II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 646 

To increase the nursing workforce. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2007 

Mr. COLEMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To increase the nursing workforce. 

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 ‘‘Rural Nursing Pro5 motion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF A NURSE DISTANCE EDU7 CATION PILOT PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

9 Human Services, in conjunction with the Secretary of 

10 Education, shall establish a Nurse Distance Education 

11 Pilot Program through which grants may be awarded for 


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1 the conduct of activities to increase accessibility to nursing 

2 education. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Nurse Distance 

4 Education Pilot Program established under subsection (a) 

5 shall be to increase accessibility to nursing education to— 

6 (1) provide assistance to individuals in rural 

7 areas who want to study nursing to enable such indi8 viduals to receive appropriate nursing education; 

9 (2) promote the study of nursing at all edu10 cational levels; 

11 (3) establish additional slots for nursing stu12 dents at existing nursing education programs; and 

13 (4) establish new nursing education programs 

14 at institutions of higher education. 

15 (c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

16 under the Pilot Program under subsection (a), an entity 

17 shall submit to the Secretary of Health and Human Serv18 ices an application at such time, in such manner, and con19 taining such information as the Secretary may require. 

20 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

21 authorized to be appropriated, such sums as may be nec22 essary to carry out this section. 


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1 SEC. 3. INCREASING THE DOMESTIC SUPPLY OF NURSES 

2 AND PHYSICAL THERAPISTS. 

3 (a) Not later than January 1, 2008, the Secretary 

4 of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the 

5 Secretary of Education, shall— 

6 (1) submit to Congress a report concerning the 

7 source of newly licensed nurses and physical thera8 pists in each State, that shall include— 

9 (A) for the most recent 3-year period for 

10 which data is available— 

11 (i) separate data relating to teachers 

12 at institutions of higher education for each 

13 related occupation who have been teaching 

14 for not more than 5 years; and 

15 (ii) separate data relating to all teach16 ers at institutions of higher education for 

17 each related occupation regardless of 

18 length of service; 

19 (B) for the most recent 3-year period for 

20 which data is available, separate data for each 

21 related occupation and for each State; 

22 (C) a description of the barriers to increas23 ing the supply of nursing faculty, domestically 

24 trained nurses, and domestically trained phys25 ical therapists; 


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1 (D) separately identify those individuals 

2 receiving their initial nursing license and those 

3 individuals licensed by endorsement from an4 other State; 

5 (E) with respect to those individuals re6 ceiving their initial nursing license in each year, 

7 a description of the number of individuals who 

8 received their professional education in the 

9 United States and the number of individuals 

10 who received such education outside the United 

11 States; 

12 (F) to the extent practicable, a description, 

13 by State of residence and country of education, 

14 of the number of nurses and physical therapists 

15 who were educated in any of the 5 countries 

16 (other than the United States) from which the 

17 most nurses and physical therapists arrived; 

18 (G) recommendations of strategies to be 

19 utilized by Federal and State governments that 

20 would be effective in removing the barriers de21 scribed in subparagraph (C), including strate22 gies that address barriers to advancement to 

23 become registered nurses for other health care 

24 workers, such as home health aides and nurses 

25 assistants; 


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1 (H) recommendations for amendments to 

2 Federal laws that would increase the supply of 

3 nursing faculty, domestically trained nurses, 

4 and domestically trained physical therapists; 

5 (I) recommendations for Federal grants, 

6 loans, and other incentives that would provide 

7 increases in nurse educators and nurse training 

8 facilities, and other measures to increase the 

9 domestic education of new nurses and physical 

10 therapists; 

11 (J) identify the effects of nurse emigration 

12 on the health care systems in their countries of 

13 origin; and 

14 (K) recommendation for amendments to 

15 Federal law that would minimize the effects of 

16 health care shortages in the countries of origin 

17 from which immigrant nurses arrived; 

18 (2) enter into a contract with the Institute of 

19 Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences for 

20 the conduct of a study, and submission of a report, 

21 to determine the level of Federal investment under 

22 titles VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act 

23 (42 U.S.C. 292 and 296 et seq.) that is necessary 

24 to eliminate the domestic nursing and physical ther25 apist shortage by the date that is not later than 7 


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1 years after the date on which the report is sub2 mitted; and 

3 (3) collaborate with the heads of other Federal 

4 agencies, as appropriate, in working with ministers 

5 of health or other appropriate officials of the 5 coun6 tries from which the most nurses and physical thera7 pists arrived into the United States, to— 

8 (A) address health worker shortages 

9 caused by emigration; and 

10 (B) ensure that there is sufficient human 

11 resource planning or other technical assistance 

12 needed to reduce further health worker short13 ages in such countries. 

14 SEC. 4. SHORTAGE OCCUPATIONS. 

15 (a) EXCEPTION TO DIRECT NUMERICAL LIMITA16 TIONS.—Section 201(b)(1) of the Immigration and Na17 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1151(b)(1)) is amended by adding 

18 at the end the following new subparagraph: 

19 ‘‘(F)(i) During the period beginning on the 

20 date of the enactment of the Rural Nursing 

21 Promotion Act and ending on September 30, 

22 2017, an alien— 

23 ‘‘(I) who is described in section 

24 203(b); and 


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1 ‘‘(II) who is seeking admission to 

2 the United States to perform labor in 

3 shortage occupations designated by 

4 the Secretary of Labor for certifi5 cation under section 212(a)(5)(A) due 

6 to the lack of sufficient United States 

7 workers able, willing, qualified, and 

8 available for such occupations and for 

9 which the employment of aliens will 

10 not adversely affect the terms and 

11 conditions of similarly employed 

12 United States workers. 

13 ‘‘(ii) During the period described in 

14 clause (i), the spouse or dependent of an 

15 alien described in clause (i), if accom16 panying or following to join such alien.’’. 

17 (b) EXCEPTION TO NONDISCRIMINATION REQUIRE18 MENTS.—Section 202(a)(1)(A) of the Immigration and 

19 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(1)(A)) is amended by 

20 striking ‘‘201(b)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘201(b)’’. 

21 (c) EXCEPTION TO PER COUNTRY LEVELS FOR FAM22 ILY-SPONSORED AND EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMI23 GRANTS.—Section 202(a)(2) of the Immigration and Na24 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)), is amended by insertVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:06 Feb 20, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S646.IS S646

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1 ing ‘‘, except for aliens described in section 201(b),’’ after 

2 ‘‘any fiscal year’’. 

3 (d) PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING IMMIGRANT STA4 TUS.—Section 204 of the Immigration and Nationality 

5 Act (8 U.S.C. 1154) is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(l) The Secretary of Homeland Security shall pro8 vide a process for reviewing and making a determination 

9 upon a petition filed with respect to an alien described 

10 in section 201(b)(1)(F) not later than 30 days after the 

11 date a completed petition has been filed for such alien.’’. 

Æ 


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