I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5496 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish various programs for 

the recruitment and retention of public health workers and to eliminate 

critical public health workforce shortages in Federal, State, local, and 

tribal public health agencies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2008 

Ms. MATSUI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish various 

programs for the recruitment and retention of public 

health workers and to eliminate critical public health 

workforce shortages in Federal, State, local, and tribal 

public health agencies. 

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 ‘‘Public Health Pre5 paredness Workforce Development Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The ability of the public health system to 

2 prevent, respond to, and recover from bioterrorism, 

3 acute outbreaks of infectious diseases, or other 

4 health threats and emergencies depends upon the ex5 istence of adequate numbers of well-trained public 

6 health professionals in Federal, State, local, and 

7 tribal public health departments. 

8 (2) The public health system has an aging staff 

9 nearing retirement with no clear pipeline of highly10 skilled and capable employees to fill the void, with 

11 the average age of the State public health workforce 

12 at 47 years. 

13 (3) Retirement rates in some State public 

14 health agencies are as high as 20 percent as of June 

15 2007, and projected to be as high as 45 percent by 

16 2008. 

17 (4) The ratio of public health workers to the 

18 population has dropped from 219 per 100,000 in 

19 1980 to 158 per 100,000 in 2000, while responsibil20 ities of such workers have continued to expand. 

21 (5) Public health nurses comprise the largest 

22 segment of the public health workforce. A study by 

23 the Institute of Medicine in 2003 identified nursing 

24 as facing one of the most severe shortages of public 

25 health workers. The average age of public health 


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1 nurses is nearly 50 years, with the leaders of State 

2 public health nursing averaging more than 30 years 

3 of service. In one State nearly 40 percent of the 

4 public health nursing workforce was eligible for re5 tirement as of June 2007. 

6 (6) According to the Association of State and 

7 Territorial Health Officials, most of the approxi8 mately 6,400 graduates from accredited schools of 

9 public health took jobs in the private sector in 2004. 

10 The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that there 

11 will be an increase in private sector demand for 

12 highly educated graduates in scientific fields during 

13 the 10-year period ending in 2017. Public health 

14 agencies will have difficulty competing for those 

15 highly skilled scientists. 

16 (7) As of June 2007, approximately 42 percent 

17 of the epidemiology workforce in State and terri18 torial health departments lacks formal academic 

19 training in epidemiology. States have reported that 

20 approximately 47 percent more epidemiologists are 

21 needed to adequately prevent and control avian in22 fluenza and other emerging diseases. 

23 (8) Thirteen State public health laboratories 

24 are without doctoral-level molecular scientists on 

25 staff, and 23 have only 1. A majority of State health 


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1 laboratories report they do not have enough staff on 

2 board to provide surge capacity in case of a public 

3 health emergency, such as a bioterrorist attack. 

4 (9) The Partnership for Public Service reports 

5 that in the field of microbiology, there are more than 

6 4 times as many full-time permanent employees over 

7 age 40 as under age 40 at the Centers for Disease 

8 Control and Prevention. Among full-time permanent 

9 employees with medical backgrounds at the Centers 

10 for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food 

11 and Drug Administration, there are 3 times as many 

12 employees over 40 years of age as under 40. 

13 (10) More than 50 percent of the States cite 

14 the lack of qualified individuals or individuals willing 

15 to relocate as being a major barrier to preparedness. 

16 A study conducted by the Health Resources and 

17 Services Association reported difficulty with recruit18 ing more educated, skilled public health providers to 

19 work in traditionally medically underserved areas, 

20 such as rural populations. Public health agencies 

21 continue to identify unmet need for public health 

22 workers who are bilingual and culturally competent. 

23 (11) Lack of access to advanced education, in24 cluding baccalaureate nursing and graduate studies, 


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1 is a significant barrier to upgrading the existing 

2 public health workforce, particularly in rural areas. 

