may not extend beyond the 6-year period beginning 
on the date on which the alien receives the exemption described in 
subparagraph (A), if--
            ``(A) an interested State agency submits a request for an 
        exemption under section 214(l)(1)(B), but not 1 of the 10 
        waivers or exemptions described in subsection (l)(1)(D)(ii); 
        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''; and
                            (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''; and
                                    (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 threshold 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.''.
                                 <all>