II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3737 

To improve the public health workforce loan repayment program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 14, 2020 

Ms. SMITH (for herself and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To improve the public health workforce loan repayment 

program. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening the 

5 Public Health Workforce Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 Section 776 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 295f–1) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘supply of’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘supply of, and encourage recruitment of,’’; and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘Federal,’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (b)— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘accredited academic 

7 educational institution in a State or terri8 tory in the final year’’ and inserting ‘‘insti9 tution of higher education in the final se10 mester (or equivalent)’’; 

11 (ii) by striking ‘‘or health professions 

12 degree or certificate’’ and inserting ‘‘de13 gree, a health professions degree, or a de14 gree in computer science, information 

15 science, information systems, information 

16 technology, or statistics’’; 

17 (iii) by striking ‘‘Federal,’’; and 

18 (iv) by adding ‘‘or’’ after the semi19 colon at the end; 

20 (B) in paragraph (1)(B)— 

21 (i) in clause (i)— 

22 (I) by striking ‘‘accredited edu23 cational institution in a State or terri24 tory’’ and inserting ‘‘institution of 

25 higher education’’; and 


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1 (II) by striking ‘‘or health profes2 sions degree or certificate’’ and insert3 ing ‘‘degree, a health professions de4 gree, or a degree in computer science, 

5 information science, information sys6 tems, information technology, or sta7 tistics’’; and 

8 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘Fed9 eral,’’; and 

10 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘section 

11 455(m), 428J, 428K, 428L, or 460’’ and in12 serting ‘‘section 428K or 428L’’; 

13 (3) in subsection (c)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or cer15 tificate’’; and 

16 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘Federal,’’; and 

18 (ii) by striking ‘‘equal to the greater 

19 of—’’ and all that follows through the end 

20 of subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘of at 

21 least 2 consecutive years;’’; 

22 (4) in subsection (d)— 

23 (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

24 follows: 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A loan repayment provided 

2 for an individual under a written contract under the 

3 Program shall consist of payment, in accordance 

4 with paragraph (2), for the individual toward the 

5 outstanding principal and interest on education 

6 loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the 

7 relevant degree in accordance with the terms of the 

8 contract.’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (i) by striking ‘‘For each year’’ and 

11 inserting the following: 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each year’’; and 

13 (ii) by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Secretary 

16 may take action in making awards to ensure 

17 that— 

18 ‘‘(i) not less than 50 percent of con19 tracts under subsection (c) are awarded to 

20 individuals, who at the time of entering 

21 into the contract, are not employed by a 

22 local, State, or tribal public health agency 

23 or a related training fellowship, as recog24 nized by the Secretary; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the contracts provided under 

2 subsection (c) are equitably distributed 

3 among— 

4 ‘‘(I) the geographical regions of 

5 the United States; and 

6 ‘‘(II) local, State, and tribal pub7 lic health departments.’’; and 

8 (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as 

9 follows: 

10 ‘‘(3) TAX TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For 

11 purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a 

12 payment made under this section shall be treated in 

13 the same manner as an amount received under sec14 tion 338B(g), as described in section 108(f)(4) of 

15 such Code.’’; 

16 (5) in subsection (e)— 

17 (A) by striking ‘‘receiving a degree or cer18 tificate from a health professions or other re19 lated school’’ and inserting ‘‘with a contract to 

20 serve under subsection (c)’’; and 

21 (B) by inserting ‘‘or extended’’ after ‘‘post22 poned’’; 

23 (6) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub24 section (h); 


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1 (7) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

5 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

6 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 

7 Education Act of 1965. 

8 ‘‘(2) FULL-TIME.—The term ‘full-time’, with 

9 respect to employment, means employment— 

10 ‘‘(A) with a single qualifying employer for 

11 not less than 30 hours per week; or 

12 ‘‘(B) with 2 or more qualifying employers 

13 for a total of not less than 30 hours per week. 

14 ‘‘(3) EDUCATION LOAN.—The term ‘education 

15 loan’ means— 

16 ‘‘(A) any loan made, insured, or guaran17 teed under part B, D, or E of title IV of the 

18 Higher Education Act of 1965; 

19 ‘‘(B) any loan made under subpart II of 

20 part A of this title or part E of title VIII; 

21 ‘‘(C) a private education loan, as defined 

22 in section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act; or 

23 ‘‘(D) any other loan funded, insured, or 

24 guaranteed by any Federal agency that is not 


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1 the Department of Education and that is issued 

2 directly to a student.’’; and 

3 (8) in subsection (h), as so redesignated, by 

4 striking ‘‘$195,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and 

5 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 

6 years 2011 through 2015’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘$200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 

8 2025’’. 

Æ 


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