3 (12) Developing partnerships between accred4 ited schools of public health and State or local 

5 health departments, known as academic health de6 partments, will provide important first-hand experi7 ence to encourage students to pursue careers in pub8 lic health. These partnerships, consistent with rec9 ommendations made by the Institute of Medicine, 

10 will provide mutually beneficial collaboration and im11 prove the quality of both academic and applied 

12 training. 

13 (13) Academic health departments will improve 

14 access to continuing and higher education for health 

15 department workers. 

16 (14) The concept of academic health depart17 ments has been successfully demonstrated at 14 ac18 credited schools of public health by a pilot program 

19 funded by the Centers for Disease Control. Applica20 tions for funds to develop such departments were 

21 submitted by 70 percent of the public health schools 

22 in the United States. 


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1 SEC. 3. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE RECRUITMENT AND 

2 RETENTION PROGRAMS. 

3 Part E of title VII of the Public Health Service Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 294n et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘Subpart 3—Public Health Workforce Recruitment 

7 and Retention Programs 

8 ‘‘SEC. 780. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE SCHOLARSHIP 

9 PROGRAM. 

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab11 lish the Public Health Workforce Scholarship Program 

12 (referred to in this section as the ‘Program’) to assure 

13 an adequate supply of public health professionals to elimi14 nate critical public health preparedness workforce short15 ages in Federal, State, local, and tribal public health agen16 cies. 

17 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in 

18 the Program, an individual shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, 

20 as a full-time student— 

21 ‘‘(A) in an accredited (as determined by 

22 the Secretary) educational institution in a State 

23 or territory; and 

24 ‘‘(B) in a course of study or program, of25 fered by such institution and approved by the 

26 Secretary, leading to a health professions deVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:39 Feb 27, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5496.IH H5496

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1 gree (graduate, undergraduate, or associate) or 

2 certificate, which may include laboratory 

3 sciences, epidemiology, environmental health, 

4 health communications, health education and 

5 behavioral sciences, information sciences, or 

6 public administration; 

7 ‘‘(2) be a United States citizen; 

8 ‘‘(3) submit an application to the Secretary to 

9 participate in the Program; and 

10 ‘‘(4) sign and submit to the Secretary, at the 

11 time of the submission of such application, a written 

12 contract (described in subsection (d)) to serve, upon 

13 the completion of the course of study or program in14 volved, for the applicable period of obligated service 

15 in the full-time employment of a Federal, State, 

16 local, or tribal public health agency. 

17 ‘‘(c) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION AND CONTRACT FORMS.— 

19 The Secretary shall disseminate application forms 

20 and contract forms to individuals desiring to partici21 pate in the Program. The Secretary shall include 

22 with such forms— 

23 ‘‘(A) a fair summary of the rights and li24 abilities of an individual whose application is 

25 approved (and whose contract is accepted) by 


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1 the Secretary, including in the summary a clear 

2 explanation of the damages to which the United 

3 States is entitled to recover in the case of the 

4 individual’s breach of the contract; and 

5 ‘‘(B) information relating to the service ob6 ligation and such other information as may be 

7 necessary for the individual to understand the 

8 individual’s prospective participation in the Pro9 gram. 

10 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION FOR SCHOOLS.—The Sec11 retary shall distribute to health professions schools 

12 and other appropriate accredited academic institu13 tions and relevant Federal, State, local, and tribal 

14 public health agencies, materials providing informa15 tion on the Program and shall encourage such 

16 schools, institutions, and agencies to disseminate 

17 such materials to potentially eligible students. 

18 ‘‘(3) UNDERSTANDABILITY AND TIMING.—The 

19 application form, contract form, and all other infor20 mation furnished by the Secretary under this section 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) be written in a manner calculated to 

23 be understood by the average individual apply24 ing to participate in the Program; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) be made available by the Secretary on 

2 a date sufficiently early to ensure that such in3 dividuals have adequate time to carefully review 

4 and evaluate such forms and information. 

