S.B. No. 218
AN ACT
1-1 relating to loan repayment assistance for certain family practice
1-2 physicians.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 61.532, Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 61.532. Eligibility. (a) To be eligible to receive
1-7 repayment assistance, a physician must apply to the coordinating
1-8 board and have completed at least one year of medical practice:
1-9 (1) in private practice in an economically depressed
1-10 or rural medically underserved area of the state; <or>
1-11 (2) for one of the following state agencies:
1-12 (A) Texas Department of Health;
1-13 (B) Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
1-14 Retardation;
1-15 (C) Texas Department of Corrections; or
1-16 (D) Texas Youth Commission; or
1-17 (3) for an approved family practice residency training
1-18 program established under Subchapter I of this chapter.
1-19 (b) The coordinating board may by rule provide for repayment
1-20 assistance on a pro rata basis for physicians practicing part-time
1-21 for an approved family practice residency training program
1-22 established under Subchapter I of this chapter or a state agency
1-23 specified in Subsection (a) of this section.
1-24 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 61.537, Education Code,
2-1 is amended to read as follows:
2-2 (a) The coordinating board shall adopt rules necessary for
2-3 the administration of this subchapter, including a rule that sets a
2-4 maximum amount of repayment assistance that may be received by a
2-5 physician in one year and a rule that authorizes the Family
2-6 Practice Residency Advisory Committee to establish priorities among
2-7 eligible physicians for repayment assistance, by taking into
2-8 account the degree of physician shortage, geographic locations, and
2-9 other criteria the committee considers appropriate.
2-10 SECTION 3. Subchapter J, Chapter 61, Education Code, is
2-11 amended by adding Section 61.538 to read as follows:
2-12 Sec. 61.538. TOTAL AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE. The
2-13 total amount of repayment assistance distributed by the board may
2-14 not exceed the total amount of gifts and grants accepted by the
2-15 board for repayment assistance, medical school tuition set aside
2-16 under Section 61.539 of this code, and legislative appropriations
2-17 for repayment assistance.
2-18 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-24 passage, and it is so enacted.