EXPLANATION

The bill would provide assistance in the construction and renovation of schools of veterinary medicine by making these schools eligible for matching grants to pay up to two-thirds of the cost of new teaching facilities, and up to one-half the cost of projects for renovation of teaching facilities, at schools of veterinary medicine.

The reported bill authorizes establishment of student loan funds at schools of veterinary medicine. Loans may not exceed $2,500 for any academic year, and are repayable over the 10-year period which begins 3 years after the student ceases to pursue a full-time course of study.

AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPIATION

H.R. 3348 as passed by the House of Representatives did not provide for any increase in the authorization for appropriations under the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act, but provided for colleges of veterinary medicine to compete for construction funds and student loans with medical schools, dental schools, osteopathy schools, podiatry schools. pharmacy schools, and optometry schools. The Committee realizes that great shortages of these health personnel exist at present and will continue to exist in the forseeable future. For this reason, the appropriation authorizations for colleges of veterinary medicine are separately identified.

The additional authorization for appropriations is as follows:

Hearings on H.R. 3348 were conducted by the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare on October 6, 1966. Testimony or statements favorable to the legislation were presented by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association, and the National Association of State Universities and LandGrant Colleges, and by representatives of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

SECTION-BY-SECTION EXPLANATION

The bill is in three sections.

The first section contains a short title stating that the act may be cited as "The Veterinary Medical Education Act of 1966."

Section 2. Subsection (a) of this section amends section 720 of the Public Health Service Act to include schools of veterinary medicine among the schools which are eligible for grants for the construction of teaching facilities and authorizes a total of $51 million in appropriations over the three fiscal years 1967-69.

Subsection (b) of this section amends section 721 of the Public Health Service Act to provide that the same requirements with respect to applications from other health profession schools shall apply to applications from schools of veterinary medicine.

Subsection (c) of this section amends section 724 of the Public Health Service Act to insert a definition of schools of veterinary medicine.

Subsection (d) of section 2 amends section 725 of the Public Health Service Act to provide that a veterinarian shall be a member of the National Advisory Council on Education for Health Professions, Subsection (c) authorizes a total of $3 million in appropriations to finance student loans for students of veterinary medicine.

which advises the Surgeon General with respect to the administration of the program.

Section 3 of the bill amends the appropriate sections of part C of title VII of the Public Health Service Act to provide that schools of veterinary medicine shall be covered by the existing health professions student loan program in exactly the same manner as other health professions schools are covered under that program.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with subsection (4) of rule XXIX of the Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

TITLE VII-HEALTH RESEARCH AND TEACHING FACILITIES AND TRAINING OF PROFESSIONAL HEALTH PERSONNEL

AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 720. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated $480,000,000 for the three fiscal years in the period beginning July 1, 1966, and ending June 30, 1969, of which not more than $160,000,000 may be available for grants before July 1, 1967, and not more than $320,000,000 may be available for grants before July 1, 1968, for

(1) grants to assist in the construction of new teaching facilities for the training of physicians, pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, or professional public health personnel;

(2) grants to assist in the construction of new teaching facilities for the training of dentists; and

(3) grants to assist in the replacement or rehabilitation of existing teaching facilities for the training of physicians, pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, professional public health personnel, or dentists.

Sums so appropriated shall remain available until expended.

In addition to the sums authorized to be appropriated by the preceding sentence, there are authorized to be appropriated $17,000,000 for each fiscal year, commencing with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1967, and ending with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1969, which sums shall be available for carrying out clauses (1) and (3) of the preceding sentence solely with respect to veterinarians.

APPROVAL OF APPLICATIONS

SEC. 721. (a) The Surgeon General may from time to time set dates (not earlier than in the fiscal year preceding the year for which a grant is sought) by which applications for grants under this part for any fiscal year must be filed.

(b)(1) To be eligible to apply for a grant to assist in the construction of any facility under this part, the applicant must be (A) a public or other nonprofit school of medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or public health and (B) accredited by a recognized body or bodies approved for such purpose by the Commissioner of Education, except that a new school which (by reason of no, or an insufficient, period of operation) is not, at the time of application for a grant to construct a facility under this part, eligible for accreditation by such a recognized body or bodies, shall be deemed accredited for purposes of this part if the Commissioner of Education finds, after consultation with the appropriate accreditation body or bodies, that there is reasonable assurance that the school will meet the accreditation standards of such body or bodies: (i) prior to the beginning of the academic year following the normal graduation date of the first entering class in such school or (ii) if later, upon completion of the project for which assistance is requested and other projects (if any) under construction or planned and to be commenced within a reasonable time.