5 ‘‘(d) CONTRACT.—The written contract between the 

6 Secretary and an individual shall contain— 

7 ‘‘(1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary 

8 that the Secretary will provide the individual with a 

9 scholarship for a period of years (not to exceed 4 

10 academic years) during which the individual shall 

11 pursue an approved course of study or program to 

12 prepare the individual to serve in the public health 

13 workforce; 

14 ‘‘(2) an agreement on the part of the individual 

15 that the individual will— 

16 ‘‘(A) maintain full-time enrollment in the 

17 approved course of study or program described 

18 in subsection (b)(1) until the individual com19 pletes that course of study or program; 

20 ‘‘(B) while enrolled in the course of study 

21 or program, maintain an acceptable level of aca22 demic standing (as determined under regula23 tions of the Secretary by the educational insti24 tution offering such course of study or pro25 gram); and 


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1 ‘‘(C) immediately upon graduation, serve 

2 in the full-time employment of a Federal, State, 

3 local, or tribal public health agency in a posi4 tion related to the course of study or program 

5 for which the contract was awarded for a period 

6 of time (referred to in this section as the ‘pe7 riod of obligated service’) equal to the greater 

8 of— 

9 ‘‘(i) 1 year for each academic year for 

10 which the individual was provided a schol11 arship under the Program; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) 2 years; 

13 ‘‘(3) an agreement by both parties as to the na14 ture and extent of the scholarship assistance, which 

15 may include— 

16 ‘‘(A) payment of the tuition expenses of 

17 the individual; 

18 ‘‘(B) payment of all other reasonable edu19 cational expenses of the individual including 

20 fees, books, equipment, and laboratory ex21 penses; and 

22 ‘‘(C) payment of a stipend of not more 

23 than $1,200 per month for each month of the 

24 academic year involved (indexed to account for 

25 increases in the Consumer Price Index); 


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1 ‘‘(4) a provision that any financial obligation of 

2 the United States arising out of a contract entered 

3 into under subsection (d) and any obligation of the 

4 individual which is conditioned thereon, is contingent 

5 upon funds being appropriated for scholarships 

6 under this section; 

7 ‘‘(5) a statement of the damages to which the 

8 United States is entitled for the individual’s breach 

9 of the contract; and 

10 ‘‘(6) such other statements of the rights and li11 abilities of the Secretary and of the individual, not 

12 inconsistent with the provisions of this section. 

13 ‘‘(e) POSTPONING OBLIGATED SERVICE.—With re14 spect to an individual receiving a degree or certificate from 

15 a school of medicine, public health, nursing, osteopathic 

16 medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, po17 diatry, pharmacy, psychology, or social work under a 

18 scholarship under the Program, the date of the initiation 

19 of the period of obligated service may be postponed, upon 

20 the submission by the individual of a petition for such 

21 postponement and approval by the Secretary, to the date 

22 on which the individual completes an approved internship, 

23 residency, or other relevant public health preparedness ad24 vanced training program. 

25 ‘‘(f) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) CONTRACTS WITH INSTITUTIONS.—The 

2 Secretary may contract with an educational institu3 tion in which a participant in the Program is en4 rolled, for the payment to the educational institution 

5 of the amounts of tuition and other reasonable edu6 cational expenses described in subsection (d)(3). 

7 ‘‘(2) EMPLOYMENT CEILINGS.—Notwith8 standing any other provision of law, individuals who 

9 have entered into written contracts with the Sec10 retary under this section, while undergoing academic 

11 training, shall not be counted against any employ12 ment ceiling affecting the Department or any other 

13 Federal agency. 

14 ‘‘(g) BREACH OF CONTRACT.—An individual who 

15 fails to comply with the contract entered into under sub16 section (d) shall be subject to the same financial penalties 

17 as provided for under section 338E for breaches of schol18 arship contracts under sections 338A. 

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

20 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

21 $35,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 

22 2014. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 781. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab4 lish the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Pro5 gram (referred to in this section as the ‘Program’) to as6 sure an adequate supply of public health professionals to 

7 eliminate critical public health preparedness workforce 

8 shortages in Federal, State, local, and tribal public health 

9 agencies. 

