Minnesota Legislature
SF 1163
as introduced - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am
Current Version - as introduced
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A bill for an act
relating to health; expanding the criteria for
participants of the loan forgiveness program;
appropriating money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004,
section 144.1501, subdivisions 2, 4.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1.
Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 144.1501,
subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Subd. 2.
Creation of account.
new text begin (a) new text end A health professional
education loan forgiveness program account is established. The
commissioner of health shall use money from the account to
establish a loan forgiveness programnew text begin :
new text end
new text begin
(1) new text end for medical residents agreeing to practice in
designated rural areas or underserved urban communitiesdeleted text begin ,deleted text end new text begin ;
new text end
new text begin
(2) new text end for midlevel practitioners agreeing to practice in
designated rural areasdeleted text begin , and deleted text end new text begin or to teach for at least 20 hours
per week in the nursing field in a postsecondary program;
new text end
new text begin
(3) new text end for nurses who agree to practice in a Minnesota nursing
home or intermediate care facility for persons with mental
retardation or related conditions new text begin or to teach for at least 20
hours per week in the nursing field in a postsecondary program;
and
new text end
new text begin
(4) for other health care technicians agreeing to teach for
at least 20 hours per week in their designated field in a
postsecondary program. The commissioner, in consultation with
the Healthcare Education-Industry Partnership, shall determine
the health care fields where the need is the greatest,
including, but not limited to, respiratory therapy, clinical
laboratory technology, radiologic technology, and surgical
technologynew text end .
new text begin
(b) new text end Appropriations made to the account do not cancel and
are available until expended, except that at the end of each
biennium, any remaining balance in the account that is not
committed by contract and not needed to fulfill existing
commitments shall cancel to the fund.
Sec. 2.
Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 144.1501,
subdivision 4, is amended to read:
Subd. 4.
Loan forgiveness.
The commissioner of health
may select applicants each year for participation in the loan
forgiveness program, within the limits of available funding. The
commissioner shall distribute available funds for loan
forgiveness proportionally among the eligible professions
according to the vacancy rate for each profession in the
required geographic area deleted text begin or deleted text end new text begin ,new text end facility typenew text begin , or teaching area
new text end
specified in subdivision 2. The commissioner shall allocate
funds for physician loan forgiveness so that 75 percent of the
funds available are used for rural physician loan forgiveness
and 25 percent of the funds available are used for underserved
urban communities loan forgiveness. If the commissioner does
not receive enough qualified applicants each year to use the
entire allocation of funds for urban underserved communities,
the remaining funds may be allocated for rural physician loan
forgiveness. Applicants are responsible for securing their own
qualified educational loans. The commissioner shall select
participants based on their suitability for practice serving the
required geographic area or facility type specified in
subdivision 2, as indicated by experience or training. The
commissioner shall give preference to applicants closest to
completing their training. For each year that a participant
meets the service obligation required under subdivision 3, up to
a maximum of four years, the commissioner shall make annual
disbursements directly to the participant equivalent to 15
percent of the average educational debt for indebted graduates
in their profession in the year closest to the applicant's
selection for which information is available, not to exceed the
balance of the participant's qualifying educational loans.
Before receiving loan repayment disbursements and as requested,
the participant must complete and return to the commissioner an
affidavit of practice form provided by the commissioner
verifying that the participant is practicing as required under
subdivisions 2 and 3. The participant must provide the
commissioner with verification that the full amount of loan
repayment disbursement received by the participant has been
applied toward the designated loans. After each disbursement,
verification must be received by the commissioner and approved
before the next loan repayment disbursement is made.
Participants who move their practice remain eligible for loan
repayment as long as they practice as required under subdivision
2.
Sec. 3. new text begin APPROPRIATION.
new text end
new text begin
$....... is appropriated for the biennium beginning July 1,
2005, from the general fund to the commissioner of health for
the loan forgiveness program in Minnesota Statutes, section
144.1501.
new text end