I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 724 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants to increase 

the number of qualified nursing faculty, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2009 

Mr. PASTOR of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize grants 

to increase the number of qualified nursing faculty, 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 ‘‘America’s Partnership 

5 for Nursing Education Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) The nursing shortage has a detrimental im9 pact on the quality of care patients receive in health 


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1 care settings and plays a role in driving up health 

2 care costs. 

3 (2) States that have developed strategies involv4 ing partnerships with educational institutions and 

5 have allocated funds toward implementing their 

6 strategies are well suited to make effective use of 

7 matching Federal funds to better address and re8 duce this nursing shortage 

9 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to support 

10 State and private efforts to address lack of capacity in 

11 college and university nursing programs, the critical driv12 ing force behind the serious nursing shortage in many 

13 States with fast growing populations. 

14 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF QUALIFIED 

15 NURSING FACULTY. 

16 Part D of title VIII of the Public Health Service Act 

17 (42 U.S.C. 296p) is amended by adding at the end the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 832. GRANTS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF QUALI20 FIED NURSING FACULTY. 

21 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Health and Human 

22 Services shall make grants to qualified States (or agencies 

23 or other governmental units thereof) to increase the num24 ber of qualified nursing faculty in college and university 

25 nursing programs in the State. 


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1 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—As a condition on the re3 ceipt of a grant under this section, a qualifying 

4 State shall agree to implement or continue imple5 menting a program for the purpose of increasing the 

6 number of qualified nursing faculty in college and 

7 university nursing programs in the State. Such pro8 gram— 

9 ‘‘(A) shall be implemented in cooperation 

10 with one or more colleges or universities in the 

11 State; and 

12 ‘‘(B) shall include payment of nursing fac13 ulty salaries, benefits, training costs, oper14 ational costs, and any other costs related to 

15 such purpose. 

16 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTIONS.—As a condition on the re17 ceipt of a grant under this section, a qualifying 

18 State shall agree— 

19 ‘‘(A) to use the grant only to pay costs de20 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) that are associated 

21 with the number of qualified nursing faculty in 

22 college and university nursing programs in the 

23 State that is in addition to such number in aca24 demic year 2008–2009; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) to refrain from using any funds made 

2 available through the grant for capital expenses. 

3 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 

4 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL FUNDS.—Subject to the avail5 ability of appropriations, the minimum amount of a 

6 grant to a qualifying State under this section for a 

7 fiscal year shall be $2,000,000. 

8 ‘‘(2) STATE FUNDS.—As a condition on the re9 ceipt of a grant under this section, a qualifying 

10 State shall agree— 

11 ‘‘(A) to use the grant to supplement and 

12 not supplant the amount of funds made avail13 able by the State for academic year 2008–2009 

14 for maintaining the number of qualified nursing 

15 faculty in college and university nursing pro16 grams in the State; and 

17 ‘‘(B) in addition to such funds, to make 

18 available not less than $2,000,000 for each of 

19 fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for the purpose 

20 of increasing the number of qualified nursing 

21 faculty in college and university nursing pro22 grams in the State. 

23 ‘‘(d) COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.—The Secretary 

24 shall allow a qualifying State receiving a grant under this 

25 section to determine which college and university nursing 


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1 programs in the State are eligible for funding through 

2 such grant. 

3 ‘‘(e) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than the 

4 end of each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014, the Sec5 retary shall submit to the Congress a report on the grants 

6 awarded under this section. Each such report shall iden7 tify the overall number of grants awarded under this sec8 tion, which States (or agencies or other governmental 

9 units thereof) received the grants, the number of new 

10 nursing faculty who were added, and the number of new 

11 nurses who are projected to graduate as a result of the 

12 grant in each State involved. 

13 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

14 ‘‘(1) The term ‘qualifying State’ means a State 

15 that— 

16 ‘‘(A) is experiencing explosive population 

17 growth, with total population projected to in18 crease by more than 50 percent between 1990 

19 and 2025 based on data of the Bureau of the 

20 Census; 

21 ‘‘(B) has a substantial projected shortage 

22 of nurses, such that the State is expected to 

23 have fewer than 555 nurses per 100,000 popu24 lation in 2020, based on data of the Bureau of 


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1 Health Professions of the Health Resources and 

2 Services Administration; and 

3 ‘‘(C) is implementing or continuing to im4 plement a program for the purpose of increas5 ing the number of qualified nursing faculty in 

6 college and university nursing programs in the 

7 State. 

8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary 

9 of Health and Human Services. 

10 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

11 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro12 priated $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 

13 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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