10 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in 

11 the Program, an individual shall— 

12 ‘‘(1)(A) be accepted for enrollment, or be en13 rolled, as a full-time or part-time student in an ac14 credited academic educational institution in a State 

15 or territory in the final year of a course of study or 

16 program offered by that institution leading to a 

17 health professions degree or certificate, which may 

18 include a degree (graduate, undergraduate, or asso19 ciate) or certificate relating to laboratory sciences, 

20 epidemiology, environmental health, health commu21 nications, health education and behavioral sciences, 

22 information sciences, or public administration; or 

23 ‘‘(B) have graduated, within 10 years, from an 

24 accredited educational institution in a State or terri25 tory and received a health professions degree (grad26 uate, undergraduate, or associate) or certificate, 


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1 which may include a degree (graduate, under2 graduate, or associate) or certificate relating to lab3 oratory sciences, epidemiology, environmental health, 

4 health communications, health education and behav5 ioral sciences, information sciences, or public admin6 istration; 

7 ‘‘(2)(A) in the case of an individual described in 

8 paragraph (1)(A), have accepted employment with a 

9 Federal, State, local, or tribal public health agency, 

10 as recognized by the Secretary, to commence upon 

11 graduation; or 

12 ‘‘(B) in the case of an individual described in 

13 paragraph (1)(B), be employed by, or have accepted 

14 employment with, a Federal, State, local, or tribal 

15 public health agency, as recognized by the Secretary; 

16 ‘‘(3) be a United States citizen; 

17 ‘‘(4) submit an application to the Secretary to 

18 participate in the Program; and 

19 ‘‘(5) sign and submit to the Secretary, at the 

20 time of the submission of such application, a written 

21 contract (described in subsection (d)) to serve for 

22 the applicable period of obligated service in the full23 time employment of a Federal, State, local, or tribal 

24 public health agency. 

25 ‘‘(c) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION AND CONTRACT FORMS.— 

2 The Secretary shall disseminate application forms 

3 and contract forms to individuals desiring to partici4 pate in the Program. The Secretary shall include 

5 with such forms— 

6 ‘‘(A) a fair summary of the rights and li7 abilities of an individual whose application is 

8 approved (and whose contract is accepted) by 

9 the Secretary, including in the summary a clear 

10 explanation of the damages to which the United 

11 States is entitled to recover in the case of the 

12 individual’s breach of the contract; and 

13 ‘‘(B) information relating to the service ob14 ligation and such other information as may be 

15 necessary for the individual to understand the 

16 individual’s prospective participation in the Pro17 gram. 

18 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION FOR SCHOOLS.—The Sec19 retary shall distribute to health professions schools 

20 and other appropriate accredited academic institu21 tions and relevant Federal, State, local, and tribal 

22 public health agencies, materials providing informa23 tion on the Program and shall encourage such 

24 schools, institutions, and agencies to disseminate 

25 such materials to potentially eligible students. 


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1 ‘‘(3) UNDERSTANDABILITY AND TIMING.—The 

2 application form, contract form, and all other infor3 mation furnished by the Secretary under this section 

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) be written in a manner calculated to 

6 be understood by the average individual apply7 ing to participate in the Program; and 

8 ‘‘(B) be made available by the Secretary on 

9 a date sufficiently early to ensure that such in10 dividuals have adequate time to carefully review 

11 and evaluate such forms and information. 

12 ‘‘(d) CONTRACT.—The written contract (referred to 

13 in this section) between the Secretary and an individual 

14 shall contain— 

15 ‘‘(1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary 

16 that the Secretary will repay on behalf of the indi17 vidual loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit 

18 of the relevant public health preparedness workforce 

19 educational degree or certificate in accordance with 

20 the terms of the contract; 

21 ‘‘(2) an agreement on the part of the individual 

22 that the individual will serve, immediately upon 

23 graduation in the case of an individual described in 

24 subsection (b)(1)(A) service, or in the case of an in25 dividual described in subsection (b)(1)(B) continue 


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1 to serve, in the full-time employment of a Federal, 

