Bill > S3495

Introduced Session

This bill establishes the Reproductive Health Care Professional Loan Redemption Program in the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA). The loan redemption program is to provide for the redemption of a portion of a program participant's State, federal, or commercial student loans in exchange for the program participant's service at a site providing reproductive health care services, as approved by the authority. Under the bill, the sites may include sites operated by a nonprofit organizations, hospitals, clinics, physicians' offices, and other facilities providing reproductive health care services. An approved site under the bill includes sites providing abortion care. To be eligible to participate in the program, an applicant is required to: (1) be a resident of the State; (2) be employed as an eligible reproductive health care professional, defined as a person who is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized to provide health care services and who is providing reproductive health care services in the State; and (3) submit an application in a manner determined by the executive director of the HESAA. In selecting program participants, the executive director is required to give preference to applicants employed as an eligible reproductive health care professional in a county facing a shortage of reproductive health care professionals. The bill stipulates that a selected program participant is to enter into a written contract with the authority. The contract is to specify the duration of the program participant's required service and the total amount of student loans to be redeemed in return for the service. Under the bill, loan redemption is to amount to 18 percent of a program participant's qualifying loan amounts in return for one full year of service at an approved site, an additional 26 percent for a second full year of service, an additional 28 percent for a third full year of service, and an additional 28 percent for a fourth full year of service. The total loan redemption for a program participant is not to exceed $200,000. Finally, the bill stipulates that a reproductive health care professional, who is participating in the National Health Services Corps Loan Repayment Program or any other loan redemption program administered by the authority, is not eligible to simultaneously participate in the Reproductive Health Care Professional Loan Redemption Program.

Committee Categories

Teresa Ruiz (D)*,  Nick Scutari (D)*,  Renee Burgess (D),  Angela Mcknight (D),  Andrew Zwicker (D), 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee (on 06/24/2024)

Official Document