SPECIAL PAY FOR DENTISTS.

SEC. 202. SPECIAL PAY FOR DENTISTS. (a) Full-Time Status Pay.—Paragraph (1) of section 7435(b) is amended by striking “$3,500” and inserting “$9,000”. (b) Tenure Pay.—The table in paragraph (2)(A) of that section is amended to read as follows: “Length of Service Rate Minimum Maximum 1 year but less than 2 years ....................... .................. $1,000 $2,000 2 years but less than 4 years ..................................... 4,000 5,000 4 years but less than 8 years ........................................ 5,000 8,000 8 years but less than 12 years ...................................... 8,000 12,000 12 years but less than 20 years .................................... 12,000 15,000 20 years or more ........................................................ 15,000 18,000.”. (c) Scarce Specialty Pay.—Paragraph (3)(A) of that section is amended by striking “$20,000” and inserting “$30,000”. (d) Responsibility Pay.—(1) The table in paragraph (4)(A) of that section is amended to read as follows: “Position Rate Minimum Maximum Chief of Staff or in an Executive Grade ....................... $14,500 $25,000 Director Grade .......................................................... 0 25,000 Service Chief (or in a comparable position as determined by the Secretary) ................................................................. 4,500 15,000.”. (2) The table in paragraph (4)(B) of that section is amended to read as follows: 114 STAT. 1841 “Position Rate Deputy Service Director ............................. $20,000 Service Director ............................. 25,000 Deputy Assistant Under Secretary for Health .............................................. 27,500 Assistant Under Secretary for Health (or in a comparable position as determined by the Secretary) .................................................................... 30,000.”. (e) Geographic Pay.—Paragraph (6) of that section is amended by striking “$5,000” and inserting “$12,000”. (f) Special Pay for Post-Graduate Training.—Such section is further amended by adding at the end the following new para-graph: “(8) For a dentist who has successfully completed a post-graduate year of hospital-based training in a program accredited by the American Dental Association, an annual rate of $2,000 for each of the first two years of service after successful completion of that training.”. (g) Crediting of Increased Tenure Pay for Civil Service Retirement.—Section 7438(b) is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (6); and (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following new paragraph (5): “(5) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), a dentist employed as a dentist in the Veterans Health Administration on the date of the enactment of the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000 shall be entitled to have special pay paid to the dentist under section 7435(b)(2)(A) of this title (referred to as ‘tenure pay’) considered basic pay for the purposes of chapter83 or 84, as appropriate, of title 5 only as follows: “(A) In an amount equal to the amount that would have been so considered under such section on the day before such date based on the rates of special pay the dentist was entitled to receive under that section on the day before such date. “(B) With respect to any amount of special pay received under that section in excess of the amount such dentist was entitled to receive under such section on the day before such date, in an amount equal to 25 percent of such excess amount for each two years that the physician or dentist has completed as a physician or dentist in the Veterans Health Administration after such date.”. (h) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to agreements entered into by dentists under subchapter III of chapter 74 of title 38, United States Code, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. (i) Transition.—In the case of an agreement entered into by a dentist under subchapter III of chapter 74 of title 38, United States Code, before the date of the enactment of this Act that expires after that date, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the dentist concerned may agree to terminate that agreement as of the date of the enactment of this Act in order to permit a new agreement in accordance with section 7435 of such title, as amended by this section, to take effect as of that date.