2 State, local, or tribal public health agency in a posi3 tion related to the course of study or program for 

4 which the contract was awarded for a period of time 

5 (referred to in this section as the ‘period of obligated 

6 service’) equal to the greater of— 

7 ‘‘(A) 3 years; or 

8 ‘‘(B) such longer period of time as deter9 mined appropriate by the Secretary and the in10 dividual; 

11 ‘‘(3) an agreement, as appropriate, on the part 

12 of the individual to relocate for the entire period of 

13 obligated service to a political jurisdiction designated 

14 by the Secretary to be a priority service area in ex15 change for an additional loan repayment incentive 

16 amount that does not exceed 20 percent of the indi17 vidual’s eligible loan repayment award per academic 

18 year such that the total of the loan repayment and 

the incentive amount shall not exceed 1 19 ⁄3 of the eligi20 ble loan balance per year; 

21 ‘‘(4) in the case of an individual described in 

22 subsection (b)(1)(A) who is in the final year of study 

23 and who has accepted employment with a Federal, 

24 State, local, or tribal public health agency upon 

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1 vidual to complete the education or training, main2 tain an acceptable level of academic standing (as de3 termined by the education institution offering the 

4 course of study or training), and agree to the period 

5 of obligated service; 

6 ‘‘(5) a provision that any financial obligation of 

7 the United States arising out of a contract entered 

8 into under this section and any obligation of the in9 dividual that is conditioned thereon, is contingent on 

10 funds being appropriated for loan repayments under 

11 this section; 

12 ‘‘(6) a statement of the damages to which the 

13 United States is entitled, under this section for the 

14 individual’s breach of the contract; and 

15 ‘‘(7) such other statements of the rights and li16 abilities of the Secretary and of the individual, not 

17 inconsistent with this section. 

18 ‘‘(e) PAYMENTS.— 

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

20 for an individual under a written contract under the 

21 Program shall consist of payment, in accordance 

22 with paragraph (2), on behalf of the individual of 

23 the principal, interest, and related expenses on gov24 ernment and commercial loans received by the indi25 vidual regarding the undergraduate or graduate eduVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:39 Feb 27, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5496.IH H5496

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1 cation of the individual (or both), which loans were 

2 made for— 

3 ‘‘(A) tuition expenses; or 

4 ‘‘(B) all other reasonable educational ex5 penses, including fees, books, and laboratory ex6 penses, incurred by the individual. 

7 ‘‘(2) PAYMENTS FOR YEARS SERVED.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each year of obli9 gated service that an individual contracts to 

10 serve under subsection (d) the Secretary may 

11 pay up to $35,000 on behalf of the individual 

12 for loans described in paragraph (1). With re13 spect to participants under the Program whose 

14 total eligible loans are less than $105,000, the 

15 Secretary shall pay an amount that does not exceed 1 16 ⁄3 of the eligible loan balance for each 

17 year of obligated service of the individual. 

18 ‘‘(B) REPAYMENT SCHEDULE.—Any ar19 rangement made by the Secretary for the mak20 ing of loan repayments in accordance with this 

21 subsection shall provide that any repayments 

22 for a year of obligated service shall be made no 

23 later than the end of the fiscal year in which 

24 the individual completes such year of service. 


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1 ‘‘(3) TAX LIABILITY.—For the purpose of pro2 viding reimbursements for tax liability resulting 

3 from payments under paragraph (2) on behalf of an 

4 individual— 

5 ‘‘(A) the Secretary shall, in addition to 

6 such payments, make payments to the indi7 vidual in an amount not to exceed 39 percent 

8 of the total amount of loan repayments made 

9 for the taxable year involved; and 

10 ‘‘(B) may make such additional payments 

11 as the Secretary determines to be appropriate 

12 with respect to such purpose. 

13 ‘‘(4) PAYMENT SCHEDULE.—The Secretary 

14 may enter into an agreement with the holder of any 

15 loan for which payments are made under the Pro16 gram to establish a schedule for the making of such 

17 payments. 

