ARIZONA STATE SENATE

RESEARCH STAFF

CHERIE STONE

LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

Telephone: (602) 926 -3171

TO:                  MEMBERS OF THE SENATE

HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

DATE:            February 18, 2019

SUBJECT:      Strike everything amendment to S.B. 1061, relating to medical school; primary care; appropriation

Purpose

Appropriates monies to the University of Arizona's Health Sciences Center (UAHSC) to provide a program that covers the costs of medical school education for students who meet certain criteria.

Background

The UAHSC includes both the Phoenix and Tucson Colleges of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy and the College of Public Health. UAHSC also currently operates a medical campus in Phoenix that opened in FY 2006. According to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the UAHSC had 5,792 full-time equivalent non-medical students and approximately 819 medical students at its campuses in the Fall of 2018.

S.B. 1061 appropriates $21,600,000 from the state General Fund in FY 2020 to UAHSC to develop a program to pay the total cost of tuition for medical school students who meet prescribed criteria.

Provisions

1. Appropriates $21,600,000 from the state General Fund in FY 2020 to UAHSC to develop an ongoing program to pay the total cost of each student's medical school education if the student agrees to practice primary care in underserved rural communities in Arizona for three years.

2. Exempts the appropriation from provisions relating to the lapsing of appropriations.

3. Becomes effective on the general effective date.