II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 64 

To amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act to ensure that social 

work students or social work schools are eligible for support under 

certain programs to assist individuals in pursuing health careers and 

programs of grants for training projects in geriatrics, and to establish 

a social work training program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 4, 2007 

Mr. REID (for himself and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend title VII of the Public Health Service Act to 

ensure that social work students or social work schools 

are eligible for support under certain programs to assist 

individuals in pursuing health careers and programs of 

grants for training projects in geriatrics, and to establish 

a social work training program. 

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 ‘‘Strengthen Social 

5 Work Training Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS. 

2 (a) HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOOLS.—Section 

3 736(g)(1)(A) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 

4 293(g)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘graduate program 

5 in behavioral or mental health’’ and inserting ‘‘graduate 

6 program in behavioral or mental health, including a school 

7 offering graduate programs in clinical social work, or pro8 grams in social work’’. 

9 (b) SCHOLARSHIPS.—Section 737(d)(1)(A) of the 

10 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293a(d)(1)(A)) is 

11 amended by striking ‘‘mental health practice’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘mental health practice (including graduate programs 

13 in clinical psychology, graduate programs in clinical social 

14 work, or programs in social work)’’. 

15 (c) FACULTY POSITIONS.—Section 738(a)(3) of the 

16 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 293b(a)(3)) is 

17 amended by striking ‘‘offering graduate programs in be18 havioral and mental health’’ and inserting ‘‘offering grad19 uate programs in behavioral and mental health, including 

20 graduate programs in clinical psychology, graduate pro21 grams in clinical social work, or programs in social work’’. 

22 SEC. 3. GERIATRICS TRAINING PROJECTS. 

23 Section 753(b)(1) of the Public Health Service Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 294c(b)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘schools 

25 offering degrees in social work,’’ after ‘‘teaching hos26 pitals,’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. SOCIAL WORK TRAINING PROGRAM. 

2 Subpart 2 of part E of title VII of the Public Health 

3 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating section 770 as section 

5 770A; 

6 (2) by inserting after section 769, the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 770. SOCIAL WORK TRAINING PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) TRAINING GENERALLY.—The Secretary may 

9 make grants to, or enter into contracts with, any public 

10 or nonprofit private hospital, any school offering programs 

11 in social work, or to or with a public or private nonprofit 

12 entity that the Secretary has determined is capable of car13 rying out such grant or contract— 

14 ‘‘(1) to plan, develop, and operate, or partici15 pate in, an approved social work training program 

16 (including an approved residency or internship pro17 gram) for students, interns, residents, or practicing 

18 physicians; 

19 ‘‘(2) to provide financial assistance (in the form 

20 of traineeships and fellowships) to students, interns, 

21 residents, practicing physicians, or other individuals, 

22 who— 

23 ‘‘(A) are in need of such assistance; 

24 ‘‘(B) are participants in any such program; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(C) plan to specialize or work in the prac2 tice of social work; 

3 ‘‘(3) to plan, develop, and operate a program 

4 for the training of individuals who plan to teach in 

5 social work training programs; and 

6 ‘‘(4) to provide financial assistance (in the form 

7 of traineeships and fellowships) to individuals who 

8 are participants in any such program and who plan 

9 to teach in a social work training program. 

10 ‘‘(b) ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make 

12 grants to or enter into contracts with schools offer13 ing programs in social work to meet the costs of 

14 projects to establish, maintain, or improve academic 

15 administrative units (which may be departments, di16 visions, or other units) to provide clinical instruction 

17 in social work. 

18 ‘‘(2) PREFERENCE IN MAKING AWARDS.—In 

19 making awards of grants and contracts under para20 graph (1), the Secretary shall give preference to any 

21 qualified applicant for such an award that agrees to 

22 expend the award for the purpose of— 

23 ‘‘(A) establishing an academic administra24 tive unit for programs in social work; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) substantially expanding the programs 

2 of such a unit. 

3 ‘‘(c) DURATION OF AWARD.—The period during 

4 which payments are made to an entity from an award of 

5 a grant or contract under subsection (a) may not exceed 

6 5 years. The provision of such payments shall be subject 

7 to annual approval by the Secretary and subject to the 

8 availability of appropriations for the fiscal year involved 

9 to make the payments. 

10 ‘‘(d) FUNDING.— 

11 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

13 this section $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

14 2008 through 2010. 

15 ‘‘(2) ALLOCATION.—Of the amounts appro16 priated under paragraph (1) for a fiscal year, the 

17 Secretary shall make available not less than 20 per18 cent for awards of grants and contracts under sub19 section (b).’’; and 

20 (3) in section 770A (as redesignated by para21 graph (1)) by inserting ‘‘other than section 770,’’ 

22 after ‘‘carrying out this subpart,’’. 

23 SEC. 5. CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER SERVICES. 

24 Section 1302 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

25 U.S.C. 300e–1) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by inserting 

2 ‘‘clinical social worker,’’ after ‘‘psychologist,’’ each 

3 place the term appears; 

4 (2) in paragraph (4)(A), by striking ‘‘and psy5 chologists’’ and inserting ‘‘psychologists, and clinical 

6 social workers’’; and 

7 (3) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘clinical so8 cial work,’’ after ‘‘psychology,’’. 

Æ 


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