Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3297 To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2021 Mr. CROW (for himself, Mr. BURGESS, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. GUTHRIE) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Health Work- 4 force Loan Repayment Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3297 IH SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT 1 PROGRAM. 2 Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act 3 (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 4 the following new subpart: 5 ‘‘Subpart XIII—Public Health Workforce 6 ‘‘SEC. 340J. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM. 7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab- 8 lish a program to be known as the Public Health Work- 9 force Loan Repayment Program (referred to in this sec- 10 tion as the ‘Program’) under which the Secretary awards 11 loan repayment agreements described in subsection (c) to 12 assure an adequate supply of and encourage recruitment 13 of public health professionals to eliminate critical public 14 health workforce shortages in local, State, and Tribal pub- 15 lic health agencies. 16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in 17 the Program, an individual shall— 18 ‘‘(1)(A) be accepted for enrollment, or be en- 19 rolled, as a student in an accredited academic edu- 20 cational institution in a State or territory in the 21 final year of a course of study or program leading 22 to a public health degree, a health professions de- 23 gree, or a degree in computer science, information 24 science, information systems, information tech- 25 nology, or statistics and have accepted employment 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3297 IH with a local, State, or Tribal public health agency, 1 or a related training fellowship, as recognized by the 2 Secretary, to commence upon graduation; or 3 ‘‘(B)(i) have graduated, during the preceding 4 10-year period, from an accredited educational insti- 5 tution in a State or territory and received a public 6 health degree, a health professions degree, or degree 7 in computer science, information science, informa- 8 tion systems, information technology, or statistics; 9 and 10 ‘‘(ii) be employed by, or have accepted employ- 11 ment with, a local, State, or Tribal public health 12 agency or a related training fellowship, as recognized 13 by the Secretary; 14 ‘‘(2) be a United States citizen; 15 ‘‘(3)(A) submit an application to the Secretary 16 to participate in the Program; and 17 ‘‘(B) execute a written contract as required in 18 subsection (c); and 19 ‘‘(4) not have received, for the same service, a 20 reduction of loan obligations under section 428K or 21 428L of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 22 ‘‘(c) CONTRACT.—The written contract referred to in 23 subsection (b)(3)(B) between the Secretary and an indi- 24 vidual shall contain— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3297 IH ‘‘(1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary 1 that the Secretary will repay, on behalf of the indi- 2 vidual, loans incurred by the individual in the pur- 3 suit of the relevant degree in accordance with the 4 terms of the contract; 5 ‘‘(2) an agreement on the part of the individual 6 that the individual will serve in the full-time employ- 7 ment of a local, State, or Tribal public health agency 8 or a related fellowship program in a position related 9 to the course of study or program for which the con- 10 tract was awarded for a period of at least 3 consecu- 11 tive years; 12 ‘‘(3) an agreement on the part of the individual 13 to relocate to a priority service area (as determined 14 by the Secretary) in exchange for an additional loan 15 repayment incentive amount to be determined by the 16 Secretary; 17 ‘‘(4) a provision that any financial obligation of 18 the United States arising out of a contract entered 19 into under this section and any obligation of the in- 20 dividual that is conditioned thereon, is contingent on 21 funds being appropriated for loan repayments under 22 this section; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3297 IH ‘‘(5) a statement of the damages to which the 1 United States is entitled, under this section for the 2 individual’s breach of the contract; and 3 ‘‘(6) such other statements of the rights and li- 4 abilities of the Secretary and of the individual as the 5 Secretary determines appropriate, not inconsistent 6 with this section. 7 ‘‘(d) PAYMENTS.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A loan repayment provided 9 for an individual under a written contract referred 10 to in subsection (b)(3)(B) shall consist of payment, 11 in accordance with paragraph (2), for the individual 12 toward the outstanding principal and interest on 13 education loans incurred by the individual in the 14 pursuit of the relevant degree in accordance with the 15 terms of the contract. 16 ‘‘(2) PAYMENTS FOR YEARS SERVED.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each year of serv- 18 ice that an individual contracts to serve pursu- 19 ant to subsection (c)(2), the Secretary may pay 20 not more than $35,000 on behalf of the indi- 21 vidual for loans described in paragraph (1). 22 With respect to participants under the Program 23 whose total eligible loans are less than 24 $105,000, the Secretary shall pay an amount 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3297 IH that does not exceed 1⁄3 of the eligible loan bal- 1 ance for each year of such service of such indi- 2 vidual. 3 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Secretary 4 may take actions in making awards under this 5 section to ensure that— 6 ‘‘(i) not less than 50 percent of such 7 awards are awarded to individuals who, at 8 the time of entering into a contract under 9 subsection (c), are not employed by a local, 10 State, or Tribal public health agency or a 11 related training fellowship, as recognized 12 by the Secretary; and 13 ‘‘(ii) such awards are equitably dis- 14 tributed among— 15 ‘‘(I) the geographical regions of 16 the United States; and 17 ‘‘(II) local, State, and Tribal 18 public health agencies. 19 ‘‘(3) TAX LIABILITY.—For purposes of the In- 20 ternal Revenue Code of 1986, a payment made 21 under this section shall be treated in the same man- 22 ner as an amount received under section 338B(g), 23 as described in section 108(f)(4) of such Code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3297 IH ‘‘(e) POSTPONING OBLIGATED SERVICE.—With re- 1 spect to an individual with a contract to serve under sub- 2 section (c), the date of the initiation of the period of obli- 3 gated service may be postponed or extended as approved 4 by the Secretary. 5 ‘‘(f) BREACH OF CONTRACT.—An individual who fails 6 to comply with a contract entered into under subsection 7 (c) shall be subject to the same financial penalties as pro- 8 vided for under section 338E for breaches of loan repay- 9 ment contracts under section 338B. 10 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 11 ‘‘(1) EDUCATION LOAN.—The term ‘education 12 loan’ means— 13 ‘‘(A) any loan made, insured, or guaran- 14 teed under part B, D, or E of title IV of the 15 Higher Education Act of 1965; 16 ‘‘(B) any loan made under subpart II of 17 part A of title VII, or part E of title VIII, of 18 this Act; 19 ‘‘(C) a private education loan, as defined 20 in section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act; or 21 ‘‘(D) any other loan funded, insured, or 22 guaranteed by any Federal agency that is not 23 the Department of Education that is issued di- 24 rectly to students. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3297 IH ‘‘(2) FULL-TIME.—The term ‘full-time’, when 1 used with respect to employment, means employ- 2 ment— 3 ‘‘(A) with a qualifying employer for not 4 less than 30 hours per week; or 5 ‘‘(B) with 2 or more qualifying employers 6 for a total of not less than 30 hours per week. 7 ‘‘(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 8 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 9 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 10 Education Act of 1965. 11 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 12 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 13 ‘‘(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 14 ‘‘(2) $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 15 through 2026.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:20 Jun 16, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3297.IH H3297 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS