Department of Veterans Affairs Therapeutic Medical Physicist Pay Cap Relief Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3203 To amend title 38, United States Code, to codify the requirements for ap- pointment, qualifications, and pay for therapeutic medical physicists of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 16, 2020 Mr. KAINE (for himself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to codify the require- ments for appointment, qualifications, and pay for thera- peutic medical physicists of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Department of Vet- 4 erans Affairs Therapeutic Medical Physicist Pay Cap Re- 5 lief Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3203.IS S3203 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3203 IS SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF THERAPEUTIC MEDICAL PHYSI- 1 CISTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 2 AFFAIRS. 3 (a) APPOINTMENT.—Section 7401(1) of title 38, 4 United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘therapeutic 5 medical physicists,’’ after ‘‘physician assistants,’’. 6 (b) QUALIFICATIONS.—Section 7402(b) of such title 7 is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating paragraph (14) as para- 9 graph (15); and 10 (2) by inserting after paragraph (13) the fol- 11 lowing new paragraph (14): 12 ‘‘(14) THERAPEUTIC MEDICAL PHYSICIST.—To be 13 eligible to be appointed to a therapeutic medical physicist 14 position, a person must— 15 ‘‘(A) have completed a post-graduate clinical 16 training program in therapeutic medical physics sat- 17 isfactory to the Secretary; and 18 ‘‘(B) be board certified in the field of thera- 19 peutic medical physics by a certifying body approved 20 by the Secretary.’’. 21 (c) GRADE.—The list in section 7404(b) of such title 22 is amended— 23 (1) by inserting ‘‘THERAPEUTIC MEDICAL 24 PHYSICIST,’’ after ‘‘PODIATRIST,’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3203.IS S3203 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3203 IS (2) by inserting after the item relating to ‘‘Po- 1 diatrist grade.’’ the following new item: 2 ‘‘Therapeutic Medical Physicist Grade.’’. 3 (d) PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION.—Section 7421(b) 4 of such title is amended by adding at the end the following 5 new paragraph: 6 ‘‘(9) Therapeutic medical physicists.’’. 7 (e) PAY.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7431 of such title is 9 amended— 10 (A) by inserting ‘‘therapeutic medical 11 physicist,’’ after ‘‘podiatrist,’’ each place it ap- 12 pears; 13 (B) by inserting ‘‘therapeutic medical 14 physicists,’’ after ‘‘podiatrists,’’ each place it 15 appears; 16 (C) by inserting ‘‘Therapeutic Medical 17 Physicist,’’ after ‘‘Podiatrist,’’ each place it ap- 18 pears; and 19 (D) in subsection (e)(1)(A), by inserting ‘‘, 20 therapeutic medical physicists,’’ after ‘‘podia- 21 trists’’. 22 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS.—Section 7433 23 of such title is amended by inserting ‘‘therapeutic 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3203.IS S3203 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3203 IS medical physicists,’’ after ‘‘podiatrists,’’ each place it 1 appears. 2 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading 3 of subchapter III of chapter 74 of such title is 4 amended by inserting ‘‘THERAPEUTIC MEDICAL 5 PHYSICISTS,’’ after ‘‘PODIATRISTS,’’. 6 (4) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 7 tions at the beginning of chapter 74 of such title is 8 amended by striking the item relating to subchapter 9 III and inserting the following new item: 10 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—PAY FOR PHYSICIANS, PODIATRISTS, THERAPEUTIC MEDICAL PHYSICISTS, AND DENTISTS’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:12 Jan 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3203.IS S3203 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS