Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act

Bill: 116-s-3737
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN]
Introduced: 2020-05-14
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Computers and information technology

Education programs funding

Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management

Government lending and loan guarantees

Health personnel

Health programs administration and funding

Higher education

Income tax exclusion

Indian social and development programs

Interest, dividends, interest rates

Public contracts and procurement

State and local government operations

Student aid and college costs
Latest action: action_date: 2020-05-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-05-14
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act</b></p> <p>This bill reauthorizes through FY2025, and otherwise modifies, the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program (a program that awards student loan repayment to individuals with qualifying degrees who commit to work full-time for a federal, state, tribal, or local public health agency for a period of obligated service). Among other changes, the bill eliminates the option for individuals to complete the service obligation in a federal public health agency and expands the scope of qualifying degrees to include those in statistics, computer science, and programs related to information technology. </p> <p>In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services may take actions to equitably distribute awards among geographic regions and jurisdictional levels and to ensure that at least 50% of individuals who receive loan repayment awards are not employed in qualifying public health agencies at the time they enter the program.</p>

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3737 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 14, 2020 Ms. Smith (for herself and Mr. Booker ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To improve the public health workforce loan repayment program.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Strengthening the Public Health Workforce Act . 2. Public health workforce loan repayment program Section 776 of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 295f–1 ) is amended— (1) in subsection (a)— (A) by striking supply of and inserting supply of, and encourage recruitment of, ; and (B) by striking Federal, ; (2) in subsection (b)— (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— (i) by striking accredited academic educational institution in a State or territory in the final year and inserting institution of higher education in the final semester (or equivalent) ; (ii) by striking or health professions degree or certificate and inserting degree, a health professions degree, or a degree in computer science, information science, information systems, information technology, or statistics ; (iii) by striking Federal, ; and (iv) by adding or after the semicolon at the end; (B) in paragraph (1)(B)— (i) in clause (i)— (I) by striking accredited educational institution in a State or territory and inserting institution of higher education ; and (II) by striking or health professions degree or certificate and inserting degree, a health professions degree, or a degree in computer science, information science, information systems, information technology, or statistics ; and (ii) in clause (ii), by striking Federal, ; and (C) in paragraph (4), by striking section 455(m), 428J, 428K, 428L, or 460 and inserting section 428K or 428L ; (3) in subsection (c)— (A) in paragraph (1), by striking or certificate ; and (B) in paragraph (2)— (i) by striking Federal, ; and (ii) by striking equal to the greater of— and all that follows through the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting of at least 2 consecutive years; ; (4) in subsection (d)— (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: (1) In general A loan repayment provided for an individual under a written contract under the Program shall consist of payment, in accordance with paragraph (2), for the individual toward the outstanding principal and interest on education loans incurred by the individual in the pursuit of the relevant degree in accordance with the terms of the contract. ; (B) in paragraph (2)— (i) by striking For each year and inserting the following: (A) In general For each year ; and (ii) by adding at the end the following: (B) Considerations The Secretary may take action in making awards to ensure that— (i) not less than 50 percent of contracts under subsection (c) are awarded to individuals, who at the time of entering into the contract, are not employed by a local, State, or tribal public health agency or a related training fellowship, as recognized by the Secretary; and (ii) the contracts provided under subsection (c) are equitably distributed among— (I) the geographical regions of the United States; and (II) local, State, and tribal public health departments. ; and (C) by amending paragraph (3) to read as follows: (3) Tax treatment of payments For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a payment made under this section shall be treated in the same manner as an amount received under section 338B(g), as described in section 108(f)(4) of such Code. ; (5) in subsection (e)— (A) by striking receiving a degree or certificate from a health professions or other related school and inserting with a contract to serve under subsection (c) ; and (B) by inserting or extended after postponed ; (6) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h); (7) by inserting after subsection (f) the following: (g) Definitions In this section: (1) Institution of higher education The term institution of higher education has the meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965. (2) Full-time The term full-time , with respect to employment, means employment— (A) with a single qualifying employer for not less than 30 hours per week; or (B) with 2 or more qualifying employers for a total of not less than 30 hours per week. (3) Education loan The term education loan means— (A) any loan made, insured, or guaranteed under part B, D, or E of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965; (B) any loan made under subpart II of part A of this title or part E of title VIII; (C) a private education loan, as defined in section 140 of the Truth in Lending Act; or (D) any other loan funded, insured, or guaranteed by any Federal agency that is not the Department of Education and that is issued directly to a student. ; and (8) in subsection (h), as so redesignated, by striking $195,000,000 for fiscal year 2010, and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2015 and inserting $200,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2025 .