HEROES Act
Officially: “HEROES Act” Read the full text
What it does
Read it in plain language
1Short title
This section says the Act may be called the Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Student Debt Act, or the HEROES Act.
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Student Debt Act or the HEROES Act .
2Loan forgiveness for volunteer first responders
This section would amend section 455(m)(3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, the provision that lists which public service jobs qualify a borrower for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. It would add volunteer work as a qualified volunteer firefighter or a qualified volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT) as a new qualifying category, alongside the categories already listed there. It would define a qualified volunteer firefighter as a person who provides firefighting services, fire prevention services, emergency medical services, or other related emergency response services on behalf of a legally recognized fire department or public safety organization, and who is not otherwise employed full-time by that same fire department or public safety organization. It would define a qualified volunteer emergency medical technician as a person who is trained and certified, licensed, or otherwise authorized under state or local law to provide emergency medical care, pre-hospital care, or ambulance services in response to medical emergencies; who performs that care or those services on behalf of an ambulance service, fire department, healthcare facility, or public safety organization; and who is not otherwise employed full-time by that same ambulance service, fire department, healthcare facility, or public safety organization. It would require the Secretary of Education to set the minimum amount of volunteer time a qualified volunteer firefighter or qualified volunteer EMT must serve to be treated as if employed in a full-time job for loan forgiveness purposes, and would require that minimum to be no less than the amount of volunteer time the relevant ambulance service, fire department, healthcare facility, or public safety organization already requires for a person to count as an active member. It would also define a public safety organization as any state, local, or tribal government agency, or nonprofit organization, whose main purpose is protecting the safety of life, health, or property.
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2. Loan forgiveness for volunteer first responders Section 455(m)(3) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)(3) ) is amended— (1) in subparagraph (B)— (A) in clause (i), by striking or after the semicolon; (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; or ; and (C) by adding at the end the following: (iii) volunteer work as a qualified volunteer firefighter or qualified volunteer emergency medical technician in accordance with subparagraph (C). ; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (C) Qualified volunteer firefighter; qualified emergency medical technician (i) The term qualified volunteer firefighter means an individual who— (I) provides firefighting services, fire prevention services, emergency medical services, or other related emergency response services on behalf of a legally recognized fire department or public safety organization; and (II) is not otherwise directly employed on a full-time basis by the same fire department or public safety organization for which they provide such services. (ii) The term qualified volunteer emergency medical technician means an individual who— (I) is trained and certified, licensed, or otherwise authorized under applicable state or local laws to provide emergency medical care, pre-hospital care, or ambulance services in response to medical emergencies; (II) performs such care or services on behalf of an ambulance service, fire department, healthcare facility, or public safety organization; and (III) is not otherwise directly employed on a full-time basis by the same ambulance service, fire department, healthcare facility, or public safety organization for which they provide such care or services. (iii) The Secretary shall— (I) determine the minimum volunteer time required for a qualified volunteer firefighter or a qualified volunteer emergency medical technician to be treated as an individual employed in a full-time job for purposes of this subsection; and (II) ensure that such minimum volunteer time is not less than the amount of volunteer time that is required for the qualified volunteer firefighter or a qualified volunteer emergency medical technician to be considered an active member of the relevant ambulance service, fire department, healthcare facility, or public safety organization. (D) Public safety organization The term public safety organization means any State, local, or tribal governmental agency or nonprofit organization that has the principal purpose of protecting the safety of life, health, or property. .
3Regulations
This section would require the Secretary of Education, after consulting with public safety organizations including firefighter and emergency responder organizations, to issue regulations to carry out the changes made by section 2. Those regulations would have to cover the minimum volunteer time required for a qualified volunteer firefighter or qualified volunteer emergency medical technician to be treated as employed in a full-time job under section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and the process for tracking and verifying that volunteer time.
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3. Regulations The Secretary of Education shall promulgate, after consultation with public safety organizations (which shall include firefighter and emergency responder organizations), regulations to carry out the amendments made by section 2, including regulations relating to— (1) the minimum volunteer time required for a qualified volunteer firefighter and qualified volunteer emergency medical technician to be treated as an individual employed in a full-time job for purposes of section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1087e(m) ); and (2) the process of tracking and verifying that volunteer time.
Where it is
In the House.