II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3506 

To strengthen the public health workforce loan repayment program, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 13 (legislative day, JANUARY 10), 2022 

Ms. SMITH (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BOOKER, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To strengthen the public health workforce loan repayment 

program, 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 ‘‘Strengthening the 

5 Public Health Workforce Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 Section 776 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 295f–1) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘supply of’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘supply of, and encourage recruitment and re3 tention of,’’; and 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘Federal,’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (b)— 

6 (A) by amending paragraph (1)(A) to read 

7 as follows: 

8 ‘‘(1)(A)(i) be accepted for enrollment, or be en9 rolled, as a student in an accredited institution of 

10 higher education or school of public health in the 

11 final semester (or equivalent) of a program leading 

12 to a certificate or degree, including a master’s or 

13 doctoral degree, in public health, epidemiology, lab14 oratory sciences, data systems, data science, data 

15 analytics, informatics, statistics, or other subject 

16 matter related to public health; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) be employed by or have accepted employ18 ment with a State, local, or Tribal public health 

19 agency, or a related training fellowship at such 

20 State, local, or Tribal public health agency, as recog21 nized by the Secretary, to commence upon gradua22 tion; or’’; and 

23 (B) in paragraph (1)(B)— 

24 (i) in clause (i)— 


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1 (I) by striking ‘‘accredited edu2 cational institution in a State or terri3 tory’’ and inserting ‘‘accredited insti4 tution of higher education or school of 

5 public health’’; and 

6 (II) by striking ‘‘a public health 

7 or health professions degree or certifi8 cate’’ and inserting ‘‘a certificate or 

9 degree, including a master’s or doc10 toral degree, in public health, epidemi11 ology, laboratory sciences, data sys12 tems, data science, data analytics, 

13 informatics, statistics, or other subject 

14 matter related to public health’’; and 

15 (ii) in clause (ii)— 

16 (I) by striking ‘‘Federal,’’; and 

17 (II) by striking ‘‘fellowship,’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘fellowship at such State, 

19 local, or Tribal public health agency,’’; 

20 (3) in subsection (c)(2)— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘Federal,’’; and 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘equal to the greater of— 

23 ’’ and all that follows through the end of sub24 paragraph (B) and inserting ‘‘of at least 2 con25 secutive years;’’; 


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1 (4) in subsection (d)— 

2 (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

3 follows: 

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

5 for an individual under a written contract under the 

6 Program shall consist of payment, in accordance 

7 with paragraph (2), for the individual toward the 

8 outstanding principal and interest on education 

9 loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the 

10 relevant degree or certificate described in subsection 

11 (b)(1) in accordance with the terms of the con12 tract.’’; and 

13 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

14 (i) by striking ‘‘For each year’’ and 

15 inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each year’’; 

17 (ii) by striking ‘‘$35,000’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘$50,000’’; 

19 (iii) by striking ‘‘$105,000’’ and in20 serting ‘‘$150,000’’; and 

21 (iv) by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Secretary 

24 may take action in making awards under this 

25 section to ensure that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) an appropriate proportion of con2 tracts are awarded to individuals who are 

3 eligible to participate in the Program pur4 suant to subsection (b)(1)(A); and 

5 ‘‘(ii) contracts awarded under this 

6 section are equitably distributed among— 

7 ‘‘(I) the geographical regions of 

8 the United States; 

9 ‘‘(II) local, State, and Tribal 

10 public health departments; and 

11 ‘‘(III) such public health depart12 ments under subclause (II) serving 

13 rural and urban areas.’’; 

14 (5) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘receiving a 

15 degree or certificate from a health professions or 

16 other related school’’ and inserting ‘‘with a contract 

17 to serve under subsection (c)’’; 

18 (6) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 

19 following: ‘‘In the event that a participant fails to ei20 ther begin or complete the obligated service require21 ment of the loan repayment contract under this sec22 tion, the Secretary may waive or suspend either the 

23 unfulfilled service or the assessed damages as pro24 vided for under section 338E(d), as appropriate.’’; 


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1 (7) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub2 section (h); 

3 (8) by inserting after subsection (f) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(g) ELIGIBLE LOANS.—The loans eligible for repay6 ment under this section are each of the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) Any loan for education or training for em8 ployment by a health department. 

9 ‘‘(2) Any loan under part E of title VIII (relat10 ing to nursing student loans). 

11 ‘‘(3) Any Federal Direct Stafford Loan, Fed12 eral Direct PLUS Loan, Federal Direct Unsub13 sidized Stafford Loan, or Federal Direct Consolida14 tion Loan (as such terms are used in section 455 of 

15 the Higher Education Act of 1965). 

16 ‘‘(4) Any Federal Perkins Loan under part E 

17 of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

18 ‘‘(5) Any other Federal loan, as the Secretary 

19 determines appropriate.’’; 

20 (9) in subsection (h), as so redesignated, by 

21 striking ‘‘$195,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and 

22 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal 

23 years 2011 through 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘such sums 

24 as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2023 

25 through 2025’’; and 


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1 (10) by striking ‘‘tribal’’ each place such term 

2 appears and inserting ‘‘Tribal’’. 

3 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY ON PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

6 of the United States shall— 

7 (1) conduct an evaluation of what is known 

8 about the public health workforce in the United 

9 States during the COVID–19 pandemic, which shall 

10 address— 

11 (A) existing gaps in the Federal, State, 

12 local, Tribal, and territorial public health work13 force, including positions that may be required 

14 to prevent, prepare for, and respond to, a public 

15 health emergency such as COVID–19; 

16 (B) challenges associated with the hiring, 

17 recruitment, and retention of the Federal, 

18 State, local, Tribal, and territorial public health 

19 workforce; and 

20 (C) recommended steps to improve hiring, 

21 recruitment, and retention of the public health 

22 workforce; and 

23 (2) submit to the Committee on Health, Edu24 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the 


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1 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

2 of Representatives a report on such review. 

Æ 


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