Bill Text: NY S05339 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for dentist loan repayment and practice support for dentists who agree to practice in an underserved area in the state.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-20 - REFERRED TO HEALTH [S05339 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-S05339-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5339 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. FAHY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to providing for dentist loan repayment and practice support The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 5-a of section 2807-m of the public health law 2 is amended by adding two new paragraphs (c-1) and (d-1) to read as 3 follows: 4 (c-1) Dentist loan repayment program. Up to one million two hundred 5 thousand dollars each state fiscal year for the period April first, two 6 thousand twenty-five through March thirty-first, two thousand twenty- 7 eight, shall be set aside and reserved by the commissioner from the 8 regional pools established pursuant to subdivision two of this section 9 and shall be available for purposes of dentist loan repayment in accord- 10 ance with subdivision ten-a of this section. Notwithstanding any 11 contrary provision of this section, sections one hundred twelve and one 12 hundred sixty-three of the state finance law, or any other contrary 13 provision of law, such funding shall be allocated regionally with one- 14 third of available funds going to New York city and two-thirds of avail- 15 able funds going to the rest of the state and shall be distributed in a 16 manner to be determined by the commissioner without a competitive bid or 17 request for proposal process as follows: 18 (i) Funding shall first be awarded to repay loans of up to eight 19 dentists who train in general or pediatric dentistry in teaching general 20 hospitals, including in community clinic settings owned by or affiliated 21 with such hospitals, and who enter and remain in general or pediatric 22 dentistry practices in underserved communities, as determined by the 23 commissioner. 24 (ii) After distributions in accordance with subparagraph (i) of this 25 paragraph, all remaining funds shall be awarded to repay loans of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05960-01-5S. 5339 2 1 dentists who enter and remain in general or pediatric dentistry prac- 2 tices in underserved communities, as determined by the commissioner, 3 including but not limited to dentists working in general hospitals, 4 other health care facilities or qualified private practices. 5 (iii) In no case shall less than fifty percent of the funds available 6 pursuant to this paragraph be distributed in accordance with subpara- 7 graphs (i) and (ii) of this paragraph to dentists identified by general 8 hospitals. 9 (d-1) Dentist practice support. Up to three million dollars for each 10 fiscal year for the period April first, two thousand twenty-five through 11 March thirty-first, two thousand twenty-eight, shall be set aside and 12 reserved by the commissioner from the regional pools established pursu- 13 ant to subdivision two of this section and shall be available for 14 purposes of dentist practice support. Notwithstanding any contrary 15 provision of this section, sections one hundred twelve and one hundred 16 sixty-three of the state finance law, or any other contrary provision of 17 law, such funding shall be allocated regionally with one-third of avail- 18 able funds going to New York city and two-thirds of available funds 19 going to the rest of the state and shall be distributed in a manner to 20 be determined by the commissioner without a competitive bid or request 21 for proposal process as follows: 22 (i) Preference in funding eight awards, to support costs incurred by 23 dentists trained in general or pediatric dentistry in teaching general 24 hospitals, including in community clinic settings owned by or affiliated 25 with such hospitals, who thereafter establish or join practices in 26 underserved communities, as determined by the commissioner. 27 (ii) After distributions in accordance with subparagraph (i) of this 28 paragraph, all remaining funds shall be awarded to dentists to support 29 the cost of establishing or joining practices in underserved communi- 30 ties, as determined by the commissioner, and to hospitals and other 31 health care providers to recruit new dentists to provide services in 32 underserved communities, as determined by the commissioner. 33 (iii) In no case shall less than fifty percent of the funds available 34 pursuant to this paragraph be distributed to general hospitals in 35 accordance with subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this paragraph. 36 § 2. Section 2807-m of the public health law is amended by adding two 37 new subdivisions 10-a and 13 to read as follows: 38 10-a. Dentist loan repayment program. (a) Beginning April first, two 39 thousand twenty-five, the commissioner is authorized, within amounts 40 available pursuant to subdivision five-a of this section, to make loan 41 repayment awards to general or pediatric dentists or other dentistry 42 specialties determined by the commissioner to be in short supply, 43 licensed to practice dentistry in New York state, who agree to practice 44 for at least three years in an underserved area, as determined by the 45 commissioner. 46 (b) Loan repayment awards made to a dentist pursuant to paragraph (a) 47 of this subdivision shall not exceed the total qualifying outstanding 48 debt of the dentist from student loans to cover tuition and other 49 related educational expenses, made by or guaranteed by the federal or 50 state government, or made by a lending or educational institution 51 approved under title IV of the federal higher education act. Loan 52 repayment awards shall be used solely to repay such outstanding debt. 53 (c) In the event that a three-year commitment pursuant to the agree- 54 ment referenced in paragraph (a) of this subdivision is not fulfilled, 55 the recipient shall be responsible for repayment in amounts which shall 56 be calculated in accordance with the formula set forth in subdivisionS. 5339 3 1 (b) of section two hundred fifty-four-o of title forty-two of the United 2 States Code, as amended. 3 (d) The commissioner is authorized to apply any funds available for 4 purposes of paragraph (a) of this subdivision for use as matching funds 5 for federal grants for the purpose of assisting states in operating loan 6 repayment programs pursuant to section three hundred thirty-eight I of 7 the public health service act. 8 (e) The commissioner may postpone, change or waive the service obli- 9 gation and repayment amounts set forth in paragraphs (a) and (c), 10 respectively of this subdivision in individual circumstances where there 11 is compelling need or hardship. 12 (f) (i) When a dentist is not actually practicing in an underserved 13 area, such dentist shall be deemed to be practicing in an underserved 14 area if such dentist practices in a facility or dentist's office that 15 primarily serves an underserved population as determined by the commis- 16 sioner, without regard to whether the population or the facility or 17 dentist's office is located in an underserved area. 18 (ii) In making criteria and determinations as to whether an area is an 19 underserved area or whether a facility or dentist's office primarily 20 serves an underserved population, the commissioner may make separate 21 criteria and determinations for different specialties. 22 13. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, applications 23 submitted for the dentist loan repayment program pursuant to paragraph 24 (c-1) of subdivision five-a of this section and subdivision ten-a of 25 this section or the dentist practice support program pursuant to para- 26 graph (d-1) of subdivision five-a of this section, shall be subject to 27 the following: 28 (a) Awards shall be made from the total funding available for new 29 awards under the dentist loan repayment program and the dentist practice 30 support program, with neither program limited to a specific funding 31 amount within such total funding available; 32 (b) An applicant may apply for an award for either dentist loan repay- 33 ment or dentist practice support, but not both; 34 (c) An applicant shall either: (i) agree to practice for three years 35 in an underserved area and each award shall provide up to fifty thousand 36 dollars for each of the three years; or (ii) agree to practice as a 37 dentist engaged in private practice in an underserved area and each 38 award shall provide up to seventy thousand dollars for each of the three 39 years; and 40 (d) To the extent practicable, awards shall be timed to be of use for 41 job offers made to applicants. 42 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to 43 have been in full force and effect on and after April 1, 2025.
