II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2815 

To provide for a wage differential program to support new nursing school 

faculty members. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To provide for a wage differential program to support new 

nursing school faculty members. 

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 ‘‘Nurse Faculty Short5 age Reduction Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NURSE FACULTY GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 Section 846A of the Public Health Service Act (42 

8 U.S.C. 296n–1) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the section heading, by adding ‘‘AND

2 NURSING FACULTY GRANT PROGRAM’’ after 

3 ‘‘LOAN PROGRAM’’; 

4 (2) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol5 lows: 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To increase the number of quali7 fied nursing faculty, the Secretary, acting through the Ad8 ministrator of the Health Resources and Services Admin9 istration, may— 

10 ‘‘(1) enter into an agreement with any accred11 ited school of nursing for the establishment and op12 eration of a student loan fund in accordance with 

13 subsection (b); and 

14 ‘‘(2) award nurse faculty grants in accordance 

15 with subsection (c).’’; 

16 (3) in subsection (b)— 

17 (A) by redesignating clauses (A) through 

18 (D) of paragraph (2) as clauses (i) through 

19 (iv), respectively, and adjusting the margins ac20 cordingly; 

21 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

22 through (5) as subparagraphs (A) through (E), 

23 respectively, and adjusting the margins accord24 ingly; 


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1 (C) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘sub2 section (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (2)’’; and 

3 (D) by striking ‘‘(b) AGREEMENTS—Each 

4 agreement entered into under subsection (a) 

5 shall—’’ and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(b) SCHOOL OF NURSING STUDENT LOAN FUND.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each agreement entered 

8 into under subsection (a)(1) shall—’’; 

9 (4) in subsection (c)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ each place 

11 it appears and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’; 

12 (B) in paragraph (3), by redesignating 

13 subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and 

14 (ii), respectively, and adjusting the margins ac15 cordingly; 

16 (C) in paragraph (6), by redesignating 

17 subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and 

18 (ii), respectively, and adjusting the margins ac19 cordingly; and 

20 (D) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

21 through (6) as subparagraphs (A) through (F), 

22 respectively, and adjusting the margins accord23 ingly; and 


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1 (E) in subparagraph (F)(ii), as so redesig2 nated, by striking ‘‘subsection (e)’’ and insert3 ing ‘‘paragraph (4)’’; 

4 (5) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘subsection 

5 (c)(6)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (2)(F)(ii)’’; 

6 (6) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) 

7 as paragraphs (2) through (4), respectively, and ad8 justing the margins accordingly; and 

9 (7) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(c) NURSE FACULTY GRANT PROGRAM.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab12 lish and carry out a program described in subsection 

13 (a)(2) under which eligible schools of nursing receive 

14 a grant for purposes of supplementing the salaries 

15 to enhance recruitment and retention of nursing fac16 ulty members. 

17 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to re18 ceive a grant under this subsection, an entity shall— 

19 ‘‘(A) be a school of nursing; and 

20 ‘‘(B) submit an application to the Sec21 retary, at such time, in such manner, and con22 taining such information as the Secretary may 

23 require, including— 

24 ‘‘(i)(I) to the extent such information 

25 is available to the school of nursing, the 


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1 salary history of nursing faculty at such 

2 school who previously were nurses in clin3 ical practice, for the most recent 3-year pe4 riod ending on the date of application, ad5 justed for inflation as appropriate and bro6 ken down by credentials, experience, and 

7 levels of education of such nurses; or 

8 ‘‘(II) if the information described in 

9 subclause (I) is not available, information 

10 on the average local salary of nurses in 

11 clinical practice, adjusted for inflation as 

12 appropriate and broken down by creden13 tials, experience, and levels of education of 

14 the individual nurses, in accordance with 

15 such requirements as the Secretary may 

16 specify; 

17 ‘‘(ii) an attestation of the average 

18 nursing faculty salary at the school of 

19 nursing during the most recent 3-year pe20 riod prior to the date of application, ad21 justed for inflation, as appropriate, broken 

22 down by credentials, experience, and levels 

23 of education of such faculty members; 

24 ‘‘(iii) the number of nursing faculty 

25 member vacancies at the entity at the time 


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1 of application, and the entity’s projection 

2 of such vacancies over the ensuing 5-year 

3 period; and 

4 ‘‘(iv) a description of the entity’s 

5 plans to identify funding sources to 

6 sustainably continue, after the 3-year 

7 grant period, the salary available to the eli8 gible nursing faculty member pursuant to 

9 the program under this subsection during 

10 such grant program and to retain eligible 

11 nursing faculty members after the end of 

12 the grant period. 

