7 U.S.C. § 3151a — Veterinary medicine loan repayment

Page 1578 TITLE 7—AGRICULTURE § 3151a § 3151a. Veterinary medicine loan repayment (a) Program (1) Service in shortage situations The Secretary shall carry out a program of entering into agreements with veterinarians under which the veterinarians agree to pro- vide, for a period of time as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, vet- erinary services in veterinarian shortage situ- ations. For each year of such service under an agreement under this paragraph, the Sec- retary shall pay an amount, as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, of the principal and interest of qualifying edu- cational loans of the veterinarians. (2) Service to Federal Government in emer- gency situations (A) In general The Secretary may enter into agreements of 1 year duration with veterinarians who have agreements pursuant to paragraph (1) for such veterinarians to provide services to the Federal Government in emergency situa- tions, as determined by the Secretary, under terms and conditions specified in the agree- ment. Pursuant to an agreement under this paragraph, the Secretary shall pay an amount, in addition to the amount paid pur- suant to the agreement in paragraph (1), as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, of the principal and interest of qualifying educational loans of the veteri- narians. (B) Requirements Agreements entered into under this para- graph shall include the following: (i) A veterinarian shall not be required to serve more than 60 working days per year of the agreement. (ii) A veterinarian who provides service pursuant to the agreement shall receive a salary commensurate with the duties and shall be reimbursed for travel and per diem expenses as appropriate for the duration of the service. (b) Determination of veterinarian shortage situa- tions In determining ‘‘veterinarian shortage situa- tions’’, the Secretary may consider— (1) geographical areas that the Secretary de- termines have a shortage of veterinarians; and (2) areas of veterinary practice that the Sec- retary determines have a shortage of veteri- narians, such as food animal medicine, public health, epidemiology, and food safety. (c) Administration (1) Authority The Secretary may carry out this program directly or enter into agreements with an- other Federal agency or other service provider to assist in the administration of this pro- gram. (2) Breach remedies (A) In general Agreements with program participants shall provide remedies for any breach of an agreement by a participant, including repay- ment or partial repayment of financial as- sistance received, with interest. (B) Amounts recovered Funds recovered under this subsection shall be credited to the account available to carry out this section and shall remain available until expended. (3) Waiver The Secretary may grant a waiver of the re- payment obligation for breach of contract in the event of extreme hardship or extreme need, as determined by the Secretary. (4) Amount The Secretary shall develop regulations to determine the amount of loan repayment for a year of service by a veterinarian. In making the determination, the Secretary shall con- sider the extent to which such determina- tion— (A) affects the ability of the Secretary to maximize the number of agreements that can be provided under the Veterinary Medi- cine Loan Repayment Program from the amounts appropriated for such agreements; and (B) provides an incentive to serve in vet- erinary service shortage areas with the greatest need. (5) Qualifying educational loans Loan repayments provided under this sec- tion may consist of payments on behalf of par- ticipating individuals of the principal and in- terest on government and commercial loans received by the individual for attendance of the individual at an accredited college of vet- erinary medicine resulting in a degree of Doc- tor of Veterinary Medicine or the equivalent, which loans were made for— (A) tuition expenses; (B) all other reasonable educational ex- penses, including fees, books, and laboratory expenses, incurred by the individual; or (C) reasonable living expenses as deter- mined by the Secretary. (6) Repayment schedule The Secretary may enter into an agreement with the holder of any loan for which pay- ments are made under this section to establish a schedule for the making of such payments. (7) Tax liability In addition to educational loan repayments, the Secretary shall make such additional pay- ments to participants as the Secretary deter- mines to be appropriate for the purpose of pro- viding reimbursements to participants for in- dividual tax liability resulting from participa- tion in this program. (8) Priority In administering the program, the Secretary shall give priority to agreements with veteri- narians for the practice of food animal medi- cine in veterinarian shortage situations. (d) Use of funds None of the funds appropriated to the Sec- retary under subsection (f) may be used to carry out section 5379 of title 5. Page 1579 TITLE 7—AGRICULTURE § 3151b (e) Regulations Notwithstanding subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section. (f) Authorization of appropriations There are authorized to be appropriated for carrying out this section such sums as may be necessary and such sums shall remain available to the Secretary for the purposes of this section until expended. (Pub. L. 95–113, title XIV, § 1415A, as added Pub. L. 108–161, § 2, Dec. 6, 2003, 117 Stat. 2014; amend- ed Pub. L. 110–234, title VII, § 7105(a), May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1216; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title VII, § 7105(a), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 1977.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The date of enactment of this subsection, referred to in subsec. (e), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–246, which was approved June 18, 2008. CODIFICATION Pub. L. 110–234 and Pub. L. 110–246 made identical amendments to this section. The amendments by Pub. L. 110–234 were repealed by section 4(a) of Pub. L. 110–246. AMENDMENTS 2008—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7105(a)(1), added subsec. (b) and struck out former subsec. (b) which au- thorized the Secretary to consider certain factors in de- termining ‘‘veterinarian shortage situations’’. Subsec. (c)(8). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7105(a)(2), added par. (8). Subsecs. (d) to (f). Pub. L. 110–246, § 7105(a)(3), (4), added subsecs. (d) and (e) and redesignated former sub- sec. (d) as (f). Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 2008 AMENDMENT Amendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as an Effective Date note under section 8701 of this title. § 3151b. Veterinary services grant program (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Qualified entity The term ‘‘qualified entity’’ means— (A) a for-profit or nonprofit entity located in the United States that, or an individual who, operates a veterinary clinic providing veterinary services— (i) in a rural area, as defined in section 1991(a) of this title; and (ii) in a veterinarian shortage situation; (B) a State, national, allied, or regional veterinary organization or specialty board recognized by the American Veterinary Med- ical Association; (C) a college or school of veterinary medi- cine accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association; (D) a university research foundation or veterinary medical foundation; (E) a department of veterinary science or department of comparative medicine accred- ited by the Department of Education; (F) a State agricultural experiment sta- tion; or (G) a State, local, or tribal government agency. (2) Veterinarian shortage situation The term ‘‘veterinarian shortage situation’’ means a veterinarian shortage situation as de- termined by the Secretary under section 3151a of this title. (b) Establishment (1) Competitive grants The Secretary shall carry out a program to make competitive grants to qualified entities that carry out programs or activities de- scribed in paragraph (2) for the purpose of de- veloping, implementing, and sustaining veteri- nary services. (2) Eligibility requirements A qualified entity shall be eligible to receive a grant described in paragraph (1) if the entity carries out programs or activities that the Secretary determines will— (A) substantially relieve veterinarian shortage situations; (B) support or facilitate private veterinary practices engaged in public health activities; or (C) support or facilitate the practices of veterinarians who are providing or have completed providing services under an agree- ment entered into with the Secretary under section 3151a(a)(2) of this title. (c) Award processes and preferences (1) Application, evaluation, and input proc- esses In administering the grant program estab- lished under this section, the Secretary shall— (A) use an appropriate application and evaluation process, as determined by the Secretary; and (B) seek the input of interested persons. (2) Coordination preference In selecting recipients of grants to be used for any of the purposes described in subsection (d)(1), the Secretary shall give a preference to qualified entities that provide documentation of coordination with other qualified entities, with respect to any such purpose. (3) Consideration of available funds In selecting recipients of grants to be used for any of the purposes described in subsection (d), the Secretary shall take into consider- ation the amount of funds available for grants and the purposes for which the grant funds will be used. (4) Nature of grants A grant awarded under this section shall be considered to be a competitive research, ex- tension, or education grant.