Budget Subcommittees Allocate $3 Million for
Steve Thompson Loan Repayment Program
[Posted 05/26/05]

The Assembly and Senate budget subcommittees both allocated $3 million in tobacco tax money to fund the Steve Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program for 2006-2006. Although the joint Senate-Assembly budget conference committee will need to reconcile some minor differences in the Assembly and Senate allocations, the funding is expected to go to the Governor’s desk as part of the legislative budget package.

CMA continues to work with the legislature and the administration to identify a permanent funding source for this very important program.

The loan repayment program, created under a CMA-sponsored bill in 2002, was renamed last year in memory of Thompson, CMA’s longtime vice president of government relations. In addition to earning a salary, physicians selected for the program will be eligible for medical school loan repayment grants of up to $105,000 in exchange for a three-year service commitment in a medically underserved area of the state.

Contact: Lisa Folberg, 916/444-5532 or lfolberg@cmanet.org.