I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2747 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish a cancer center 

construction loan program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 1, 2011 

Mr. HIGGINS 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 title XVIII of the Social Security Act to establish 

a cancer center construction loan 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 ‘‘Cancer Centers Assist5 ance for Renovations and Expansion Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CANCER CENTER CONSTRUCTION LOAN PROGRAM. 

7 The Social Security Act is amended by inserting after 

8 section 1897 the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘CANCER CENTER CONSTRUCTION LOAN PROGRAM

2 ‘‘SEC. 1897A. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary 

3 shall establish a loan program that provides loans to quali4 fying cancer centers (as defined in subsection (b)) for pay5 ment of the capital costs of projects for the improvement 

6 of research, prevention, or patient care infrastructure. 

7 ‘‘(b) QUALIFYING CANCER CENTER AND OTHER

8 DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) The term ‘qualifying cancer center’ means 

10 an entity that— 

11 ‘‘(A) is designated as a cancer center or 

12 comprehensive cancer center by the National 

13 Cancer Institute; or 

14 ‘‘(B) is both a National Cancer Institute15 designated comprehensive cancer center and a 

16 cancer hospital described in section 

17 1886(d)(1)(B)(v). 

18 ‘‘(2) The term ‘project for the improvement of 

19 research, prevention, or patient care infrastructure’ 

20 means— 

21 ‘‘(A) the expansion, remodeling, ren22 ovating, or altering of an existing clinical, pre23 vention, or research facility; or 

24 ‘‘(B) the construction of a new clinical, 

25 prevention, or research facility. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The term ‘intended use’ means the pur2 poses for which the infrastructure improvements 

3 were made. 

4 ‘‘(4) The term ‘shovel ready’ means, with re5 spect to a project, that construction of the project— 

6 ‘‘(A) has begun as of the date of the enact7 ment of this section; or 

8 ‘‘(B) is ready (subject only to the receipt 

9 of permits) to begin, and will begin, not later 

10 than 90 days after such date. 

11 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION; QUALIFICATIONS; TERMS OF

12 LOANS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No loan may be provided 

14 under this section to a qualifying cancer center ex15 cept pursuant to an application that is submitted 

16 and approved in a time, manner, and form specified 

17 by the Secretary. 

18 ‘‘(2) QUALIFICATIONS.—A loan may not be pro19 vided under this section for a project for a qualifying 

20 cancer center unless the applicant provides assur21 ances satisfactory to the Secretary that— 

22 ‘‘(A) the project is a project for the im23 provement of research, prevention, or patient 

24 care infrastructure of the center; 

25 ‘‘(B) the project is shovel ready; 


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1 ‘‘(C) the applicant will use the facility im2 proved or resulting from the project for its in3 tended use for a period of at least 20 years 

4 after completion of the project and has suffi5 cient funds available to demonstrate effective 

6 use of such facility for its intended use; 

7 ‘‘(D) sufficient funds will be available to 

8 meet the non-Federal share of the cost of the 

9 infrastructure improvement; and 

10 ‘‘(E) the proposed infrastructure improve11 ment will expand the applicant’s capacity for 

12 research, prevention or patient care, or is nec13 essary to improve or maintain the quality of the 

14 applicant’s research, prevention, or patient care. 

15 ‘‘(3) NO FURTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec16 retary shall not promulgate any further require17 ments or restrictions on a qualifying cancer center 

18 to obtain assistance under this section other than 

19 those specified in this section. 

20 ‘‘(4) TERMS OF LOANS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Loans under this sec22 tion shall be made consistent with the require23 ments of this section. 

24 ‘‘(B) INTEREST RATE.—The interest rate 

25 for loans provided under this section shall be at 


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1 lowest of the following (as published or deter2 mined, as the case may be, as of the date of the 

3 enactment of this section): 

4 ‘‘(i) PRIME RATE.—The bank prime 

5 loan rate posted by a majority of the larg6 est 25 United States chartered commercial 

7 banks, as determined based on assets in 

8 domestic offices and as published by the 

9 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 

10 System. 

11 ‘‘(ii) MINIMUM FEDERAL INTEREST

12 RATE.—The minimum annual rate of in13 terest determined under section 3717(a) of 

14 title 31, United States Code. 

15 ‘‘(iii) MUNICIPAL MARKET DATA

16 RATE.—The Municipal Market Data 

17 (MMD) rate for triple-A rated bonds with 

18 a 1-year maturity, as published by Thom19 son Financial Services. 

20 ‘‘(C) LIMITATIONS ON LOANS.—The max21 imum, aggregate amount of loans that may be 

22 made under this section (and for which reim23 bursement may be provided under subsection 

24 (d)(2)) for a qualifying cancer center is 75 perVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:30 Aug 03, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2747.IH H2747

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1 cent of the total project costs, but not to ex2 ceed— 

3 ‘‘(i) $100,000,000 for a qualifying 

4 cancer center described in subsection 

5 (b)(1)(B); or 

6 ‘‘(ii) $50,000,000 for any other quali7 fying cancer center. 

8 ‘‘(d) FORGIVENESS; REIMBURSEMENT ALTER9 NATIVE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may forgive 

11 repayment of a loan under this section to a quali12 fying cancer center described in subsection (b)(1)(B) 

13 if the center submits to the Secretary a written re14 quest for loan forgiveness under this paragraph and 

15 demonstrates that under the project for which the 

16 loan was made the center— 

17 ‘‘(A) has made reasonable depth and 

18 breadth of research activities in each of the 

19 three major areas of laboratory research, clin20 ical research, and population-based research, 

21 with substantial transdisciplinary research that 

22 bridges these scientific areas; 

23 ‘‘(B) has initiated and conducted investi24 gator-initiated, early phase, innovative clinical 

25 trials; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) has performed community service, 

2 outreach, dissemination, and education and 

3 training of biomedical researchers and health 

4 care professionals. 

5 ‘‘(2) ALTERNATIVE OF REIMBURSEMENT OF

6 OTHER LOANS.—The Secretary shall establish an al7 ternative to making a loan and providing loan for8 giveness under paragraph (1) under which a quali9 fying cancer center may elect to obtain a loan from 

10 a source other than under this section, and, in the 

11 event that it would otherwise qualify for loan for12 giveness under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 

13 provide for reimbursement for the amount of such 

14 loan. 

15 ‘‘(e) FUNDING.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this section, 

17 there are appropriated out of amounts in the Treas18 ury not otherwise appropriated, $900,000,000. 

19 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—For the admin20 istration of this section, Secretary may not use more 

21 than $1,000,000 from the funds made available 

22 under paragraph (1) for fiscal years 2012 through 

23 2014. 

24 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated 

25 under this section shall be available for obligation 


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1 and obligated during the period beginning on Octo2 ber 1, 2011, and ending on September 30, 2014. 

3 ‘‘(f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 3 years 

4 after the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec5 retary shall submit to Congress a report on the projects 

6 for which loans are provided under this section (or reim7 bursement is provided under subsection (d)(2)) and a rec8 ommendation as to whether the Congress should authorize 

9 the Secretary to continue loans under this section beyond 

10 fiscal year 2014.’’. 

Æ 


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