I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1968

To amend the Public Health Service Act and the Internal Revenue Code

of 1986 with respect to the National Health Service Corps.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 23, 2001

Mrs. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr.

GILCHREST, Mr. WYNN, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. GORDON, Ms. MCCARTHY

of Missouri, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. FROST, Mr.

ROEMER, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Ms.

NORTON, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mrs.

CHRISTENSEN, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.

FRANK, Mr. CONYERS, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. TIERNEY, Ms. MCKINNEY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. BAIRD,

Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. PHELPS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act and the Internal

Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to the National

Health Service Corps.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Health Serv3 ice Corps Reinvestment Act of 2001’’.

4 TITLE I—REVISION AND EXTEN5 SION OF PROGRAM FOR NA6 TIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

7 CORPS

8 SEC. 101. GENERAL PROGRAM.

9 (a) ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIA10 TIONS.—Section 338(a)(1) of the Public Health Service

11 Act (42 U.S.C. 254k(a)(1)) is amended by inserting before

12 the period the following: ‘‘, $62,284,500 for fiscal year

13 2002, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the

14 fiscal years 2003 through 2006’’.

15 (b) DESIGNATION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONAL

16 SHORTAGE AREAS.—Section 332 of the Public Health

17 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254e) is amended by adding at

18 the end the following subsection:

19 ‘‘(i)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this

20 subpart, the Secretary shall consider facilities described

21 in paragraph (2) to be health professional shortage areas

22 within the meaning of subsection (a)(1)(C).

23 ‘‘(2) The facilities referred to in paragraph (1) are

24 public or nonprofit private facilities that are any of the

25 following:
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1 ‘‘(A) A health center receiving a grant under

2 section 330.

3 ‘‘(B) A Federally-qualified health center as de4 fined in section 1905(l)(2)(B) of the Social Security

5 Act.

6 ‘‘(C) A rural health clinic under section

7 1861(aa)(2) of the Social Security Act.’’.

8 (c) STRIKING OF PROVISIONS REGARDING COST

9 SHARING.—Subpart II of part D of title III of the Public

10 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254d et seq.) is amended

11 by striking section 334.

12 SEC. 102. SCHOLARSHIP AND LOAN REPAYMENT PRO13 GRAMS.

14 (a) ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIA15 TIONS.—Section 338H(b)(1) of the Public Health Service

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 254q(b)(1)) is amended—

17 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘1991,’’; and

18 (2) by inserting before the period the following:

19 ‘‘, $131,886,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums

20 as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years

21 2003 through 2006’’.

22 (b) DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM REGARDING PART23 TIME PERFORMANCE OF OBLIGATED SERVICE.—Section

24 338C (42 U.S.C. 254m) of the Public Health Service Act

25 is amended by adding at the end the following subsection:
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1 ‘‘(f)(1) In carrying out this subpart, the Secretary

2 may in accordance with this subsection carry out dem3 onstration projects in which individuals who have entered

4 into contracts under section 338A or 338B receive a waiv5 er under which the individuals are authorized, notwith6 standing subsection (a), to satisfy the requirement of obli7 gated service through providing clinical service that is not

8 full-time (referred to in this subsection as ‘part-time serv9 ice’).

10 ‘‘(2) A waiver under paragraph (1) may be provided

11 by the Secretary only if the following conditions are met:

12 ‘‘(A) An entity approved under section 333 for

13 the assignment of a Corps member has requested in

14 writing that the Corps member assigned to the enti15 ty provide part-time service.

16 ‘‘(B) The Secretary has determined that part17 time service by a Corp member is appropriate for

18 the health professional shortage area in which the

19 entity is located.

20 ‘‘(C) A Corps member who is required to per21 form obligated service has agreed in writing to be

22 assigned, for part-time service, to an entity de23 scribed in subparagraph (A).

24 ‘‘(D) The entity and the Corps member agree

25 in writing that the part-time service provided by the
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1 Corps member will be not less than 20 hours per

2 week.

3 ‘‘(E) The Corps member agrees in writing that

4 the period of time over which the Corps member

5 would otherwise have performed obligated service

6 pursuant to section 338A or 338B (as applicable)

7 will be extended so that the aggregate amount of

8 part-time service provided by the Corps member will

9 equal the period of obligated service that otherwise

10 would have applied pursuant to such section.

11 ‘‘(F) The Corps member agrees in writing that,

12 if the Corps member begins providing part-time

13 service but fails to complete the period of obligated

14 service, the method of determining the amount of

15 damages described in subsection (b) or (c) of section

16 338E, as applicable, will be applied by using the

17 full-time equivalent of the part-time service provided

18 by the Corp member.’’.
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1 TITLE II—EXCLUSION FROM

2 GROSS INCOME FOR CERTAIN

3 SCHOLARSHIPS AND LOAN

4 PAYMENTS UNDER NATIONAL

5 HEALTH SERVICE CORPS

6 PROGRAM

7 SEC. 201. EXCLUSION OF AMOUNTS RECEIVED UNDER THE

8 NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS SCHOL9 ARSHIP PROGRAM.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117(c) of the Internal

11 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to the exclusion from

12 gross income amounts received as a qualified scholarship)

13 is amended—

14 (1) by striking ‘‘Subsections (a)’’ and inserting

15 the following:

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2), subsections (a)’’; and

18 (2) by adding at the end the following new

19 paragraph:

20 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not

21 apply to any amount received by an individual under

22 the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Pro23 gram under section 338A(g)(1)(A) of the Public

24 Health Service Act.’’
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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

2 subsection (a) shall apply to amounts received in taxable

3 years beginning after December 31, 2001.

4 SEC. 202. EXCLUSION FOR LOAN PAYMENTS UNDER NA5 TIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS LOAN RE6 PAYMENT PROGRAM.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 117 of the Internal Rev8 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the

9 following new subsection:

10 ‘‘(e) LOAN PAYMENTS UNDER NATIONAL HEALTH

11 SERVICE CORPS LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.—Gross in12 come shall not include any amount received under section

13 338B(g) of the Public Health Service Act.’’

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

15 subsection (a) shall apply to amounts received by an indi16 vidual in taxable years beginning after December 31,

17 2001.

18 TITLE III—GENERAL

19 PROVISIONS

20 SEC. 301. CONFORMING AMENDMENT REGARDING REIM21 BURSEMENT OF TAX LIABILITY FOR LOAN

22 PAYMENTS.

23 Section 338B(g) of the Public Health Service Act (42

24 U.S.C. 254l–1(g)) is amended—

25 (1) by striking paragraph (3); and
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1 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para2 graph (3).

3 SEC. 302. EFFECTIVE DATE.

4 Except as provided otherwise in this Act, this Act and

5 the amendments made by this Act take effect October 1,

6 2001, or upon the date of the enactment of this Act,

7 whichever occurs later.

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