II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1709 

To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy 

Act of 1977 to establish a grant program to promote efforts to develop, 

implement, and sustain veterinary services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. THUNE, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. 

JOHANNS, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. 

CHAMBLISS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. TESTER, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. HARKIN, 

Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. BENNET, Mr. LEAHY, 

Mr. BROWNBACK, and Mr. NELSON of Nebraska) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, 

and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to establish a grant 

program to promote efforts to develop, implement, and 

sustain veterinary services, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Veterinary Services 

5 Investment Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VETERINARY SERVICES AND OUTREACH GRANT 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and 

4 Teaching Policy Act of 1977 is amended by inserting after 

5 section 1415A (7 U.S.C. 3151a) the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 1415B. VETERINARY SERVICES AND OUTREACH 

7 GRANT PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED ENTITY.—The term ‘qualified 

10 entity’ means the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) A for-profit or nonprofit entity lo12 cated in the United States that operates a vet13 erinary clinic providing veterinary services— 

14 ‘‘(i) in a rural area, as defined in sec15 tion 1393(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue 

16 Code of 1986; or 

17 ‘‘(ii) in response to a veterinarian 

18 shortage situation. 

19 ‘‘(B) A State, national, allied, or regional 

20 veterinary organization or specialty board rec21 ognized by the American Veterinary Medical 

22 Association. 

23 ‘‘(C) A college or school of veterinary med24 icine accredited by the American Veterinary 

25 Medical Association. 


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1 ‘‘(D) A university research foundation or 

2 veterinary medical foundation. 

3 ‘‘(E) A department of veterinary science or 

4 department of comparative medicine at an ac5 credited institution of higher education recog6 nized by the Department of Education. 

7 ‘‘(F) A State agricultural experiment sta8 tion. 

9 ‘‘(G) A State, local, or tribal government 

10 agency. 

11 ‘‘(2) VETERINARIAN SHORTAGE SITUATION.— 

12 The term ‘veterinarian shortage situation’ means a 

13 veterinarian shortage situation determined by the 

14 Secretary under section 1415A(b). 

15 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 

16 ‘‘(1) COMPETITIVE GRANTS.—The Secretary 

17 shall carry out a program to make competitive 

18 grants to qualified entities described in paragraph 

19 (2) for the purpose of developing, implementing, and 

20 sustaining veterinary services. 

21 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligi22 ble for a grant under this section, a qualified entity 

23 shall carry out programs or activities that the Sec24 retary determines will— 


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1 ‘‘(A) substantially relieve veterinary short2 age situations; 

3 ‘‘(B) support or facilitate private veteri4 nary practices engaged in public health activi5 ties; or 

6 ‘‘(C) support or facilitate practices of vet7 erinarians who are participating in, or have suc8 cessfully completed, a service requirement under 

9 section 1415A. 

10 ‘‘(c) AWARD PROCESSES AND PREFERENCES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION, EVALUATION, AND INPUT

12 PROCESSES.—In administering the grant program 

13 under this section, the Secretary shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) use an appropriate application and 

15 evaluation process; and 

16 ‘‘(B) seek the input of interested persons. 

17 ‘‘(2) GRANT PREFERENCES.—In selecting quali18 fied entities to receive a grant under this section, the 

19 Secretary shall give a preference to qualified entities 

20 that— 

21 ‘‘(A) document coordination between or 

22 with— 

23 ‘‘(i) a State, national, allied, or re24 gional veterinary organization, a specialty 

25 board, or veterinary medical association 


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1 recognized by the American Veterinary 

2 Medical Association; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the applicable accredited veteri4 nary education institution or department 

5 of veterinary science or department of 

6 comparative medicine at an accredited in7 stitution of higher education recognized by 

8 the Department of Education; or 

9 ‘‘(iii) the applicable State veterinarian 

10 or animal health official (or equivalent offi11 cial); and 

12 ‘‘(B) will use the grant funds to help to 

13 meet veterinary workforce or food protection 

14 needs. 