18 ‘‘(f) POSTPONING OBLIGATED SERVICE.—With re19 spect to an individual receiving a degree or certificate from 

20 a school of medicine, public health, nursing, osteopathic 

21 medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, po22 diatry, pharmacy, psychology, or social work, the date of 

23 the initiation of the period of obligated service may be 

24 postponed, upon the submission by the individual of a peti25 tion for such postponement and approval by the Secretary, 


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1 to the date on which the individual completes an approved 

2 internship, residency, or other relevant public health pre3 paredness advanced training program. 

4 ‘‘(g) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) HIRING PRIORITY.—Notwithstanding any 

6 other provision of law, Federal, State, local, and 

7 tribal public health agencies may give hiring priority 

8 to any individual who has qualified for and is willing 

9 to execute a contract to participate in the Program. 

10 ‘‘(2) EMPLOYMENT CEILINGS.—Notwith11 standing any other provision of law, individuals who 

12 have entered into written contracts with the Sec13 retary under this section, who are serving as full14 time employees of a State, local, or tribal public 

15 health agency, or who are in the last year of public 

16 health workforce academic preparation, shall not be 

17 counted against any employment ceiling affecting 

18 the Department or any other Federal agency. 

19 ‘‘(h) BREACH OF CONTRACT.—An individual who 

20 fails to comply with the contract entered into under sub21 section (d) shall be subject to the same financial penalties 

22 as provided for under section 338E for breaches of loan 

23 repayment contracts under section 338B. 

24 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

25 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 


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1 $195,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 

2 2014. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 782. GRANTS FOR STATE AND LOCAL PROGRAMS. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of operating 

5 State, local, and tribal public health workforce loan repay6 ment programs, the Secretary shall award a grant to any 

7 public health agency that receives public health prepared8 ness cooperative agreements, or other successor coopera9 tive agreements, from the Department of Health and 

10 Human Services. 

11 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—A State or local loan repay12 ment program operated with a grant under subsection (a) 

13 shall incorporate all provisions of the Public Health Work14 force Loan Repayment Program under section 781, in15 cluding the ability to designate priority service areas with16 in the relevant political jurisdiction. 

17 ‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATION.—The head of the State or 

18 local office that receives a grant under subsection (a) shall 

19 be responsible for contracting and operating the loan re20 payment program under the grant. 

21 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec22 tion shall be construed to obligate or limit any State, local, 

23 or tribal government entity from implementing inde24 pendent or supplemental public health workforce develop25 ment programs within their borders. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 783. TRAINING FOR MID-CAREER PUBLIC HEALTH 

2 PROFESSIONALS. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants 

4 to, or enter into contracts with, any eligible entity to 

5 award scholarships to eligible individuals to enroll in de6 gree or professional training programs for the purpose of 

7 enabling mid-career professionals in the public health 

8 workforce to receive additional training in the field of pub9 lic health preparedness or biodefense. 

10 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en12 tity’ indicates an accredited educational institution 

13 that offers a course of study, certificate program, or 

14 professional training program in infectious disease 

15 science, medicine, public health, veterinary medicine, 

16 or other discipline impacting or influenced by bioter17 rorism or emerging infectious diseases. 

18 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—The term ‘eligi19 ble individuals’ includes those individuals employed 

20 in public health positions at the Federal, State, trib21 al, or local level who are interested in retaining or 

22 upgrading their education. 

23 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

24 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

25 $30,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 

26 2014. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 784. CATALOGUE OF FEDERAL PUBLIC HEALTH 

2 WORKFORCE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

4 Personnel Management, in cooperation with the Secretary, 

5 shall ensure that included in the Internet website of the 

6 Office of Personnel Management, there is an online cata7 logue, or link to an online catalogue, of public health work8 force employment opportunities in the Federal Govern9 ment. 

10 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—To the extent practicable, the 

11 catalogue described in subsection (a) shall include— 

12 ‘‘(1) existing and projected job openings in the 

13 Federal public health workforce; and 

14 ‘‘(2) a general discussion of the occupations 

15 that comprise the Federal public health workforce. 

