I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3655 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Substance Use 
Disorder Treatment and Behavioral and Mental Health Workforce Schol-
arship Program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 29, 2025 
Ms. SALINAS (for herself, Mr. GOLDMAN of New York, Mr. TONKO, and Ms. 
BROWNLEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee 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 
Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Behavioral and 
Mental Health Workforce Scholarship Program, 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 ‘‘STAR Plus Scholar-
ship Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT AND BE-
HAVIORAL 
AND 
MENTAL 
HEALTH 
WORK-
FORCE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part F of title VII of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 295h) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 782. SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT AND 
BEHAVIORAL AND MENTAL HEALTH WORK-
FORCE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) 
ESTABLISHMENT.—The 
Secretary, 
acting 
through the Administrator of the Health Resources and 
Services Administration (in this section referred to as the 
‘Secretary’) shall establish the Substance Use Disorder 
Treatment and Behavioral and Mental Health Workforce 
Scholarship Program (in this section referred to as the 
‘Scholarship Program’) to award scholarships to assure an 
adequate supply of individuals in covered employment. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY; APPLICATION; WRITTEN CON-
TRACT.—To be eligible to participate in the Scholarship 
Program, an individual must— 
‘‘(1) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, 
as a full-time student— 
‘‘(A) in an accredited (as determined by 
the Secretary) educational institution in a 
State; and 
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‘‘(B) in a course of study or program, of-
fered by such institution and approved by the 
Secretary, leading to covered employment; 
‘‘(2) submit an application to participate in the 
Scholarship Program; and 
‘‘(3) sign and submit to the Secretary, at the 
time of submittal of such application, a written con-
tract (described in subsection (f)) to accept payment 
of a scholarship and to serve (in accordance with 
this section) for the applicable period of obligated 
service in a mental health professional shortage 
area. 
‘‘(c) REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF INFORMATION 
AND FORMS BY PROSPECTIVE APPLICANT.— 
‘‘(1) CONTENTS
OF
APPLICATION
AND
CON-
TRACT FORMS.—In disseminating application forms 
and contract forms to individuals desiring to partici-
pate in the Scholarship Program, the Secretary shall 
include with such forms— 
‘‘(A) a fair summary of the rights and li-
abilities of an individual whose application is 
approved (and whose contract is accepted) by 
the Secretary, including in the summary a clear 
explanation of the damages to which the United 
States is entitled under subsection (j) in the 
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case of the individual’s breach of the contract; 
and 
‘‘(B) such other information as may be 
necessary for the individual to understand the 
individual’s prospective participation in the 
Scholarship Program, including a statement of 
all factors considered in approving applications 
for participation in the Scholarship Program 
and in approving specific positions and employ-
ers that are eligible for the Scholarship Pro-
gram. 
‘‘(2) CLARITY; AVAILABILITY.—The application 
form, contract form, and all other information fur-
nished by the Secretary under this section shall be 
written in a manner calculated to be understood by 
the average individual applying to participate in the 
Scholarship Program. The Secretary shall make 
such application forms, contract forms, and other in-
formation available to individuals desiring to partici-
pate in the Scholarship Program on a date suffi-
ciently early to ensure that such individuals have 
adequate time to carefully review and evaluate such 
forms and information. 
‘‘(3) EDUCATION AND ASSISTANCE.— 
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‘‘(A) DISTRIBUTION
OF
INFORMATIONAL 
MATERIALS.—The Secretary shall distribute to 
health professions schools materials providing 
information on the Scholarship Program and 
shall encourage the schools to disseminate the 
materials to the students of the schools. 
‘‘(B) END OF OBLIGATED SERVICE.— 
‘‘(i) ENCOURAGEMENT TO CONTINUE 
SERVICE.—In the case of any health pro-
fessional whose period of obligated service 
under the Scholarship Program is nearing 
completion, the Secretary shall encourage 
the individual to remain in a mental health 
professional shortage area and to continue 
in covered employment. 
‘‘(ii) ASSISTANCE
IN
TRANSITION.— 
During the period in which a health pro-
fessional is planning and making the tran-
sition from obligated service under the 
Scholarship Program, the Secretary may 
provide assistance to the professional re-
garding such transition if the professional 
is remaining in a mental health profes-
sional shortage area and is continuing in 
covered employment. 
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‘‘(d) FACTORS CONSIDERED
IN PROVIDING CON-
TRACTS; PRIORITIES.— 
‘‘(1) FACTORS CONSIDERED IN PROVIDING CON-
TRACTS.—In providing contracts under the Scholar-
ship Program— 
‘‘(A) the Secretary shall consider the ex-
tent of the demonstrated interest of the appli-
cants for the contracts in providing substance 
use disorder treatment and behavioral and men-
tal health services; and 
‘‘(B) may consider such other factors re-
garding the applicants as the Secretary deter-
mines to be relevant to selecting qualified indi-
viduals to participate in such Program. 
