I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3297 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Public Health 

Workforce Loan Repayment Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 18, 2021 

Mr. CROW (for himself, Mr. BURGESS, Ms. ESHOO, and Mr. GUTHRIE) 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 to establish the 

Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment 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 ‘‘Public Health Work5 force Loan Repayment Act of 2021’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3297 IH

1 SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT 

2 PROGRAM. 

3 Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new subpart: 

6 ‘‘Subpart XIII—Public Health Workforce 

7 ‘‘SEC. 340J. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab9 lish a program to be known as the Public Health Work10 force Loan Repayment Program (referred to in this sec11 tion as the ‘Program’) under which the Secretary awards 

12 loan repayment agreements described in subsection (c) to 

13 assure an adequate supply of and encourage recruitment 

14 of public health professionals to eliminate critical public 

15 health workforce shortages in local, State, and Tribal pub16 lic health agencies. 

17 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to participate in 

18 the Program, an individual shall— 

19 ‘‘(1)(A) be accepted for enrollment, or be en20 rolled, as a student in an accredited academic edu21 cational institution in a State or territory in the 

22 final year of a course of study or program leading 

23 to a public health degree, a health professions de24 gree, or a degree in computer science, information 

25 science, information systems, information tech26 nology, or statistics and have accepted employment 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3297 IH

1 with a local, State, or Tribal public health agency, 

2 or a related training fellowship, as recognized by the 

3 Secretary, to commence upon graduation; or 

4 ‘‘(B)(i) have graduated, during the preceding 

5 10-year period, from an accredited educational insti6 tution in a State or territory and received a public 

7 health degree, a health professions degree, or degree 

8 in computer science, information science, informa9 tion systems, information technology, or statistics; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(ii) be employed by, or have accepted employ12 ment with, a local, State, or Tribal public health 

13 agency or a related training fellowship, as recognized 

14 by the Secretary; 

15 ‘‘(2) be a United States citizen; 

16 ‘‘(3)(A) submit an application to the Secretary 

17 to participate in the Program; and 

18 ‘‘(B) execute a written contract as required in 

19 subsection (c); and 

20 ‘‘(4) not have received, for the same service, a 

21 reduction of loan obligations under section 428K or 

22 428L of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

23 ‘‘(c) CONTRACT.—The written contract referred to in 

24 subsection (b)(3)(B) between the Secretary and an indi25 vidual shall contain— 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3297 IH

1 ‘‘(1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary 

2 that the Secretary will repay, on behalf of the indi3 vidual, loans incurred by the individual in the pur4 suit of the relevant degree in accordance with the 

5 terms of the contract; 

6 ‘‘(2) an agreement on the part of the individual 

7 that the individual will serve in the full-time employ8 ment of a local, State, or Tribal public health agency 

9 or a related fellowship program in a position related 

10 to the course of study or program for which the con11 tract was awarded for a period of at least 3 consecu12 tive years; 

13 ‘‘(3) an agreement on the part of the individual 

14 to relocate to a priority service area (as determined 

15 by the Secretary) in exchange for an additional loan 

16 repayment incentive amount to be determined by the 

17 Secretary; 

18 ‘‘(4) a provision that any financial obligation of 

19 the United States arising out of a contract entered 

20 into under this section and any obligation of the in21 dividual that is conditioned thereon, is contingent on 

22 funds being appropriated for loan repayments under 

23 this section; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3297 IH

1 ‘‘(5) a statement of the damages to which the 

2 United States is entitled, under this section for the 

3 individual’s breach of the contract; and 

4 ‘‘(6) such other statements of the rights and li5 abilities of the Secretary and of the individual as the 

6 Secretary determines appropriate, not inconsistent 

7 with this section. 

8 ‘‘(d) PAYMENTS.— 

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

10 for an individual under a written contract referred 

11 to in subsection (b)(3)(B) shall consist of payment, 

12 in accordance with paragraph (2), for the individual 

13 toward the outstanding principal and interest on 

14 education loans incurred by the individual in the 

15 pursuit of the relevant degree in accordance with the 

16 terms of the contract. 

17 ‘‘(2) PAYMENTS FOR YEARS SERVED.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each year of serv19 ice that an individual contracts to serve pursu20 ant to subsection (c)(2), the Secretary may pay 

21 not more than $35,000 on behalf of the indi22 vidual for loans described in paragraph (1). 

23 With respect to participants under the Program 

24 whose total eligible loans are less than 

25 $105,000, the Secretary shall pay an amount 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 3297 IH

that does not exceed 1 1 ⁄3 of the eligible loan bal2 ance for each year of such service of such indi3 vidual. 

4 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Secretary 

5 may take actions in making awards under this 

6 section to ensure that— 

7 ‘‘(i) not less than 50 percent of such 

8 awards are awarded to individuals who, at 

9 the time of entering into a contract under 

10 subsection (c), are not employed by a local, 

11 State, or Tribal public health agency or a 

12 related training fellowship, as recognized 

13 by the Secretary; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) such awards are equitably dis15 tributed among— 

16 ‘‘(I) the geographical regions of 

17 the United States; and 

18 ‘‘(II) local, State, and Tribal 

19 public health agencies. 

20 ‘‘(3) TAX LIABILITY.—For purposes of the In21 ternal Revenue Code of 1986, a payment made 

22 under this section shall be treated in the same man23 ner as an amount received under section 338B(g), 

24 as described in section 108(f)(4) of such Code. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 3297 IH

1 ‘‘(e) POSTPONING OBLIGATED SERVICE.—With re2 spect to an individual with a contract to serve under sub3 section (c), the date of the initiation of the period of obli4 gated service may be postponed or extended as approved 

5 by the Secretary. 

6 ‘‘(f) BREACH OF CONTRACT.—An individual who fails 

7 to comply with a contract entered into under subsection 

8 (c) shall be subject to the same financial penalties as pro9 vided for under section 338E for breaches of loan repay10 ment contracts under section 338B. 

11 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) EDUCATION LOAN.—The term ‘education 

13 loan’ means— 

14 ‘‘(A) any loan made, insured, or guaran15 teed under part B, D, or E of title IV of the 

16 Higher Education Act of 1965; 

17 ‘‘(B) any loan made under subpart II of 

18 part A of title VII, or part E of title VIII, of 

19 this Act; 

20 ‘‘(C) a private education loan, as defined 

21 in section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act; or 

22 ‘‘(D) any other loan funded, insured, or 

23 guaranteed by any Federal agency that is not 

24 the Department of Education that is issued di25 rectly to students. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 3297 IH

1 ‘‘(2) FULL-TIME.—The term ‘full-time’, when 

2 used with respect to employment, means employ3 ment— 

4 ‘‘(A) with a qualifying employer for not 

5 less than 30 hours per week; or 

6 ‘‘(B) with 2 or more qualifying employers 

7 for a total of not less than 30 hours per week. 

8 ‘‘(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

9 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

10 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 

11 Education Act of 1965. 

12 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

13 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 

15 ‘‘(2) $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 

16 through 2026.’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS