PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary runs a program that pays off veterinarians’ student loan principal and interest in return for the vets agreeing to work in places or kinds of veterinary practice that have too few vets. Each agreement will say how long the vet must serve and how much of the loans the Secretary will pay for each year. The Secretary can also make separate one-year agreements for vets to do up to 60 working days per year of emergency work for the Federal Government. Those emergency agreements include extra loan payments, and vets get a salary and travel or per diem pay while doing the emergency work. The Secretary can run the program directly or use other agencies to help. If a vet breaks an agreement, the vet may have to repay some or all money with interest, but the Secretary can waive that for extreme hardship or need. Qualifying loans are government or commercial loans for vet school tuition, other school costs (like fees and books), or reasonable living expenses. The Secretary will make rules for payment amounts, give priority to food-animal medicine, reimburse vets for any tax bills caused by the payments, and must issue regulations within 270 days. Funds needed are authorized as necessary and remain available until spent, but these funds cannot be used to carry out section 5379 of title 5.

Title 7, §3151a

Agriculture, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(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 provide, for a period of time as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, veterinary services in veterinarian shortage situations. For each year of such service under an agreement under this paragraph, the Secretary shall pay an amount, as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, of the principal and interest of qualifying educational loans of the veterinarians.

(2)Service to Federal Government in emergency 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 situations, as determined by the Secretary, under terms and conditions specified in the agreement. Pursuant to an agreement under this paragraph, the Secretary shall pay an amount, in addition to the amount paid pursuant 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 veterinarians.

(B)Requirements

Agreements entered into under this paragraph 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 situations

In determining “veterinarian shortage situations”, the Secretary may consider—

(1)geographical areas that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians; and

(2)areas of veterinary practice that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians, 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 another Federal agency or other service provider to assist in the administration of this program.

(2)Breach remedies

(A)In general

Agreements with program participants shall provide remedies for any breach of an agreement by a participant, including repayment or partial repayment of financial assistance 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 repayment 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 consider the extent to which such determination—

(A)affects the ability of the Secretary to maximize the number of agreements that can be provided under the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program from the amounts appropriated for such agreements; and

(B)provides an incentive to serve in veterinary service shortage areas with the greatest need.

(5)Qualifying educational loans

Loan repayments provided under this section may consist of payments on behalf of participating individuals of the principal and interest on government and commercial loans received by the individual for attendance of the individual at an accredited college of veterinary medicine resulting in a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or the equivalent, which loans were made for— (A)

(B)all other reasonable educational expenses, including fees, books, and laboratory expenses, incurred by the individual; or

(C)reasonable living expenses as determined by the Secretary.

(6)Repayment schedule

The Secretary may enter into an agreement with the holder of any loan for which payments 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 payments to participants as the Secretary determines to be appropriate for the purpose of providing reimbursements to participants for individual tax liability resulting from participation in this program.

(8)Priority

In administering the program, the Secretary shall give priority to agreements with veterinarians for the practice of food animal medicine in veterinarian shortage situations.

(d)Use of funds

None of the funds appropriated to the Secretary under subsection (f) may be used to carry out section 5379 of title 5.

(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.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

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 authorized the Secretary to consider certain factors in determining “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 subsec. (d) as (f).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2008 AmendmentAmendment 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.

§3151a Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment

Summary

Title 7, §3151a

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Amendments

Amendments

Amendments

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Effective Date

Citations & Metadata