Senate Bill No. 304
(By Senators Oliverio, Foster, Stollings and Prezioso)
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[Introduced February 19, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18C-3-4, relating to
paying fifteen percent of graduate nursing students' federal
loans if they qualify for the federally run Nurse Faculty Loan
Program and teach in West Virginia for four years after
graduation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §18C-3-4, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. HEALTH PROFESSIONALS STUDENT LOAN PROGRAMS.
§18C-3-4. Payment of graduate nursing student loans.
(a)
Legislative findings.-- The Legislature finds that there
is a critical need to increase the number of qualified nursing
faculty in West Virginia.
(b)
Establishment of special account.-- There is hereby
established a special revolving fund account under the Higher
Education Policy Commission in the State Treasury to be known as
the "Graduate Nursing Student Fund" that is used to carry out the
purposes of this section. The fund is to consist of one or more of
the following: (1) Appropriations as may be provided by the
Legislature; or (2) amounts that may become available from other
sources. Balances remaining in the fund at the end of the fiscal
year do not expire or revert to the general revenue. All costs
associated with the administration of this section are paid from
the Graduate Nursing Student Fund under the direction of the vice
chancellor for health sciences.
(c)
Eligibility requirements.-- All graduate nursing students
enrolled in the federal Nurse Faculty Loan Program, authorized
under Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act, Section 846 (42
U.S.C 297n-1), will have the remaining amount, fifteen percent, of
their loan paid by the state if that individual serves as a
full-time nurse faculty, at a school of nursing, in the State of
West Virginia for four consecutive years.
NOTE: The purpose of this section is to
pay fifteen percent of
graduate nursing students federal loans if they qualify for the federally run Nurse Faculty Loan Program and teach in West Virginia
for four years after graduation.
§18C-3-4 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.