Sponsored by:
Senator LATHAM TIVER
District 8 (Atlantic and Burlington)
Senator BRIAN P. STACK
District 33 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes veterinary medicine loan redemption program for certain veterinarians who work in underserved areas for five years; annually appropriates $500,000.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning loan redemption for certain veterinarians and supplementing chapter 71C of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. There is established a Veterinary Medicine Loan Redemption Program within the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority to provide for the redemption of eligible qualifying loan expenses of program participants who work in the State for five years of service at an approved site in the State.
2. As used in this act:
"Approved site" means a site located within a State designated veterinary underserved area or within five miles of a State designated veterinary underserved area.
"Authority" means the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority.
"Eligible qualifying loan expenses" means the cumulative outstanding balance of student education loans, borrowed from a financial institution or a governmental or nonprofit agency that engages in student education loan lending, covering the cost of attendance in an undergraduate degree program of an institution of higher education and a graduate degree program of an accredited school of veterinary medicine, including the following: tuition; educational expenses and fees; and room and board. Interest paid or due on qualifying loans that an applicant has taken out for use in paying the cost of attendance in an undergraduate degree program of an institution of higher education and a graduate degree program of an accredited school of veterinary medicine shall be considered eligible for reimbursement under the program.
"Executive director" means the executive director of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority.
Full-time means a minimum of 40 hours per week for a minimum of 45 weeks per year.
"Large animal veterinary care" means a type of specialty veterinary care that focuses on the health and productivity of large animals and farm animals, exclusive of dogs and cats and inclusive of cows, horses, goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, and other livestock.
"Program" means the Veterinary Medicine Loan Redemption Program established pursuant to this act.
"Program participant" means a veterinarian who contracts with the authority to engage in the practice of veterinary medicine at an approved site in exchange for the redemption of eligible qualifying loan expenses provided under the program.
"State designated veterinary underserved area" means a geographic area designated in this State by the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the New Jersey Horse Council, the New Jersey Association of Equine Practitioners, the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association, and the New Jersey Farm Bureau, on the basis of a large animal veterinarian shortage affecting the area. The secretary shall annually establish a list of State designated veterinary underserved areas and transmit the list of State designated veterinary underserved areas to the authority by January 1 of each year, except that the first list shall be transmitted not later than 90 days after the effective date of this act.
"Total and permanent disability" means a physical or mental disability that is expected to continue indefinitely or result in death and renders a participant in the program unable to perform that person's service obligation, as determined by the executive director or the executive directors designee.
3. a. To be eligible to participate in the program, a program participant shall be a:
(1) resident of the State; and
(2) veterinarian licensed, or eligible to be licensed, to practice in this State as a veterinarian.
b. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a program participant from initiating the programs application process and identifying and committing to employment at an approved site prior to the establishment of State residency or being issued a State veterinary license. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a program participant, who otherwise meets the eligibility requirements enumerated in subsection a. of this section, from initiating the programs application process if the applicant sufficiently demonstrates that the applicant intends to establish a veterinary practice that will qualify as an approved site.
4. a. In administering the program, the authority or its designated agent shall contract only with a veterinarian.
b. The contract shall require a program participant to serve full-time for at least a five-year period at an approved site in the service of a veterinary medicine practice, of which at least one-third of the overall activity at that practice is dedicated to the protection and enhancement of large animal veterinary care. The contract shall also require that, in order to receive redemption of a loan under the loan program, a program participant dedicate no less than 75 percent of the participants work at the approved site to large animal veterinary care.
c. The contract shall
specify the applicant's dates of required service, the total amount of eligible
qualifying loan expenses to be redeemed by the State in return for service, and
the schedule of payments for the term of the contract.
5. a. Maximum redemption of a loan under the loan redemption program shall be 100 percent of the eligible qualifying loan expenses for full-time service for five years of service, except that the amount of qualifying loans which may be redeemed for a participant under the program shall not exceed $30,000 in any year.
b. No amount of loan redemption shall be provided for service that is less than full-time and for service in which less than 75 percent of the participants work at an approved site is dedicated to large animal veterinary care. No amount of eligible qualifying loan expenses shall be redeemed for services performed for less than a full year.
c. The loan redemption shall be reimbursed as follows:
(1) first year of service, 12 percent of principal and interest;
(2) second year of service, 20 percent of principal and interest;
(3) third year of service, 20 percent of principal and interest;
(4) fourth year of service, 24 percent of principal and interest; and
(5) fifth year of service, 24 percent of principal and interest.
6. The executive director or the executive directors designee, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall match program participants to State designated veterinary underserved areas. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a program applicant or participant from identifying an approved site for consideration and approval of the program.
7. The executive director or the executive directors designee shall select the program participants from among those applicants who meet the eligibility criteria of the program, subject to available funds and available approved sites. The executive director or the executive directors designee shall accord priority to applicants in the following manner:
a. first, to any applicant who is willing to fill openings at an approved site with the most significant veterinary medici