I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1232 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2007 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Mr. PICKERING) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMPETITIVE GRANTS PROGRAM. 

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

8 Human Services (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 retary’’) shall award competitive grants to eligible entities 

2 for the purpose of improving public health preparedness 

3 through increasing the number of veterinarians in the 

4 workforce. 

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

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

7 (1) be— 

8 (A) a public or other nonprofit school of 

9 veterinary medicine accredited by a recognized 

10 body or bodies approved for such purpose by 

11 the Department of Education; 

12 (B) a public or nonprofit, department of 

13 comparative medicine, department of veterinary 

14 science, school of public health, or school of 

15 medicine that is accredited by a recognized 

16 body or bodies approved for such purpose by 

17 the Department of Education and that offers 

18 graduate training for veterinarians in a public 

19 health practice area as determined by the Sec20 retary; or 

21 (C) a public or nonprofit entity that con22 ducts recognized residency training programs 

23 for veterinarians that are approved by a veteri24 nary specialty organization that is recognized 

25 by the American Veterinary Medical Association 

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1 and that offers postgraduate training for veteri2 narians in a public health practice area as de3 termined by the Secretary; and 

4 (2) prepare and submit to the Secretary an ap5 plication, at such time, in such manner, and con6 taining such information as the Secretary may re7 quire. 

8 (c) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS.—The Sec9 retary shall establish procedures to ensure that applica10 tions under subsection (b)(2) are rigorously reviewed and 

11 that grants are competitively awarded based on— 

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

13 number of veterinarians who are trained in specified 

14 public health practice areas as determined by the 

15 Secretary; 

16 (2) the ability of the applicant to increase ca17 pacity in research on high priority disease agents; or 

18 (3) any other consideration the Secretary deter19 mines necessary. 

20 (d) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under sub21 section (a)(1), the Secretary shall give preference to appli22 cants that demonstrate a comprehensive approach by in23 volving more than one school of veterinary medicine, de24 partment of comparative medicine, department of veteri25 nary science, school of public health, school of medicine, 

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1 or residency training program that offers postgraduate 

2 training for veterinarians in a public health practice area 

3 as determined by the Secretary. 

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

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

6 increase the number of veterinarians in the workforce 

7 through— 

8 (1) paying the costs associated with construc9 tion, the acquisition of equipment, and other capital 

10 costs relating to the expansion of existing schools of 

11 veterinary medicine, departments of comparative 

12 medicine, departments of veterinary science, or enti13 ties offering residency training programs; or 

14 (2) paying the capital costs associated with the 

15 expansion of academic programs that offer post16 graduate training for veterinarians or concurrent 

17 training for veterinary students in specific areas of 

18 specialization. 

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

20 health practice’’ includes bioterrorism and emergency pre21 paredness, environmental health, food safety and food se22 curity, regulatory medicine, diagnostic laboratory medi23 cine, and biomedical research. 

24 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

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

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

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

3 2008. Amounts appropriated under this subsection shall 

4 remain available until expended. 

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