‘‘(2) PRIORITIES.—In providing contracts under 
the Scholarship Program, the Secretary shall give 
priority— 
‘‘(A) to any application for such a contract 
submitted by an individual who has characteris-
tics that increase the probability that the indi-
vidual will continue to serve in a mental health 
professional shortage area after the period of 
obligated service pursuant to subsection (f) is 
completed; and 
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‘‘(B) to any application for such a contract 
submitted by an individual who is from a group 
or population that is underrepresented in the 
substance use disorder treatment and behav-
ioral and mental health workforce. 
‘‘(e) COMMENCEMENT OF PARTICIPATION IN SCHOL-
ARSHIP PROGRAM; NOTICE.— 
‘‘(1) COMMENCEMENT OF PARTICIPATION.—An 
individual becomes a participant in the Scholarship 
Program only upon the Secretary’s approval of the 
individual’s application submitted under subsection 
(b)(2) and the Secretary’s acceptance of the contract 
submitted by the individual under subsection (b)(3). 
‘‘(2) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall provide 
written notice to an individual promptly upon the 
Secretary’s approving, under paragraph (1), of the 
individual’s participation in the Scholarship Pro-
gram. 
‘‘(f) WRITTEN CONTRACT; CONTENTS.—The written 
contract (referred to in this section) between the Secretary 
and an individual shall contain— 
‘‘(1) an agreement that— 
‘‘(A) subject to paragraph (2), the Sec-
retary agrees to provide the individual with a 
scholarship (described in subsection (g)) for a 
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period of one or more school years during which 
the individual is pursuing a course of study de-
scribed in subsection (b)(1)(B); and 
‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (2), the indi-
vidual agrees— 
‘‘(i) to accept provision of such a 
scholarship to the individual; 
‘‘(ii) to maintain enrollment in a 
course of study described in subsection 
(b)(1)(B) until the individual completes the 
course of study; 
‘‘(iii) while enrolled in such course of 
study, to maintain an acceptable level of 
academic standing (as determined under 
regulations of the Secretary by the edu-
cational institution offering such course of 
study); and 
‘‘(iv) to serve for a time period (in 
this section referred to as the ‘period of 
obligated service’) equal to one year for 
each school year for which the individual 
was provided a scholarship under the 
Scholarship Program, in covered employ-
ment in a mental health professional short-
age area (designated under section 332); 
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‘‘(2) a provision that any financial obligation of 
the United States arising out of a contract entered 
into under this section and any obligation of the in-
dividual which is conditioned thereon, is contingent 
upon funds being appropriated for scholarships 
under this section; 
‘‘(3) a statement of the damages to which the 
United States is entitled, under subsection (j), for 
the individual’s breach of the contract; and 
‘‘(4) such other statements of the rights and li-
abilities of the Secretary and of the individual, not 
inconsistent with the provisions of this section. 
‘‘(g) SCHOLARSHIP PROVISIONS; CONTRACT WITH 
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION; INCREASE IN MONTHLY STI-
PEND.— 
‘‘(1) SCHOLARSHIP PROVISIONS.—A scholarship 
provided to a student for a school year under a writ-
ten contract under the Scholarship Program shall 
consist of payment to, or (in accordance with para-
graph (2)) on behalf of, the student of the amount 
(except as provided in section 711) of— 
‘‘(A) the tuition of the student in such 
school year; and 
‘‘(B) all other reasonable educational ex-
penses, including fees, books, and laboratory ex-
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penses, incurred by the student in such school 
year. 
‘‘(2) CONTRACT WITH EDUCATIONAL INSTITU-
TION.—The Secretary may contract with an edu-
cational institution, in which a participant in the 
Scholarship Program is enrolled, for the payment to 
the educational institution of the amounts of tuition 
and other reasonable educational expenses described 
in paragraph (1). Payment to such an educational 
institution may be made without regard to section 
3324 of title 31, United States Code. 
‘‘(h) EMPLOYMENT CEILING OF DEPARTMENT UN-
AFFECTED.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
individuals who have entered into written contracts with 
the Secretary under this section, while undergoing aca-
demic training, shall not be counted against any employ-
ment ceiling affecting the Department. 
‘‘(i) OBLIGATED SERVICE.—Any individual receiving 
payments under the Scholarship Program as required by 
an agreement under this section shall agree to an annual 
commitment to work full-time in covered employment, 
with no more than 1 year passing between any 2 years 
of covered employment, in the United States in— 
‘‘(1) a mental health professional shortage area, 
as designated under section 332; 
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‘‘(2) a county (or a municipality, if not con-
tained within any county) where the mean drug 
overdose death rate per 100,000 people over the past 
3 years for which official data is available from the 
State, is higher than the most recent available na-
tional average overdose death rate per 100,000 peo-
ple, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention; or 
‘‘(3) any facility, program, center, or clinic as 
determined appropriate by the Secretary for pur-
poses of this section because of a shortage of mental 
health professionals, including private practices and 
other medical facilities designated under section 
332(a) as having such a shortage. 
‘‘(j) BREACH.— 
‘‘(1) LIQUIDATED
DAMAGES
FORMULA.—The 
Secretary may establish a liquidated damages for-
mula to be used in the event of a breach of an 
agreement entered into under this section. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The failure by an individual 
to complete the full period of service obligated pur-
suant to such an agreement, taken alone, shall not 
constitute a breach of the agreement, so long as the 
individual completed in good faith the years of serv-
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