Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6578 To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 21, 2020 Mr. CROW (for himself and Mr. BURGESS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 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 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT 6 PROGRAM. 7 Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act 8 (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 9 the following new subpart: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6578.IH H6578 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6578 IH ‘‘Subpart XIII—Public Health Workforce 1 ‘‘SEC. 340J. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM. 2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Health 3 and Human Services shall establish a program to be 4 known as the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment 5 Program (referred to in this section as the ‘Program’) to 6 assure an adequate supply of and encourage recruitment 7 of public health professionals to eliminate critical public 8 health workforce shortages in local, State, and Tribal pub- 9 lic health agencies. 10 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in 11 the Program, an individual shall— 12 ‘‘(1)(A) be accepted for enrollment, or be en- 13 rolled, as a student in an accredited academic edu- 14 cational institution in a State or territory in the 15 final year of a course of study or program leading 16 to a public health or health professions degree or 17 certificate and have accepted employment with a 18 local, State, or Tribal public health agency, or a re- 19 lated training fellowship, as recognized by the Sec- 20 retary, to commence upon graduation; or 21 ‘‘(B)(i) have graduated, during the preceding 22 10-year period, from an accredited educational insti- 23 tution in a State or territory and received a public 24 health or health professions degree or certificate; 25 and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6578.IH H6578 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6578 IH ‘‘(ii) be employed by, or have accepted employ- 1 ment with, a local, State, or Tribal public health 2 agency or a related training fellowship, as recognized 3 by the Secretary; 4 ‘‘(2) be a United States citizen; 5 ‘‘(3)(A) submit an application to the Secretary 6 to participate in the Program; and 7 ‘‘(B) execute a written contract as required in 8 subsection (c); and 9 ‘‘(4) not have received, for the same service, a 10 reduction of loan obligations under section 428J, 11 428K, 428L, 455(m), or 460 of the Higher Edu- 12 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078–10, 1078–11, 13 1078–12, 1087e(m), and 1087j). 14 ‘‘(c) CONTRACT.—The written contract referred to in 15 subsection (b)(3)(B) between the Secretary and an indi- 16 vidual shall contain— 17 ‘‘(1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary 18 that the Secretary will repay, on behalf of the indi- 19 vidual, loans incurred by the individual in the pur- 20 suit of the relevant degree or certificate in accord- 21 ance with the terms of the contract; 22 ‘‘(2) an agreement on the part of the individual 23 that the individual will serve in the full-time employ- 24 ment of a local, State, or Tribal public health agency 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6578.IH H6578 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6578 IH or a related fellowship program in a position related 1 to the course of study or program for which the con- 2 tract was awarded for a period of time equal to the 3 greater of— 4 ‘‘(A) 3 years; or 5 ‘‘(B) such longer period of time as deter- 6 mined appropriate by the Secretary and the in- 7 dividual; 8 ‘‘(3) an agreement, as appropriate, on the part 9 of the individual to relocate to a priority service area 10 (as determined by the Secretary) in exchange for an 11 additional loan repayment incentive amount to be 12 determined by the Secretary; 13 ‘‘(4) a provision that any financial obligation of 14 the United States arising out of a contract entered 15 into under this section and any obligation of the in- 16 dividual that is conditioned thereon, is contingent on 17 funds being appropriated for loan repayments under 18 this section; 19 ‘‘(5) a statement of the damages to which the 20 United States is entitled, under this section for the 21 individual’s breach of the contract; and 22 ‘‘(6) such other statements of the rights and li- 23 abilities of the Secretary and of the individual as the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6578.IH H6578 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6578 IH Secretary determines appropriate, not inconsistent 1 with this section. 2 ‘‘(d) PAYMENTS.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A loan repayment provided 4 for an individual under a written contract referred 5 to in subsection (b)(3)(B) shall consist of payment, 6 in accordance with paragraph (2), on behalf of the 7 individual of the principal, interest, and related ex- 8 penses on government and commercial loans received 9 by the individual regarding the undergraduate or 10 graduate education of the individual (or both), which 11 loans were made for tuition expenses incurred by the 12 individual. 13 ‘‘(2) PAYMENTS FOR YEARS SERVED.—For 14 each year of service that an individual contracts to 15 serve pursuant to subsection (c)(2), the Secretary 16 may pay not more than $35,000 on behalf of the in- 17 dividual for loans described in paragraph (1). With 18 respect to participants under the Program whose 19 total eligible loans are less than $105,000, the Sec- 20 retary shall pay an amount that does not exceed 1⁄3 21 of the eligible loan balance for each year of such 22 service of such individual. 23 ‘‘(3) TAX LIABILITY.—For the purpose of pro- 24 viding reimbursements for tax liability resulting 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6578.IH H6578 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6578 IH from payments under paragraph (2) on behalf of an 1 individual, the Secretary shall, in addition to such 2 payments, make payments to the individual in an 3 amount not to exceed 39 percent of the total amount 4 of loan repayments made for the taxable year in- 5 volved. 6 ‘‘(e) POSTPONING OBLIGATED SERVICE.—With re- 7 spect to an individual receiving a degree or certificate from 8 a health professions or other related school, the date of 9 the initiation of the period of obligated service may be 10 postponed as approved by the Secretary. 11 ‘‘(f) BREACH OF CONTRACT.—An individual who fails 12 to comply with the contract entered into under subsection 13 (c) shall be subject to the same financial penalties as pro- 14 vided for under section 338E of the Public Health Service 15 Act (42 U.S.C. 254o) for breaches of loan repayment con- 16 tracts under section 338B of such Act (42 U.S.C. section 17 254l–1). 18 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 19 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 20 ‘‘(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and 21 ‘‘(2) $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 22 through 2025.’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Apr 24, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6578.IH H6578 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS