Senate Bill 2059

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE AN INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR TAXPAYERS WHO ARE PHYSICIANS THAT PROVIDE A PROGRAM OF PERSONALIZED INSTRUCTION, TRAINING AND SUPERVISION REPRESENTING A FULL CLINICAL ROTATION TO STUDENTS MATRICULATING AT THE GRADUATE LEVEL AT A MISSISSIPPI INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION ACCREDITED BY THE LIAISON COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL EDUCATION OR THE AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION COMMISSION ON OSTEOPATHIC COLLEGE ACCREDITATION, AND WHO ARE NOT OTHERWISE COMPENSATED FOR PROVIDING SUCH PROGRAM; TO PROVIDE THE REQUIREMENTS THAT MUST BE MET TO QUALIFY FOR THE CREDIT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) As used in this section:

(a) "Preceptor" means a physician, who:

(i) Has a faculty appointment at a Mississippi institution of higher education accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation and does not receive compensation for such appointment; and

(ii) Personally provides a minimum of one (1) and not more that ten (10) preceptorships to one or more students from a Mississippi institution of higher education accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

(b) "Preceptorship" means a mentoring experience in which a preceptor provides a program of personalized instruction, training, and supervision representing a full clinical rotation that is approximately one (1) month in duration to a student at a Mississippi institution of higher education accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation as required to enable the student to obtain his or her professional degree. The one-month clinical rotation must be completed within one (1) academic term or semester, but it is not a requirement of this section that the rotation be completed over any particular number of consecutive days but shall constitute a minimum of one hundred sixty (160) hours of community based instruction in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, or surgery under the guidance of a community based preceptor.

(c) "Student" means an individual matriculating at the graduate level at a Mississippi institution of higher education accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

(2) A taxpayer who is a preceptor shall be allowed a credit against the taxes imposed by this chapter in the amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for each month that the taxpayer provides a preceptorship during the tax year in which the credit is claimed.

(3) The Mississippi institution of higher education accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation to which the preceptor has a faculty appointment shall:

(a) Administer the preceptorship and certify to the Department of Revenue that the taxpayer is qualified to receive the credit authorized by this section, the number of months that the taxpayer provided a preceptorship and such other information as the Department of Revenue shall require.

(b) Provide the taxpayer a copy of the certification provided for in paragraph (a) of this subsection. The taxpayer shall include the certification with each income tax return in which the credit is claimed.

SECTION 2. Section 1 of this act shall be codified in Chapter 7, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after January 1, 2016.