II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 746 

To establish a competitive grant program to build capacity in veterinary 

medical education and expand the workforce of veterinarians engaged 

in public health practice and biomedical research. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 2, 2007 

Mr. ALLARD (for himself, Mr. HAGEL, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. 

DURBIN, and Mr. HARKIN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a competitive grant program to build capacity 

in veterinary medical education and expand the workforce 

of veterinarians engaged in public health practice and 

biomedical research. 

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 Public 

5 Health Workforce Expansion Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMPETITIVE GRANTS PROGRAM. 

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

3 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec4 retary’’) shall award competitive grants to eligible entities 

5 for the purpose of improving public health preparedness 

6 through increasing the number of veterinarians in the 

7 workforce. 

8 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive a 

9 grant under subsection (a), an entity shall— 

10 (1) be— 

11 (A) a public or other nonprofit school of 

12 veterinary medicine accredited by a recognized 

13 body or bodies approved for such purpose by 

14 the Department of Education; 

15 (B) a public or nonprofit, department of 

16 comparative medicine, department of veterinary 

17 science, school of public health, or school of 

18 medicine that is accredited by a recognized 

19 body or bodies approved for such purpose by 

20 the Department of Education and that offers 

21 graduate training for veterinarians in a public 

22 health practice area as determined by the Sec23 retary; or 

24 (C) a public or nonprofit entity that con25 ducts recognized residency training programs 

26 for veterinarians that are approved by a veteriVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:34 Mar 04, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S746.IS S746

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1 nary specialty organization that is recognized 

2 by the American Veterinary Medical Association 

3 and that offers postgraduate training for veteri4 narians in a public health practice area as de5 termined by the Secretary; and 

6 (2) prepare and submit to the Secretary an ap7 plication, at such time, in such manner, and con8 taining such information as the Secretary may re9 quire. 

10 (c) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS.—The Sec11 retary shall establish procedures to ensure that applica12 tions under subsection (b)(2) are rigorously reviewed and 

13 that grants are competitively awarded based on— 

14 (1) the ability of the applicant to increase the 

15 number of veterinarians who are trained in specified 

16 public health practice areas as determined by the 

17 Secretary; 

18 (2) the ability of the applicant to increase ca19 pacity in research on high priority disease agents; or 

20 (3) any other consideration the Secretary deter21 mines necessary. 

22 (d) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under sub23 section (a)(1), the Secretary shall give preference to appli24 cants that demonstrate a comprehensive approach by in25 volving more than one school of veterinary medicine, deVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:34 Mar 04, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S746.IS S746

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1 partment of comparative medicine, department of veteri2 nary science, school of public health, school of medicine, 

3 or residency training program that offers postgraduate 

4 training for veterinarians in a public health practice area 

5 as determined by the Secretary. 

6 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts received under a 

7 grant under this subsection shall be used by a grantee to 

8 increase the number of veterinarians in the workforce 

9 through— 

10 (1) paying the costs associated with construc11 tion, the acquisition of equipment, and other capital 

12 costs relating to the expansion of existing schools of 

13 veterinary medicine, departments of comparative 

14 medicine, departments of veterinary science, or enti15 ties offering residency training programs; or 

16 (2) paying the capital costs associated with the 

17 expansion of academic programs that offer post18 graduate training for veterinarians or concurrent 

19 training for veterinary students in specific areas of 

20 specialization. 

21 (f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘public 

22 health practice’’ includes bioterrorism and emergency pre23 paredness, environmental health, food safety and food se24 curity, regulatory medicine, diagnostic laboratory medi25 cine, and biomedical research. 


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1 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

3 $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2007, and $1,264,000,000 

4 for the 9-fiscal-year period beginning with fiscal year 

5 2008. Amounts appropriated under this subsection shall 

6 remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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