Florida Senate - 2025 SB 1648
By Senator Davis
5-01509A-25 20251648__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the First in Your Family Florida
3 Medical School Scholarship and Grant Program; creating
4 s. 1009.899, F.S.; establishing the First in Your
5 Family Florida Medical School Scholarship and Grant
6 Program within the Department of Education for
7 specified purposes; requiring the department to award
8 scholarships to certain students enrolled in specified
9 schools or programs; providing requirements for such
10 scholarships; requiring the department to establish
11 specified criteria for the program; authorizing the
12 department to provide grants to certain postsecondary
13 educational institutions or nonprofit organizations to
14 create and implement nontraditional mentoring services
15 or support programs for specified purposes; providing
16 a maximum grant amount through the program; providing
17 an appropriation; providing an effective date.
18
19 WHEREAS, Florida’s population is growing and, according to
20 the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government
21 Accountability, there will be an anticipated shortfall of 18,000
22 physicians by 2035, and
23 WHEREAS, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and
24 Government Accountability spent more than a year collecting data
25 related to the state’s graduate medical education programs and
26 concluded that “Florida’s physician workforce is inadequate to
27 meet projected demand,” and
28 WHEREAS, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and
29 Government Accountability reported that the shortage of
30 physicians in this state could affect citizens’ access to health
31 care if current trends persist, with a supply of physicians to
32 meet only 77 percent of the projected demand for physicians in
33 Florida by 2035, and
34 WHEREAS, there were approximately 835,000 practicing
35 doctors in the United States in 2023, according to the United
36 States Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the United States is
37 currently experiencing a shortage of practicing doctors because
38 demand exceeds supply, NOW THEREFORE,
39
40 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
41
42 Section 1. Section 1009.899, Florida Statutes, is created
43 to read:
44 1009.899 The First in Your Family Florida Medical School
45 Scholarship and Grant Program.—
46 (1) There is established the First in Your Family Florida
47 Medical School Scholarship and Grant Program to be administered
48 by the Department of Education to provide scholarships to
49 students who are the first in their families to be enrolled in
50 an in-state or out-of-state accredited medical school or
51 approved physician assistant program and to create
52 nontraditional mentoring services or support programs for
53 certain students.
54 (2) The department shall award scholarships to students who
55 are the first in their families to be enrolled in an in-state or
56 out-of-state accredited medical school or approved physician
57 assistant program that will lead to licensure under chapter 458
58 or chapter 459. The scholarship amount shall be determined by
59 the department. Priority shall be given to students who are
60 enrolled in an accredited medical school in the state and who
61 graduated from a public or private postsecondary educational
62 institution in the state in the last 5 years. The department
63 shall establish criteria for the program, which must include:
64 (a) Student eligibility criteria, including, but not
65 limited to, requirements that the applicant:
66 1. Be the first in his or her family to be enrolled in an
67 in-state or out-of-state accredited medical school or approved
68 physician assistant program.
69 2. Be a United States citizen.
70 (b) Program and scholarship award requirements, including,
71 but not limited to, that:
72 1. Awards must be income-based for students whose annual
73 household income is less than $150,000.
74 2. Two-thirds of the scholarships that are available and
75 awarded through the program must be to students who are enrolled
76 in an in-state medical school or physician assistant program at
77 a public postsecondary educational institution.
78 3. One-third of the scholarships that are available and
79 awarded through the program must be to students who are enrolled
80 in an out-of-state medical school or physician assistant program
81 at a public or private postsecondary educational institution.
82 4. Preference shall be given to students enrolled at in
83 state accredited medical schools and approved physician
84 assistant programs at public educational institutions.
85 5. Scholarship award funds shall be dispersed as follows:
86 a. Fifty percent of the total scholarship award shall be
87 paid after September 1 of each year when the enrollment of the
88 student has been verified.
89 b. Twenty five percent of the total scholarship award shall
90 be paid in January of each year.
91 c. Twenty five percent of the total scholarship award shall
92 be paid in June of each year.
93 6. A scholarship may be awarded and renewed for a total of
94 4 years, based upon proof of enrollment or continued enrollment
95 in an accredited medical school or approved physician assistant
96 program.
97 7. A student receiving an award through the program may use
98 up to $5,000 of the scholarship for emergency funds for students
99 experiencing an emergency or a financial crisis, including, but
100 not limited to, issues relating to a student’s car, housing, and
101 health care.
102 8. A student receiving an award through the program may use
103 up to $2,500 of the scholarship for fees, kits, coats, clothing,
104 medical bag, blood pressure kits, drug testing, or disability
105 insurance.
106 (3) The department may award grants to public postsecondary
107 educational institutions or nonprofit organizations under s.
108 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code to create
109 and implement nontraditional mentoring services or support
110 programs to assist students who are enrolled in an accredited
111 medical school or approved physician assistant program at a
112 public educational institution in the state. A grant awarded
113 under this subsection may not exceed $100,000.
114 Section 2. For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and each fiscal
115 year thereafter, the sum of $10,000,000 in recurring funds is
116 appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the Department of
117 Education for the purpose of implementing the First in Your
118 Family Florida Medical School Scholarship and Grant Program.
119 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.