Congress offers nurses $2,000 to mentor in underserved areas.

What it does

This bill creates a $2,000 annual tax credit for registered nurses and healthcare providers who spend at least 200 hours per year mentoring nursing students or newly hired nurses in medically underserved areas. The credit runs through 2032 and requires certification from the academic institution or clinical employer to claim it.

Why we flagged it

The bill's sole operative mechanism is a targeted tax credit designed to increase the supply of nurse preceptors in health professional shortage areas. It is a straightforward workforce-development measure with no hidden provisions or unrelated riders.

What the text implies

• The $2,000 credit may be insufficient to offset the time burden of 200+ hours of mentoring, potentially limiting uptake among nurses in lower-wage settings or those with competing demands.
• Certification requirements (from academic institutions or clinical sites) create administrative overhead; institutions may lack capacity or incentive to issue timely certifications, creating a barrier to claiming the credit.
• The credit sunsets after 2032, creating uncertainty about long-term preceptor supply; if the program is effective, its termination could reverse gains in nursing education capacity.
• Geographic targeting to health professional shortage areas is sound policy, but the bill does not address whether shortage-area designations are current or whether they capture all underserved regions.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill addresses a documented shortage of nursing educators and mentors in underserved communities by directly incentivizing experienced nurses to take on teaching roles. The $2,000 credit is modest but targets a genuine public-health bottleneck—nurse training capacity—without imposing costs on other citizens or restricting access to care.

Who stands to gain

• registered nurses and healthcare providers (individual tax filers)
• nursing schools and clinical training sites (indirect, via increased preceptor participation)

Named in the bill

Internal Revenue Service, Health Resources and Services Administration, Public Health Service Act, State Boards of Nursing, Schools of nursing, Clinical sites

Where it stands

26 cosponsors: 21 Democrats, 5 Republicans.

• Jan 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jan 14, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

12 lobbying clients named this bill on 19 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,218,967 in lobbying spend. A filing names 22 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 93% of bills with at least one filing.

Jennifer Kiggans, the sponsor, reported $1,313,089 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Association of Nurse Practitioners — $950,000 on 2 filings
• American Association of Nurse Anesthetists — $275,000 on 1 filing
• American Nurses Association — $270,000 on 1 filing
• Emergency Nurses Association — $140,900 on 3 filings
• American Association of Colleges of Nursing — $120,000 on 2 filings

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.