Title: Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Act of 2020
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Act of 2020
This bill establishes a student loan repayment program for public health professionals. As a condition of participation, recipients must agree to complete a period of full-time employment with a state, tribal, or local public health agency.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6578 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6578

 To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Public Health 
                   Workforce Loan Repayment Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 2020

 Mr. Crow (for himself and Mr. Burgess) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish the Public Health 
                   Workforce Loan Repayment Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Health Workforce Loan 
Repayment Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC HEALTH WORKFORCE LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.

    Part D of title III of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
254b et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subpart:

                ``Subpart XIII--Public Health Workforce

``SEC. 340J. LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services 
shall establish a program to be known as the Public Health Workforce 
Loan Repayment Program (referred to in this section as the `Program') 
to assure an adequate supply of and encourage recruitment of public 
health professionals to eliminate critical public health workforce 
shortages in local, State, and Tribal public health agencies.
    ``(b) Eligibility.--To be eligible to participate in the Program, 
an individual shall--
            ``(1)(A) be accepted for enrollment, or be enrolled, as a 
        student in an accredited academic educational institution in a 
        State or territory in the final year of a course of study or 
        program leading to a public health or health professions degree 
        or certificate and have accepted employment with a local, 
        State, or Tribal public health agency, or a related training 
        fellowship, as recognized by the Secretary, to commence upon 
        graduation; or
            ``(B)(i) have graduated, during the preceding 10-year 
        period, from an accredited educational institution in a State 
        or territory and received a public health or health professions 
        degree or certificate; and
            ``(ii) be employed by, or have accepted employment with, a 
        local, State, or Tribal public health agency or a related 
        training fellowship, as recognized by the Secretary;
            ``(2) be a United States citizen;
            ``(3)(A) submit an application to the Secretary to 
        participate in the Program; and
            ``(B) execute a written contract as required in subsection 
        (c); and
            ``(4) not have received, for the same service, a reduction 
        of loan obligations under section 428J, 428K, 428L, 455(m), or 
        460 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078-10, 
        1078-11, 1078-12, 1087e(m), and 1087j).
    ``(c) Contract.--The written contract referred to in subsection 
(b)(3)(B) between the Secretary and an individual shall contain--
            ``(1) an agreement on the part of the Secretary that the 
        Secretary will repay, on behalf of the individual, loans 
        incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the relevant 
        degree or certificate in accordance with the terms of the 
        contract;
            ``(2) an agreement on the part of the individual that the 
        individual will serve in the full-time employment of a local, 
        State, or Tribal public health agency or a related fellowship 
        program in a position related to the course of study or program 
        for which the contract was awarded for a period of time equal 
        to the greater of--
                    ``(A) 3 years; or
                    ``(B) such longer period of time as determined 
                appropriate by the Secretary and the individual;
            ``(3) an agreement, as appropriate, on the part of the 
        individual to relocate to a priority service area (as 
        determined by the Secretary) in exchange for an additional loan 
        repayment incentive amount to be determined by the Secretary;
            ``(4) 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 individual that is 
        conditioned thereon, is contingent on funds being appropriated 
        for loan repayments under this section;
            ``(5) a statement of the damages to which the United States 
        is entitled, under this section for the individual's breach of 
        the contract; and
            ``(6) such other statements of the rights and liabilities 
        of the Secretary and of the individual as the Secretary 
        determines appropriate, not inconsistent with this section.
    ``(d) Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--A loan repayment provided for an 
        individual under a written contract referred to in subsection 
        (b)(3)(B) shall consist of payment, in accordance with 
        paragraph (2), on behalf of the individual of the principal, 
        interest, and related expenses on government and commercial 
        loans received by the individual regarding the undergraduate or 
        graduate education of the individual (or both), which loans 
        were made for tuition expenses incurred by the individual.
            ``(2) Payments for years served.--For each year of service 
        that an individual contracts to serve pursuant to subsection 
        (c)(2), the Secretary may pay not more than $35,000 on behalf 
        of the individual for loans described in paragraph (1). With 
        respect to participants under the Program whose total eligible 
        loans are less than $105,000, the Secretary shall pay an amount 
        that does not exceed \1/3\ of the eligible loan balance for 
        each year of such service of such individual.
            ``(3) Tax liability.--For the purpose of providing 
        reimbursements for tax liability resulting from payments under 
        paragraph (2) on behalf of an individual, the Secretary shall, 
        in addition to such payments, make payments to the individual 
        in an amount not to exceed 39 percent of the total amount of 
        loan repayments made for the taxable year involved.
    ``(e) Postponing Obligated Service.--With respect to an individual 
receiving a degree or certificate from a health professions or other 
related school, the date of the initiation of the period of obligated 
service may be postponed as approved by the Secretary.
    ``(f) Breach of Contract.--An individual who fails to comply with 
the contract entered into under subsection (c) shall be subject to the 
same financial penalties as provided for under section 338E of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254o) for breaches of loan 
repayment contracts under section 338B of such Act (42 U.S.C. section 
254l-1).
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section--
            ``(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; and
            ``(2) $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 
        2025.''.
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