By: Watson S.B. No. 814
(In the Senate - Filed February 12, 2009; March 4, 2009, read
first time and referred to Committee on Higher Education;
May 4, 2009, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 4, 2009, sent
to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 814 By: Duncan
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to physician education, including repayment assistance
for certain physician education loans and requirements for family
practice residency programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 61.532, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 61.532. ELIGIBILITY. (a) To be eligible to receive
repayment assistance, a physician must apply to the coordinating
board and have completed at least one year of medical practice:
(1) in private practice in an economically depressed
or rural medically underserved area of the state;
(2) for one of the following state agencies:
(A) the [Texas] Department of State Health
Services;
(B) the [Texas] Department of Aging and
Disability Services [Mental Health and Mental Retardation];
(C) the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
[Corrections]; or
(D) the Texas Youth Commission; [or]
(3) for an approved family practice residency training
program established under Subchapter I as a clinical faculty member
and have completed training in an approved family practice
residency training program on or after July 1, 1994; or
(4) in primary care or in a medical specialty of acute
physician shortage, as determined by the coordinating board in
consultation with the Department of State Health Services, and in:
(A) a hospital or clinic with a patient
population of whom at least 50 percent are uninsured or receive
Medicaid; or
(B) a public hospital, as defined by Section
61.002, Health and Safety Code.
(b) The coordinating board may by rule provide for repayment
assistance on a pro rata basis for physicians practicing as
described by Subsection (a)(2), (3), or (4) on a part-time basis
[for an approved family practice residency training program
established under Subchapter I of this chapter or a state agency
specified in Subsection (a) of this section].
SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 61.535, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) The coordinating board shall deliver any repayment made
under this subchapter in a lump sum payable:
(1) to both the [lender and the] physician and the
lender or other holder of the loan; or
(2) on behalf of the physician, directly to the lender
or other holder of the loan[, in accordance with federal law].
SECTION 3. Section 61.536, Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 61.536. ADVISORY COMMITTEES. The coordinating board
may:
(1) appoint advisory committees from outside the
board's membership to assist the board in performing its duties
under this subchapter; and
(2) request the assistance of the Department of State
Health Services and the Family Practice Residency Advisory
Committee in performing those duties.
SECTION 4. Subsection (a), Section 61.537, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) The coordinating board shall adopt rules necessary for
the administration of this subchapter, including rules [a rule]
that:
(1) provide for the commissioner of higher education
to set an appropriate [sets a] maximum amount of repayment
assistance that may be received by a physician in one year, except
that the maximum amount of repayment assistance that may be
received in one year by a physician who establishes eligibility
under Section 61.532(a) may not exceed $35,000;
(2) authorize [and a rule that authorizes] the
Department of State Health Services [Family Practice Residency
Advisory Committee] to establish priorities among eligible
physicians for repayment assistance, by considering:
(A) [taking into account] the degree of physician
shortage;
(B) [,] geographic locations;
(C) [,] whether the physician is or will be
providing service in an economically depressed or rural [a]
medically underserved area or service as described by Section
61.532(a)(4);[,] and
(D) other criteria the department [committee]
considers appropriate; and
(3) administer the program under this subchapter in a
manner that maximizes any matching funds available through the
National Health Service Corps program of the United States
Department of Health and Human Services.
SECTION 5. Section 61.539, Education Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
follows:
(b) The amount set aside shall be transferred to the
comptroller of public accounts to be maintained in the state
treasury for the sole purpose of repayment of student loans of a
physician serving:
(1) in a designated state agency;
(2) [or] in an area of this state that is economically
depressed or that is a medically underserved area or health
professional shortage area, as designated by the United States
Department of Health and Human Services, that has a current
shortage of physicians; or
(3) as described by Section 61.532(a)(4).
(b-1) Section 403.095, Government Code, does not apply to
the amount set aside by this section.
SECTION 6. Subsection (b), Section 51.918, Education Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall:
(1) encourage and coordinate the creation or expansion
of a rural preceptor program among medical schools, teaching
hospitals, nursing schools, and schools of allied health sciences;
and
(2) require family practice residency programs to
provide an opportunity for residents to have a one-month rotation
through:
(A) a rural setting; [and]
(B) a public health setting; or
(C) an oncology setting.
SECTION 7. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
adopt rules necessary to administer Subchapter J, Chapter 61,
Education Code, as amended by this Act.
SECTION 8. This Act does not make an appropriation. A
provision in this Act that creates a new governmental program,
creates a new entitlement, or imposes a new duty on a governmental
entity is not mandatory during a fiscal period for which the
legislature has not made a specific appropriation to implement the
provision.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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