13 ‘‘(3) AWARDS.—A grant awarded under this 

14 subsection, with respect to supporting eligible nurs15 ing faculty members, shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) be awarded to the school of nursing 

17 to supplement the salaries of eligible faculty 

18 members at the school of nursing, annually, for 

19 up to a 3-year period, in an amount equal to, 

20 for each eligible nursing faculty member at the 

21 eligible entity during the grant period, the dif22 ference between— 

23 ‘‘(i) the average salary of nurses in 

24 clinical practice submitted under subclause 

25 (I) or (II) of paragraph (2)(B)(i); and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the greater of— 

2 ‘‘(I) the salary for the eligible 

3 nursing faculty member at the school 

4 of nursing; or 

5 ‘‘(II) the average nursing faculty 

6 salary submitted under paragraph 

7 (2)(B)(ii) for faculty members with 

8 the same or similar credentials and 

9 level of education; 

10 ‘‘(B) notwithstanding section 803(a), be 

11 used in its entirety to supplement the eligible 

12 faculty member’s salary; and 

13 ‘‘(C) be conditioned upon the school of 

14 nursing maintaining, for each year in which the 

15 award is made as described in subparagraph 

16 (A), a salary for such faculty member at a level 

17 that is not less than the greater of the amount 

18 under subclause (I) or (II) of subparagraph 

19 (A)(ii). 

20 ‘‘(4) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

21 subsection, the Secretary shall ensure the equitable 

22 geographic distribution of awards, and shall give pri23 ority to applications from schools of nursing that 

24 demonstrate— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the greatest need for such grant, 

2 which may be based upon the financial cir3 cumstances of the school of nursing, eligible 

4 nurse faculty members, the planned number of 

5 students to be trained or admitted off a wait 

6 list; 

7 ‘‘(B) training or partnerships to serve vul8 nerable patient populations, such as through 

9 the location or activity of a school in a health 

10 professional shortage area; 

11 ‘‘(C) recruitment and retention of faculty 

12 from underrepresented populations; or 

13 ‘‘(D) other particular need for such grant, 

14 including public institutions of higher education 

15 that offer 4-year degrees but at which the pre16 dominant degree awarded is an associate de17 gree. 

18 ‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

19 this subsection precludes a school of nursing or an 

20 eligible nursing faculty member receiving an award 

21 under this section from obtaining or receiving any 

22 other form of Federal support or funding. 

23 ‘‘(6) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 

24 date of enactment of the Nurse Faculty Shortage 

25 Reduction Act of 2023, the Secretary shall submit to 


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1 the Committee on Finance and the Committee on 

2 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Sen3 ate and the Committee on Ways and Means and the 

4 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

5 of Representatives, a report that evaluates the pro6 gram established under this subsection, including— 

7 ‘‘(A) the impact of such program on re8 cruitment and retention rates of nursing fac9 ulty, as available, and specifically for each fac10 ulty member participating in the program; and 

11 ‘‘(B) recommendations and considerations 

12 for Congress on continuing the program under 

13 this section through the Medicare program 

14 under title XVIII of the Social Security Act. 

15 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

16 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE NURSING FACULTY MEM17 BER.—The term ‘eligible nursing faculty mem18 ber’ means a nursing faculty member who— 

19 ‘‘(i) was hired by a school of nursing 

20 within the 2-year period preceding the sub21 mission of an application under paragraph 

22 (2), or a prospective nursing faculty mem23 ber; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) is currently employed at the 

2 school of nursing and who demonstrates 

3 the need for such support; 

4 ‘‘(iii) previously worked as a nurse in 

5 clinical practice or as a nurse faculty mem6 ber at another school of nursing; or 

7 ‘‘(iv) may work on a part-time basis 

8 as a nursing faculty member, for whom 

9 such award amounts described in para10 graph (3) shall be prorated relative to the 

11 amount of time participating in part-time 

12 teaching. 

13 ‘‘(B) INFLATION.—The term ‘inflation’ 

14 means the Consumer Price Index for all urban 

15 consumers (all items; U.S. city average). 

16 ‘‘(8) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 To carry out this subsection, there is authorized to 

18 be appropriated $28,500,000 for each of fiscal year 

19 2024 through 2028.’’. 

Æ 


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