16 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall include a 

17 copy of the catalogue described in subsection (a), or a 

18 prominent reference to the catalogue, in— 

19 ‘‘(1) the application forms provided under sec20 tion 780(c)(1); and 

21 ‘‘(2) the information for schools provided under 

22 section 780(c)(2). 

23 ‘‘SEC. 785. ACADEMIC HEALTH DEPARTMENTS GRANT PRO24 GRAM. 

25 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to improve the 

2 training of public health students, the Secretary, 

3 acting through the Director of the Centers for Dis4 ease Control and Prevention and in consultation 

5 with the Association of Schools of Public Health, 

6 shall carry out the Academic Health Departments 

7 grant program (referred to in this section as the 

8 ‘Program’) under which the Secretary shall award 

9 competitive grants, of not more than $250,000 each, 

10 to eligible partnerships to establish Academic Health 

11 Departments. 

12 ‘‘(2) ACADEMIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT DE13 FINED.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘Aca14 demic Health Department’ means a program admin15 istered by an eligible partnership that provides for 

16 collaboration between the academic and practice as17 pects of public health. The purpose of such a depart18 ment is to increase the number of graduates in pub19 lic health who work in State and local health depart20 ments, increase the relevance of the curriculum in 

21 schools and programs of public health to health de22 partment practice, and to increase the use of aca23 demic theories, knowledge, and methodologies in the 

24 work of health departments. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—For purposes of this section, an 

2 eligible partnership is a partnership, with respect to estab3 lishing an Academic Health Department, consisting of— 

4 ‘‘(1) a State or local public health department; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(2) an accredited school of public health or an 

7 accredited public health degree program. 

8 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible partnership (as de9 scribed in subsection (b)) may use funds provided under 

10 a grant made under subsection (a) for the following pur11 poses, with respect to an Academic Health Department: 

12 ‘‘(1) To provide for curriculum development. 

13 ‘‘(2) To provide for training and academic in14 struction. 

15 ‘‘(3) To conduct leadership seminars. 

16 ‘‘(4) To conduct training needs assessment sur17 veys. 

18 ‘‘(5) To facilitate appropriate staff of the State 

19 or local health department participating in the eligi20 ble partnership to teach with the school of public 

21 health or public health degree program participating 

22 in such partnership. 

23 ‘‘(6) To facilitate faculty and students of the 

24 school of public health or public health degree pro25 gram participating in the eligible partnership to 


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1 work in the health department participating in such 

2 partnership. 

3 ‘‘(7) To provide for a project coordinator. 

4 ‘‘(8) To provide for subgrants to organizations 

5 to conduct activities consistent with the goals of the 

6 Program. 

7 ‘‘(9) Other appropriate activities specified by 

8 the Secretary to recruit public health students to full 

9 time employment in a health department after grad10 uation. 

11 ‘‘(d) REPORTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) GRANT RECIPIENT REPORTS TO THE SEC13 RETARY.—Each recipient of a grant awarded under 

14 subsection (a) shall submit to the Secretary a report 

15 for each year for which the recipient received such 

16 a grant on the results and outcomes of the activities 

17 funded by such grant during such year. 

18 ‘‘(2) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—For the 3-year 

19 period beginning on the date of the establishment of 

20 the Program, and for each subsequent 3-year period 

21 in which the Program is in existence, the Secretary 

22 shall submit to Congress a report, on the results and 

23 outcomes of the Program during such 3-year period, 

24 including the number of Academic Health Depart25 ments funded by grants under the Program, the 


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1 number of students trained through grants under 

2 the Program, and the number of trainees partici3 pating in such Academic Health Departments who 

4 remain in public health professions. 

5 ‘‘(3) EVALUATION OF PROGRAM.—Not later 

6 than the date that is 5 years after the date of the 

7 establishment of the Program, the Secretary shall 

8 submit to Congress a report that examines the re9 sults and outcomes of the Program and recommends 

10 the extent to which the Program should be contin11 ued. 

12 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

14 $4,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 

15 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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