I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 772 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize capitation grants to 
increase the number of nursing faculty and students, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 31, 2007 
Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mrs. CAPPS, and Mr. KING of New York) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize capita-
tion grants to increase the number of nursing faculty 
and students, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nurse Education, Ex-
pansion, and Development Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) While the Nurse Reinvestment Act (Public 
Law 107–205) helped to increase applications to 
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schools of nursing by 125 percent, schools of nursing 
have been unable to accommodate the influx of in-
terested students because they have an insufficient 
number of nurse educators. It is estimated that— 
(A) in the 2006–2007 school year— 
(i) 66.6 percent of schools of nursing 
had from 1 to 18 vacant faculty positions; 
and 
(ii) an additional 16.7 percent of 
schools of nursing needed additional fac-
ulty, but lacked the resources needed to 
add more positions; and 
(B) 41,683 eligible candidates were denied 
admission to schools of nursing in 2005, pri-
marily due to an insufficient number of faculty 
members. 
(2) A growing number of nurses with doctoral 
degrees are choosing careers outside of education. 
Over the last few years, 22.5 percent of doctoral 
nursing graduates reported seeking employment out-
side the education profession. 
(3) In 2006 the average age of nurse faculty at 
retirement is 63.1 years. With the average age of 
doctorally-prepared nurse faculty at 54.7 years in 
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2005, a wave of retirements is expected within the 
next 10 years. 
(4) Master’s and doctoral programs in nursing 
are not producing a large enough pool of potential 
nurse educators to meet the projected demand for 
nurses over the next 10 years. While graduations 
from master’s and doctoral programs in nursing rose 
by 12.8 percent (or 1,369 graduates) and 13.1 per-
cent (or 56 graduates), respectively, in the 2005– 
2006 school year, projections still demonstrate a 
shortage of nurse faculty. Given current trends, 
there will be at least 2,616 unfilled faculty positions 
in 2012. 
(5) According to the February 2004 Monthly 
Labor Review of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
more than 1,000,000 new and replacement nurses 
will be needed by 2012. 
SEC. 3. CAPITATION GRANTS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER 
OF NURSING FACULTY AND STUDENTS. 
(a) GRANTS.—Part D of title VIII of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296p) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 832. CAPITATION GRANTS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose described in 
subsection (b), the Secretary, acting through the Health 
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