IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 959 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JULY 24, 2018 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions 
AN ACT 
To amend title VIII of the Public Health Service Act to 
extend advanced education nursing grants to support 
clinical nurse specialist programs, and for other pur-
poses. 
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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 
2018’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. General provisions. 
Sec. 3. Nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, and other ad-
vanced education nurses. 
Sec. 4. Increasing nursing workforce diversity. 
Sec. 5. Strengthening capacity for basic nurse education and practice. 
Sec. 6. Student loans. 
Sec. 7. National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice. 
Sec. 8. Other provisions. 
SEC. 2. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 
(a) APPLICATION.—Section 802(c) of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296a(c)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘shall address relevant national nursing needs 
that the project will meet’’ and inserting ‘‘shall address 
relevant national nursing needs that the project will ad-
dress and how the project aligns with the national nursing 
service goals referred to in section 806(a)’’. 
(b) USE
OF FUNDS.—Section 803 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296b) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds awarded 
as a grant under this title for a project or activity shall 
be used to supplement, not supplant, the non-Federal 
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funds that would otherwise be made available for such 
project or activity.’’. 
(c) GENERALLY APPLICABLE PROVISIONS.—Section 
806 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 296e) 
is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b), by amending paragraph 
(2) to read as follows: 
‘‘(2) EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish procedures to ensure the annual evaluation of 
programs and projects operated by recipients of 
grants under this title. Such procedures shall ensure 
that continued funding for such programs and 
projects will be conditioned upon the submission 
of— 
‘‘(A) data demonstrating that satisfactory 
progress has been made by the program or 
project in meeting the performance outcome 
standards (as described in section 802) of such 
program or project; and 
‘‘(B) a detailed description of activities 
conducted by such program or project to meet 
such performance outcome standards.’’; 
(2) in subsection (e)(2), by inserting ‘‘, and 
have relevant expertise and experience’’ after ‘‘who 
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are not officers or employees of the Federal Govern-
ment’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(i) ANNUAL REPORT
ON NURSING WORKFORCE 
PROGRAMS.—Annually, the Secretary shall submit to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 
the Senate, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
of the House of Representatives, a report containing an 
assessment of the programs and activities of the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services related to enhancing 
the nursing workforce, including the extent to which pro-
grams and activities under this title meet identified goals 
and performance measures developed for the respective 
programs and activities.’’. 
SEC. 3. NURSE PRACTITIONERS, NURSE MIDWIVES, NURSE 
ANESTHETISTS, AND OTHER ADVANCED EDU-
CATION NURSES. 
Section 811 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 296j) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘R.N./Master’s’’ and in-
serting ‘‘R.N./graduate’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘clinical nurse leaders,’’ 
before ‘‘or public health nurses’’; 
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(2) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 
subsections (g) and (h), respectively; 
(3) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZED
CLINICAL
NURSE
SPECIALIST 
PROGRAMS.—Clinical nurse specialist programs eligible 
for support under this section are education programs 
that— 
‘‘(1) provide registered nurses with full-time 
clinical nurse specialist education; and 
‘‘(2) have as their objective the education of 
clinical nurse specialists who will upon completion of 
such a program be qualified to effectively provide 
care through the wellness and illness continuum to 
inpatients and outpatients experiencing acute and 
chronic illness.’’; and 
(4) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$74,581,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023.’’. 
SEC. 4. INCREASING NURSING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY. 
Section 821 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 296m) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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