HBA-KMH H.B. 3544 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3544 By: Hodge Higher Education 4/1/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In 1998, the Texas Department of Health designated 87 dental health professional shortage areas in Texas. Dental services are not available in many parts of Texas because there is not a dental provider in close proximity. The dentists who are available may not take Medicaid as a payment source. Representatives from Texas' dental schools (Baylor College of Dentistry, U.T.-Houston, and U.T.-San Antonio), the Texas Department of Health, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and the Texas Dental Association have made efforts to recruit dentists in some of these underserved areas. H.B. 3544 creates a student loan repayment assistance program to provide an incentive for dentists to practice in an underserved area. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in SECTION 1 (Sections 61.902 and 61.908, Education Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 61, Education Code, by adding Subchapter S, as follows: SUBCHAPTER S. REPAYMENT OF CERTAIN DENTAL EDUCATION LOANS Sec. 61.901. REPAYMENT AUTHORIZED. Authorizes the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (board) to provide using funds appropriated for that purpose and in accordance with this subchapter and rules of the board, assistance in the repayment of student loans for dentists who apply and qualify for the assistance. Sec. 61.902. ELIGIBILITY. Provides that a dentist must apply to the board and have completed at least one year of dental practice in an area of the state that is underserved with respect to dental care in order to be eligible for repayment assistance. Authorizes the board, by rule, to provide for repayment assistance on a pro rata basis for dentists in part-time practice described by this section. Sec. 61.903. LIMITATION. Authorizes a dentist to receive repayment assistance grants for each of not more than five years. Sec. 61.904. ELIGIBLE LOANS. Authorizes the board to provide repayment assistance for the repayment of any student loan for education at an institution of higher education, including loans for undergraduate education, received by a dentist through any lender. Authorizes the board to withhold repayment assistance for a student loan that is in default at the time of the dentist's application. Requires the board each fiscal biennium to attempt to allocate all funds appropriated to it for the purpose of providing repayment assistance under this subchapter. Sec. 61.905. REPAYMENT. Requires the board to deliver any repayment made under this subchapter in a lump sum payable to the lender and the dentist, in accordance with any applicable federal law. Authorizes a repayment under this subchapter to be applied to any amount due in connection with the loan. Sec. 61.906. ADVISORY COMMITTEES. Authorizes the board to appoint advisory committees from outside the board's membership to assist the board in performing its duties under this subchapter and to request the assistance of the Oral Health Services Advisory Committee in performing those duties. Sec. 61.907. ACCEPTANCE OF FUNDS. Authorizes the board to accept gifts, grants, and donations for the purposes of this subchapter. Sec. 61.908. RULES. Requires the board to adopt rules necessary for the administration of this subchapter, including a rule that sets a maximum amount of repayment assistance that is authorized to be received by a dentist in one year. Authorizes the board to consult with the Oral Health Services Advisory Committee to assist the board in establishing priorities among eligible dentists for repayment assistance, taking into account the degree of an area's shortage of dental services, geographic locations, whether the dentist is or will be providing service in an underserved area with respect to dental services, and other criteria the board considers appropriate. Requires the board to distribute to each dental school in this state and to appropriate state agencies and professional associations copies of the rules adopted under this section and other pertinent information relating to this subchapter. Sec. 61.909. TOTAL AMOUNT OF REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE. Prohibits the total amount of repayment assistance distributed by the board under this subchapter from exceeding the total amount of gifts and grants accepted by the board for repayment assistance, dental school tuition set aside under Section 61.910, legislative appropriations for repayment assistance, and other funds available to the board for purposes of this subchapter. Sec. 61.910. DENTAL SCHOOL TUITION SET ASIDE FOR CERTAIN LOAN REPAYMENTS. Requires the governing board of each institution of higher education to set aside two percent of tuition charges for resident students enrolled in a degree program for training dentists. Requires the amount set aside to 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 dentist under this subchapter. Provides that Section 403.095(b) (Use of Dedicated Revenue), Government Code, does not apply to the amount set aside by this section. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.