Transfers any unspent funds from the regents health care professional opportunity scholarship program to the regents physician loan forgiveness program and provides direction to distribute these funds to meet the same purposes as originally intended.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2526
SPONSOR: Pretlow TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to
funding of physician loan forgiveness programs
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Amends Section 605 of the Education
Law:
-Subdivision 9 to add a new paragraph g. to assign a priority to the use
of unspent funds from the regents health care professional opportunity
scholarship program by providing that such funds are to be directed to
physicians who are economically disadvantaged and/or members of an
underrepresented minority, with service payback in places where physi-
cians shortages exist;
-Subdivision 10, to amend the opening paragraph, to provide that unused
scholarship funds from subdivision 9 are to be applied to the regents
physician loan forgiveness program.
JUSTIFICATION: Currently, unspent funds from the regents' health care
professional opportunity scholarships are permitted to be applied to
non-health care regents professional scholarships. This measure would
keep those funds allocated to a health care purpose by requiring them to
be applied to the regents physician loan forgiveness program.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2009/2010 A3721 referred to higher educa-
tion'
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately, provided that
the amendments to subdivisions 9 and 10 of section 605 of the education
law, made by sections one and two of this act, shall not affect the
termination of such program and scholarship respectively pursuant to
section 17 of chapter 31 of the laws of 1985, as amended, and such
program and scholarship shall terminate therewith.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2526
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 16, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PRETLOW -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to funding of physician
loan forgiveness programs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 9 of section 605 of the education law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph g to read as follows:
3 g. Use of excess funds from the regents health care professional
4 opportunity scholarships. Any funds applied toward this program from
5 unused allocations directed toward the regents health care professional
6 opportunity scholarships, pursuant to subdivision ten of this section,
7 shall be distributed in accordance with regents rules that shall give
8 priority to physicians who are economically disadvantaged and/or members
9 of an underrepresented minority group. Awardees shall provide service
10 payback in an area designated as having a shortage of physicians, but
11 not limited to, primary care services.
12 § 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision 10 of section 605 of the
13 education law, as added by chapter 31 of the laws of 1985, is amended to
14 read as follows:
15 Regents health care professional opportunity scholarships shall be
16 awarded annually to students who are beginning or engaged in an approved
17 program in medicine or dentistry and who are economically disadvantaged
18 and/or members of an underrepresented minority group, provided, however,
19 that to the extent that regents health care professional opportunity
20 scholarships are not awarded, such [scholarships shall be awarded as
21 regents professional opportunity scholarships] remaining funding shall
22 be applied to the regents physician loan forgiveness program. These
23 scholarships shall be classified and allocated in accordance with
24 regents rules.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05541-01-5
A. 2526 2
1 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately, provided that the amend-
2 ments to subdivisions 9 and 10 of section 605 of the education law, made
3 by sections one and two of this act, shall not affect the termination of
4 such program and scholarship respectively pursuant to section 17 of
5 chapter 31 of the laws of 1985, as amended, and such program and schol-
6 arship shall terminate therewith.
