(a) There is established the Graduate Nurse Educator Loan and Scholarship Board composed of:
(1) The dean, chair, or director of each of the accredited graduate nursing programs in the state that offers a nurse practitioner/clinical nurse specialist, nurse midwife, nurse anesthetist, or nursing administration graduate preparation or preparation for nurse educators at the master's or doctoral levels;
(2) The President of the Council of Nurse Administrators of Nursing Education Programs in Arkansas;
(3) The President of the Arkansas State Board of Nursing or the president's designee;
(4) The Secretary of the Department of Health or the secretary's designee; and
(5) One (1) consumer, to be appointed by the Governor.
(b) The board shall:
(1) Promulgate reasonable rules as may be necessary to execute the provisions of this subchapter, including rules addressing:
(A) The requirements for ensuring a pool of advanced nursing practitioners to serve the state with a priority on health professions shortage areas;
(B) The requirements for an Arkansas school of nursing;
(C) The requirements for a community having a population of no more than fifteen thousand (15,000) persons according to the most recent census;
(D) The requirements of the Department of Health;
(E) The establishment of a minimum scholastic standing which a baccalaureate or master's nursing graduate must have achieved and the academic or scholastic standing a student must maintain in an accredited school of nursing in this state as a condition of receiving scholarship funds or financial aid under the provisions of § 6-81-1208 [repealed];
(F) The establishment of standards for a determination of the financial needs of the applicant for scholarship funds or financial aid under § 6-81-1208 [repealed], including the ability of the applicant or the spouse or the parents or guardian of the applicant to furnish a part of the funds necessary to pay the expenses of the applicant while attending a school of nursing; and
(G) All matters relating directly to the agreement for providing these scholarship funds or financial aid, including the terms and conditions of providing financial aid to the student and relating to the obligation of the recipient of financial aid to engage in the nursing profession in a rural community or as a nurse educator in an Arkansas school of nursing;
(2) Prescribe forms for and regulate the submission of applications for financial assistance;
(3) Determine eligibility of applicants;
(4) Allow or disallow applications for financial assistance;
(5) Contract, increase, decrease, terminate, and otherwise regulate all grants for this purpose and receipt for their repayment and convert loans to scholarships;
(6) Manage, operate, and control all funds and property appropriated or otherwise contributed for this purpose;
(7) Accept gifts, grants, and bequests or devises and apply them as a part of this program;
(8) Sue and be sued as the board; and
(9) Accept moneys from federal programs which may be used for furtherance of the purposes of this subchapter.
(c) The members of the board may receive expense reimbursement in accordance with § 25-16-901 et seq.