IIB 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3519 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 
and Forestry 
AN ACT 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterinarian Services 
Investment Act’’. 
SEC. 2. VETERINARY SERVICES GRANT PROGRAM. 
The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and 
Teaching Policy Act of 1977 is amended by inserting after 
section 1415A (7 U.S.C. 3151a) the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 1415B. VETERINARY SERVICES GRANT PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) COMPETITIVE
GRANTS.—The Secretary 
shall carry out a program to make competitive 
grants to qualified entities that engage in activities 
described in paragraph (2) for the purpose of devel-
oping, implementing, and sustaining veterinary serv-
ices. 
‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligi-
ble for a grant under this subsection, a qualified en-
tity must carry out programs or activities that the 
Secretary determines will— 
‘‘(A) 
substantially 
relieve 
veterinarian 
shortage situations; 
‘‘(B) support or facilitate private veteri-
nary practices engaged in public health activi-
ties; or 
‘‘(C) support or facilitate practices of vet-
erinarians who are participating in or have suc-
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cessfully completed a service requirement under 
section 1415A(a)(2). 
‘‘(b) AWARD PROCESSES AND PREFERENCES.— 
‘‘(1) APPLICATION, EVALUATION, AND
INPUT 
PROCESSES.—In administrating the grant program 
under this section, the Secretary shall use an appro-
priate application and evaluation process and seek 
the input of interested persons. 
‘‘(2) GRANT
PREFERENCES.—In the case of 
grants to be used for any of the purposes described 
in paragraphs (2) through (6) of subsection (c), the 
Secretary shall give a preference to the selection of 
qualified entities that document coordination be-
tween or with other qualified entities regarding the 
applicable purpose. 
‘‘(3) 
ADDITIONAL
PREFERENCES.—When 
awarding grants under this section, the Secretary 
may develop additional preferences by taking into 
account the amount of funds available for grants as 
well as the purposes for which the grant funds will 
be used. 
‘‘(4) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.— 
Sections 1413B, 1462(a), 1469(a)(3), 1469(c), and 
1470 shall apply to the administration of the grant 
program under this section. 
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‘‘(c) USE OF GRANTS TO RELIEVE VETERINARIAN 
SHORTAGE
SITUATIONS
AND
SUPPORT
VETERINARY 
SERVICES.—Funds provided by grants under this section 
may be used for the following purposes to relieve veteri-
narian shortage situations and support veterinary services: 
‘‘(1) Grants to assist veterinarians with estab-
lishing or expanding practices for the purpose of 
equipping veterinary offices, sharing in the reason-
able overhead costs of such practices (as determined 
by the Secretary), or establishing mobile veterinary 
facilities where at least a portion of such facilities 
will address education or extension needs. 
‘‘(2) Grants to promote recruitment (including 
programs in secondary schools), placement, and re-
tention of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, stu-
dents of veterinary medicine, and students of veteri-
nary technology. 
‘‘(3) Grants for veterinary students, veterinary 
interns, externs, fellows, and residents, and veteri-
nary technician students to cover expenses (other 
than the types of expenses listed in 1415A(c)(5)) to 
attend training programs in food safety or food ani-
mal medicine. 
‘‘(4) Grants establishing or expanding accred-
ited veterinary education programs (including fac-
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ulty recruitment and retention), veterinary residency 
and fellowship programs, or veterinary internship 
and externship programs in coordination with ac-
credited colleges of veterinary medicine. 
‘‘(5) Grants for the assessment of veterinarian 
shortage situations and preparation of applications 
for designation as a shortage situation. 
‘‘(6) Grants in continuing education and exten-
sion, including tele-veterinary medicine and other 
distance-based education, for veterinarians, veteri-
nary technicians, and other health professionals 
needed to strengthen veterinary programs and en-
hance food safety. 
‘‘(d) 
SPECIAL
REQUIREMENTS
FOR
CERTAIN 
GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) TERMS
OF
SERVICE
REQUIREMENTS.— 
Grants provided under this section for the purpose 
specified in subsection (c)(1) shall be subject to an 
agreement between the Secretary and the grant re-
cipient that includes a required term of service for 
the recipient, as established by the Secretary. In es-
tablishing such terms, the Secretary shall consider 
only— 
‘‘(A) the amount of the grant awarded; 
and 
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‘‘(B) the specific purpose of the grant. 
‘‘(2) BREACH REMEDIES.—An agreement under 
paragraph (1) shall provide remedies for any breach 
of the agreement by the grant recipient, including 
repayment or partial repayment of the grant funds, 
with interest. The Secretary may waive the repay-
ment obligation in the event of extreme hardship or 
extreme need, as determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF AMOUNTS RECOVERED.— 
Funds recovered under paragraph (2) shall be cred-
ited to the account available to carry out this section 
and shall remain available until expended. 
‘‘(e) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) RECIPIENT
SHARE.—A grant recipient 
shall provide matching non-Federal funds, either in 
cash or in-kind support, in an amount equal to not 
less than 50 percent of the Federal funds provided 
in a grant under this section. 
‘‘(2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may establish, by 
regulation, conditions under which the cost-sharing 
requirements of paragraph (1) may be reduced or 
waived. 
‘‘(f) PROHIBITION ON USE OF GRANT FUNDS FOR 
CONSTRUCTION.—Funds made available for grants under 
this section shall not be used for the construction of a 
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new building or facility or the acquisition, expansion, re-
modeling, or alteration of an existing building of facility, 
including site grading and improvement and architect fees. 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) VETERINARIAN
SHORTAGE
SITUATION.— 
The term ‘veterinarian shortage situation’ means a 
veterinarian shortage situation determined by the 
Secretary under section 1415A(b). 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ENTITY.—The term ‘qualified 
entity’ means the following: 
‘‘(A) A for-profit or nonprofit entity lo-
cated in the United States that operates a vet-
erinary clinic providing veterinary services— 
‘‘(i) in a rural area, as defined in sec-
tion 1393(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986; and 
‘‘(ii) in response to a veterinarian 
shortage situation. 
‘‘(B) A State, national, allied, or regional 
veterinary organization or specialty board rec-
ognized by the American Veterinary Medical 
Association. 
‘‘(C) A college or school of veterinary med-
icine accredited by the American Veterinary 
Medical Association. 
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‘‘(D) A university research foundation or 
veterinary medical foundation. 
‘‘(E) A department of veterinary science or 
department of comparative medicine accredited 
by the Department of Education. 
‘‘(F) A State agricultural experiment sta-
tion. 
‘‘(G) A State, local, or tribal government 
agency. 
‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 
sums as are necessary to carry out this section for fiscal 
year 2012 and each fiscal year thereafter. Amounts appro-
priated pursuant to this authorization of appropriations 
shall remain available to the Secretary for the purposes 
of this section until expended.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 15, 
2010. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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