Transfers any unspent funds from the regents health care professional opportunity scholarship program to the regents physician loan forgiveness program; provides direction to distribute these funds to meet the same purposes as originally intended.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4695
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 22, 2023
___________
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.
LBD09473-01-3
A. 4695 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.
