I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3519 

To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching Policy 

Act of 1977 to establish a grant program to promote efforts to develop, 

implement, and sustain veterinary services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 31, 2009 

Mr. SMITH of Nebraska (for himself, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. BACA, Mr. 

CONAWAY, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. LATHAM, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, 

Mr. MASSA, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. 

SCHRADER, Mr. WALZ, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. 

NEUGEBAUER, Mr. SCHOCK, and Mr. LATTA) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension 

and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to establish a grant 

program to promote efforts to develop, implement, and 

sustain veterinary services, 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 ‘‘Veterinarian Services 

5 Investment Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VETERINARY SERVICES GRANT PROGRAM. 

2 The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and 

3 Teaching Policy Act of 1977 is amended by inserting after 

4 section 1415A (7 U.S.C. 3151a) the following new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1415B. VETERINARY SERVICES GRANT PROGRAM. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 

7 ‘‘(1) COMPETITIVE GRANTS.—The Secretary 

8 shall carry out a program to make competitive 

9 grants to qualified entities described in paragraph 

10 (2) for the purpose of developing, implementing, and 

11 sustaining veterinary services. 

12 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligi13 ble for a grant under this subsection, a qualified en14 tity must carry out programs or activities that the 

15 Secretary determines will— 

16 ‘‘(A) substantially relieve veterinary short17 age situations; 

18 ‘‘(B) support or facilitate private veteri19 nary practices engaged in public health activi20 ties; or 

21 ‘‘(C) support or facilitate practices of vet22 erinarians who are participating in or have suc23 cessfully completed a service requirement under 

24 section 1415A. 

25 ‘‘(b) AWARD PROCESSES AND PREFERENCES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION, EVALUATION, AND INPUT

2 PROCESSES.—In administrating the grant program 

3 under this section, the Secretary shall use an appro4 priate application and evaluation process and seek 

5 the input of interested person. 

6 ‘‘(2) GRANT PREFERENCES.—In selecting quali7 fied entities to receive a grant under this section, the 

8 Secretary shall give a preference to qualified entities 

9 that— 

10 ‘‘(A) document coordination between or 

11 with— 

12 ‘‘(i) a State, national, allied, or re13 gional veterinary organization, a specialty 

14 board, or veterinary medical association 

15 recognized by the American Veterinary 

16 Medical Association; 

17 ‘‘(ii) the applicable accredited veteri18 nary education institution, or accredited 

19 department of veterinary science, or de20 partment of comparative medicine; or 

21 ‘‘(iii) the applicable State veterinarian 

22 or animal health official (or its equivalent); 

23 and 


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1 ‘‘(B) will use the grant funds to help to 

2 meet veterinary workforce or food protection 

3 needs. 

4 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL PREFERENCES.—When 

5 awarding grants under this section, the Secretary 

6 may develop additional preferences by taking into 

7 account the amount of funds available for grants as 

8 well as the purposes for which the grant funds will 

9 be used. 

10 ‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.— 

11 Sections 1413B, 1462(a), 1469(a)(3), and 1469(c) 

12 shall apply to the administration of the grant pro13 gram under this section. 

14 ‘‘(c) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) RECIPIENT SHARE.—A grant recipient 

16 shall provide matching non-Federal funds, either in 

17 cash or in-kind support, in an amount equal to not 

18 less than 50 percent of the Federal funds provided 

19 in a grant under this section. 

20 ‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may establish, by 

21 regulation, conditions under which the cost-sharing 

22 requirements of paragraph (1) may be reduced or 

23 waived. 

24 ‘‘(d) USE OF GRANT TO RELIEVE VETERINARY

25 SHORTAGE SITUATIONS AND SUPPORT VETERINARY


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1 SERVICES.—Funds provided by grants under this section 

2 may be used for the following purposes to relieve veteri3 nary shortage situations and support veterinary services: 

4 ‘‘(1) Grants to promote recruitment, placement, 

5 and retention of veterinarians, veterinary techni6 cians, students of veterinary medicine, and students 

7 of veterinary technology. 

8 ‘‘(2) Grants to assist veterinarians with estab9 lishing or expanding practices for the purpose of 

10 equipping veterinary offices, sharing in the overhead 

11 costs of such practices, or to the establishment of 

12 mobile veterinary facilities where at least a portion 

13 of such facilities will address education or extension 

14 needs. 

15 ‘‘(3) Financial assistance for veterinary stu16 dents, veterinary interns, externs, fellows, and resi17 dents, and veterinary technician students to attend 

18 training programs in food safety or food animal 

19 medicine to cover expenses other than tuition. 

20 ‘‘(4) Programs establishing or expanding ac21 credited veterinary education programs, veterinary 

22 residency and fellowship programs or veterinary in23 ternship and externship programs in coordination 

24 with accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. 


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1 ‘‘(5) Programs for tele-veterinary medicine 

2 where such practices shall at least in part contribute 

3 to veterinary extension, education, or research. 

4 ‘‘(6) Support the ability of the office or position 

5 of a State veterinarian or animal health official to 

6 coordinate veterinary services and food protection 

7 issues described in the preceding paragraphs. 

8 ‘‘(7) Assessments of veterinarian shortage situ9 ations and preparation of applications for designa10 tion as a shortage situation. 

11 ‘‘(8) Programs in continuing education and ex12 tension, including distance-based education, for vet13 erinarians, veterinary technicians, and other health 

14 professionals needed to strengthen veterinary pro15 grams and enhance food safety. 

16 ‘‘(9) Faculty recruitment and retention pro17 grams at accredited colleges of veterinary medicine. 

18 ‘‘(10) Programs, in coordination with univer19 sities or local educational agencies, to encourage stu20 dents in secondary schools to pursue a career in vet21 erinary medicine or science professions. 

22 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION ON USE OF GRANT FUNDS FOR

23 CONSTRUCTION.—Funds made available for grants under 

24 this section shall not be used for the construction of a 

25 new building or facility or the acquisition, expansion, reVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:49 Aug 04, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3519.IH H3519

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1 modeling, or alteration of an existing building of facility, 

2 including site grading and improvement and architect fees. 

3 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) VETERINARIAN SHORTAGE SITUATION.— 

5 The term ‘veterinarian shortage situation’ means a 

6 veterinarian shortage situation determined by the 

7 Secretary under section 1415A(b). 

8 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ENTITY.—The term ‘qualified 

9 entity’ means the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) A for-profit or nonprofit entity lo11 cated in the United States that operates a vet12 erinary clinic providing veterinary services— 

13 ‘‘(i) in a rural area, as defined in sec14 tion 1393(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue 

15 Code of 1986; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) in response to a veterinarian 

17 shortage situation. 

18 ‘‘(B) A State, national, allied, or regional 

19 veterinary organization or specialty board rec20 ognized by the American Veterinary Medical 

21 Association. 

22 ‘‘(C) A college or school of veterinary med23 icine accredited by the American Veterinary 

24 Medical Association. 


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1 ‘‘(D) A university research foundation or 

2 veterinary medical foundation. 

3 ‘‘(E) A department of veterinary science or 

4 department of comparative medicine accredited 

5 by the Department of Education. 

6 ‘‘(F) A State agricultural experiment sta7 tion. 

8 ‘‘(G) A State, local, or tribal government 

9 agency. 

10 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 

12 sums as are necessary to carry out this section for fiscal 

13 year 2012 and each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 

Æ 


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