Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 96 Part 1.djvu/753

 PUBLIC LAW 97-251—SEPT. 8, 1982

Public Law 97-251 97th Congress

96 STAT. 711

An Act

To amend title 38, United States Code, to enhance recruitment and retention by the Veterans' Administration of nurses and certain other health-care personnel, to improve the Veterans' Administration Health Professional Scholarship Program and certain aspects of other Veterans' Administration health-care programs, and to extend certain expiring Veterans' Administration health-care programs; and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SHORT TITLE; R E F E R E N C E S TO TITLE 38, UNITED STATES CODE

1. (a) This Act may be cited as the "Veterans' Administration Health-Care Programs Improvement and Extension Act of 1982". (b) Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or other provision of title 38, United States Code. SECTION

Sept. 8, 1982 [H.R. 6350]

Veterans' Administration Health-Care Programs Improvement and Extension Act of 1982. 38 USC 101 note.

PAY AND WORK SCHEDULES FOR NURSES AND CERTAIN OTHER HEALTHCARE PERSONNEL

SEC. 2. (a) Paragraph (10) of section 4107(e) is amended to read as follows: "(10)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law but subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C) of this paragraph, if the Administrator determines it to be necessary in order to obtain or retain the services of nurses, the Administrator— "(i) may increase the rates of additional pay authorized under paragraphs (2) through (8) of this subsection; and "(ii) may extend the period for which additional pay authorized under paragraph (3) of this subsection is paid to include part or all of a tour of duty any part of which is within the period commencing at midnight Friday and ending at midnight Saturday. "(B) An increase under subparagraph (A)(i) of this paragraph in rates of additional pay (i) may be made at any specific Veterans' Administration health-care facility in order to provide nurses, or any category of nurses, at such facility additional pay in an amount competitive with, but not exceeding, the amount of the same type of pay that is paid to the same category of nurses at non-Federal health-care facilities in the same geographic area as such Veterans' Administration health-care facility (based upon a reasonably representative sampling of such non-Federal facilities), and (ii) may be made on a nationwide, local, or other geographic beisis if the Administrator finds that such an increase is justified on the basis of a review of the need for such increase (based upon a reasonably

38 USC 4107.

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