I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3569 
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 
JULY 28, 2005 
Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. OWENS, 
Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. REYES, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 
STARK, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BUR-
TON of Indiana, Mr. HIGGINS, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BOS-
WELL, and Mr. MOORE of Kansas) 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 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) While the Nurse Reinvestment Act (Public 
Law 107–205) helped to increase applications to 
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 2004–2005 school year— 
(i) 61.5 percent of schools of nursing 
had from 1 to 15 vacant faculty positions; 
and 
(ii) an additional 30.9 percent of 
schools of nursing needed additional fac-
ulty, but lacked the resources needed to 
add more positions; and 
(B) 32,797 eligible candidates were denied 
admission to schools of nursing in 2004, 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, there has been a 12 percent 
increase in doctoral nursing graduates seeking em-
ployment outside the education profession. 
(3) The average age of nurse faculty at retire-
ment is 62.5 years. With the average age of
doctorally-prepared faculty currently 54.2 years, 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 6.9 percent (or 669 graduates) and 2.0 percent 
(or 8 graduates), respectively, in the 2004–2005 
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
Resources and Services Administration, shall award a 
grant each fiscal year in an amount determined in accord-
ance with subsection (c) to each eligible school of nursing 
that submits an application in accordance with this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—A funding agreement for a grant 
under this section is that the eligible school of nursing 
involved will expend the grant to increase the number of 
nursing faculty and students at the school, including by 
hiring new faculty, retaining current faculty, purchasing 
educational equipment and audiovisual laboratories, en-
hancing clinical laboratories, repairing and expanding in-
frastructure, or recruiting students. 
‘‘(c) GRANT COMPUTATION.— 
‘‘(1) AMOUNT PER STUDENT.—Subject to para-
graph (2), the amount of a grant to an eligible 
school of nursing under this section for a fiscal year 
shall be the total of the following: 
‘‘(A) $1,800 for each full-time or part-time 
student who is enrolled at the school in a grad-
uate program in nursing that— 
‘‘(i) leads to a master’s degree, a doc-
toral degree, or an equivalent degree; and 
‘‘(ii) prepares individuals to serve as 
faculty through additional course work in
education and ensuring competency in an 
advanced practice area. 
‘‘(B) $1,405 for each full-time or part-time 
student who— 
‘‘(i) is enrolled at the school in a pro-
gram in nursing leading to a bachelor of 
science degree, a bachelor of nursing de-
gree, a graduate degree in nursing if such 
program does not meet the requirements of 
subparagraph (A), or an equivalent degree; 
and 
‘‘(ii) has not more than 3 years of 
academic credits remaining in the pro-
gram. 
‘‘(C) $966 for each full-time or part-time 
student who is enrolled at the school in a pro-
gram in nursing leading to an associate degree 
in nursing or an equivalent degree. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—In calculating the amount 
of a grant to a school under paragraph (1), the Sec-
retary may not make a payment with respect to a 
particular student— 
‘‘(A) for more than 2 fiscal years in the 
case of a student described in paragraph (1)(A) 
who is enrolled in a graduate program in nurs-