(c) A grant under this part may be made only if the application therefor is approved by the Surgeon General upon his determination that

(1) the applicant meets the eligibility conditions set forth in subsection (b);

(2) the application contains or is supported by reasonable assurances that (A) for not less than ten years after completion of construction, the facility will be used for the purposes of the teaching for which it is to be constructed, (B) sufficient funds will be available to meet the non-Federal share of the cost of constructing the facility, (C) sufficient funds will be available, when construction is completed, for effective use of the facility for the training for which it is being constructed, and (D) in the case of an application for construction to expand the training capacity of an existing school of medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or public health, the first-year enrollment at such school during the first full school year after the completion of the construction and for each of the next nine school years thereafter will exceed the highest first-year enrollment at such school for any of the five full school years preceding the year in which the application is

made by at least 5 per centum of such highest first-year enrollment, or by five students, whichever is greater, and the requirements of this clause (D) shall be in addition to the requirements of section 771(b) of this Act, where applicable;

(3) (A) in the case of an application for a grant from funds appropriated pursuant to clause (1) of section 720, such application is for aid in the construction of a new school of medicine, osteopathy, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or public health, or construction which will expand the training capacity of an existing school of medicine, osteopathy, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or public health, (B) in the case of an application for a grant from funds appropriated pursuant to clause (2) of such section, such application is for aid in the construction of a new school of dentistry or construction which will expand the capacity of an existing school of dentistry, or (C) in the case of an application for a grant from funds appropriated pursuant to clause (3) of such section, such application is for aid in construction which will replace or rehabilitate facilities of, or used by, an existing school of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, osteopathy, or public health which are so obsolete as to require the school to curtail substantially either its enrollment or the quality of the training provided.

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(d) In considering applications for grants, the Council and the Surgeon General shall take into account

(1) (A) in the case of a project for a new school or for expansion of the facilities of, or used by, an existing school, the relative effectiveness of the proposed facilities in expanding the capacity for the training of first-year students of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or osteopathy (or, in the case of a two-year school which is expanding to a four-year school, expanding the capacity for four-year training of students in the field), or for the training of professional public health personnel, and in promoting an equitable geographical distribution of opportunities for such training (giving due consideration to population, available physicians, pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, veterinarians, dentists, or professional public health personnel, and available resources in various areas of the Nation for training such persons); or

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DEFINITIONS

SEC. 724. As used in this part and parts C, E, and F

(1) The terms "construction" and "cost of construction" include (A) the construction of new buildings, the expansion of existing buildings, and remodeling, replacement, renovation, major repair (to the extent permitted by regulations), or alteration of existing buildings, including architects' fees, but not including the cost of acquisition of land or offsite improvements, and (B) init al equipment of new buildings and of the expanded, remodeled, repaired, renovated, or altered part of existing buildings; but such term

shall not include the construction or cost of construction of so much of any facility as is used or is to be used for sectarian instruction or as a place for religious worship;

(2) The term "nonprofit school" means a school owned and operated by one or more corporations or associations no part of the net earnings of which inures, or may lawfully inure, to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual;

(3) The term "affiliated hospital" means a hospital, as defined in section 631, which is not owned by, but is affiliated (to the extent and in the manner determined in accordance with regulations) with, a school of medicine or school of osteopathy which meets the eligibility conditions set forth in section 721(b)(1);

(4) The terms "school of medicine", "school of dentistry", "school of osteopathy", "school of pharmacy", "school of optometry", "school of podiatry", "school of veterinary medicine", and "school of public health" mean a school which provides training leading, respectively, to a degree of doctor of medicine, a degree of doctor of dentistry or an equivalent degree, a degree of doctor of osteopathy, a degree of bachelor of science in pharmacy or doctor of pharmacy, a degree of doctor of optometry or an equivalent degree, a degree of doctor of podiatry or doctor of surgical chiropody, a degree of doctor of veterinary medicine or an equivalent degree, and a graduate degree in public health; and

(5) The term "school of nursing" means a department, school, division, or other administrative unit, in a college or university, which provides, primarily or exclusively, a program of education in professional nursing and allied subjects leading to the degree of bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, bachelor of nursing, or other baccalaureate degree of equivalent rank; or to a graduate degree in nursing.

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS

SEC. 725. (a) There is hereby established in the Public Health Service a National Advisory Council on Education for Health Professions, consisting of the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, who shall be Chairman, and the Commissioner of Education, both of whom shall be ex officio members, and [sixteen] seventeen members appointed by the Secretary without regard to the civil service laws. Four of the appointed members shall be selected from the general public and twelve shall be selected from among leading authorities in the fields of higher education, at least [eight] nine of whom are particularly concerned with training in medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or the public health professions. In selecting persons for appointment to the Council, consideration shall be given to such factors, among others, as (1) experience in the planning, constructing, financing, or administration of schools of medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, pharmacy, optometry, podiatry, veterinary medicine, or schools of public health, and (2) familiarity with the need for teaching facilities in all areas of the Nation.