15 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL PREFERENCES.—In awarding 

16 grants under this section, the Secretary may develop 

17 additional preferences by taking into account— 

18 ‘‘(A) the amount of funds available for 

19 grants; and 

20 ‘‘(B) the purposes for which the grant 

21 funds will be used. 

22 ‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.— 

23 Sections 1413B, 1462(a), and subsections (a)(3) 

24 and (c) of section 1469 shall apply to the adminis25 tration of the grant program under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(d) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENTS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) RECIPIENT SHARE.—A grant recipient 

3 shall provide matching non-Federal funds, either in 

4 the form of cash or in-kind contributions, in an 

5 amount equal to not less than 25 percent of the 

6 Federal funds provided in a grant under this section. 

7 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may establish, by 

8 regulation, conditions under which the cost-sharing 

9 requirements of paragraph (1) may be reduced or 

10 waived. 

11 ‘‘(e) USE OF GRANT TO RELIEVE VETERINARY

12 SHORTAGE SITUATIONS AND SUPPORT VETERINARY

13 SERVICES.—Funds provided by grants under this section 

14 may be used for the following purposes to relieve veteri15 nary shortage situations and support veterinary services: 

16 ‘‘(1) Grants to promote recruitment, placement, 

17 and retention of— 

18 ‘‘(A) veterinarians; 

19 ‘‘(B) veterinary technicians; 

20 ‘‘(C) students of veterinary medicine; and 

21 ‘‘(D) students of veterinary technology. 

22 ‘‘(2) Grants to assist veterinarians with estab23 lishing or expanding practices for the purposes of— 

24 ‘‘(A) equipping veterinary offices; 


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1 ‘‘(B) sharing in the overhead costs of the 

2 practices; or 

3 ‘‘(C) establishing mobile veterinary facili4 ties at which at least a portion of the facilities 

5 will address education or extension needs. 

6 ‘‘(3) Financial assistance for veterinary stu7 dents, veterinary interns, externs, fellows, and resi8 dents, and veterinary technician students to attend 

9 training programs in food safety or food animal 

10 medicine to cover expenses other than tuition. 

11 ‘‘(4) Programs establishing or expanding ac12 credited veterinary education programs, veterinary 

13 residency and fellowship programs, or veterinary in14 ternship and externship programs in coordination 

15 with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. 

16 ‘‘(5) Programs for tele-veterinary medicine at 

17 practices that contribute to veterinary extension, 

18 education, or research. 

19 ‘‘(6) Support the ability of the office or position 

20 of a State veterinarian or animal health official to 

21 coordinate veterinary services and food protection 

22 issues described in paragraphs (1) through (5). 

23 ‘‘(7) Assessments of veterinarian shortage situ24 ations and preparation of applications for designa25 tion as a shortage situation. 


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1 ‘‘(8) Programs in continuing education and ex2 tension (including distance-based education) for vet3 erinarians, veterinary technicians, and other health 

4 professionals needed to strengthen veterinary pro5 grams and enhance food safety. 

6 ‘‘(9) Faculty recruitment and retention pro7 grams at accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. 

8 ‘‘(10) Programs, in coordination with univer9 sities or local educational agencies, to encourage stu10 dents in secondary schools to pursue a career in vet11 erinary medicine or science professions. 

12 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITION ON USE OF GRANT FUNDS FOR

13 CONSTRUCTION.—Funds made available for grants under 

14 this section shall not be used for the construction of a 

15 new building or facility or the acquisition, expansion, re16 modeling, or alteration of an existing building of facility, 

17 including site grading and improvement and architect fees. 

18 ‘‘(g) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 1 year after 

19 the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 

20 promulgate regulations to implement the grant program 

21 authorized under this section. 

22 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 


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1 sums as are necessary to carry out this section for fiscal 

2 year 2011 and each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 

Æ 


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