H. R. 1367

One Hundred Eighth Congress

of the

United States of America

AT THE FIRST SESSION

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the seventh day of January, two thousand and three

An Act

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a loan repayment program

regarding the provision of veterinary services in shortage situations, and for

other purposes.

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 ‘‘National Veterinary Medical

Service Act’’.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM REGARDING

VETERINARY MEDICINE.

The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching

Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) is amended by inserting

after section 1415 the following new section:

‘‘SEC. 1415A. VETERINARY MEDICINE LOAN REPAYMENT.

‘‘(a) PROGRAM.—

‘‘(1) SERVICE IN SHORTAGE SITUATIONS.—The Secretary shall

carry out a program of entering into agreements with veterinarians under which the veterinarians agree to provide, for a

period of time as determined by the Secretary and specified

in the agreement, veterinary services in veterinarian shortage

situations. For each year of such service under an agreement

under this paragraph, the Secretary shall pay an amount, as

determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement,

of the principal and interest of qualifying educational loans

of the veterinarians.

‘‘(2) SERVICE TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN EMERGENCY

SITUATIONS.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter into agreements of 1 year duration with veterinarians who have

agreements pursuant to paragraph (1) for such veterinarians to provide services to the Federal Government in

emergency situations, as determined by the Secretary,

under terms and conditions specified in the agreement.

Pursuant to an agreement under this paragraph, the Secretary shall pay an amount, in addition to the amount

paid pursuant to the agreement in paragraph (1), as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement,

of the principal and interest of qualifying educational loans

of the veterinarians.

‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—Agreements entered into under

this paragraph shall include the following:
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‘‘(i) A veterinarian shall not be required to serve

more than 60 working days per year of the agreement.

‘‘(ii) A veterinarian who provides service pursuant

to the agreement shall receive a salary commensurate

with the duties and shall be reimbursed for travel

and per diem expenses as appropriate for the duration

of the service.

‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF VETERINARIAN SHORTAGE SITUATIONS.—

In determining ‘veterinarian shortage situations’ the Secretary may

consider the following:

‘‘(1) Urban or rural areas that the Secretary determines

have a shortage of veterinarians.

‘‘(2) Areas of veterinary practice that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians, such as public health,

epidemiology, and food safety.

‘‘(3) Areas of veterinary need in the Federal Government.

‘‘(4) Other factors that the Secretary considers to be relevant.

‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—

‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may carry out this program directly or enter into agreements with another Federal

agency or other service provider to assist in the administration

of this program.

‘‘(2) BREACH REMEDIES.—

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Agreements with program participants shall provide remedies for any breach of an agreement by a participant, including repayment or partial

repayment of financial assistance received, with interest.

‘‘(B) AMOUNTS RECOVERED.—Funds recovered under

this subsection shall be credited to the account available

to carry out this section and shall remain available until

expended.

‘‘(3) WAIVER.—The Secretary may grant a waiver of the

repayment obligation for breach of contract in the event of

extreme hardship or extreme need, as determined by the Secretary.

‘‘(4) AMOUNT.—The Secretary shall develop regulations to

determine the amount of loan repayment for a year of service

by a veterinarian. In making the determination, the Secretary

shall consider the extent to which such determination—

‘‘(A) affects the ability of the Secretary to maximize

the number of agreements that can be provided under

the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program from

the amounts appropriated for such agreements; and

‘‘(B) provides an incentive to serve in veterinary service

shortage areas with the greatest need.

‘‘(5) QUALIFYING EDUCATIONAL LOANS.—Loan repayments

provided under this section may consist of payments on behalf

of participating individuals of the principal and interest on

government and commercial loans received by the individual

for attendance of the individual at an accredited college of

veterinary medicine resulting in a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or the equivalent, which loans were made for—

‘‘(A) tuition expenses;

‘‘(B) all other reasonable educational expenses,

including fees, books, and laboratory expenses, incurred

by the individual; or
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‘‘(C) reasonable living expenses as determined by the

Secretary.

‘‘(6) REPAYMENT SCHEDULE.—The Secretary may enter into

an agreement with the holder of any loan for which payments

are made under this section to establish a schedule for the

making of such payments.

‘‘(7) TAX LIABILITY.—In addition to educational loan repayments, the Secretary shall make such additional payments

to participants as the Secretary determines to be appropriate

for the purpose of providing reimbursements to participants

for individual tax liability resulting from participation in this

program.

‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized

to be appropriated for carrying out this section such sums as may

be necessary and such sums shall remain available to the Secretary

for the purposes of this section until expended.’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.