II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2207 

To allow qualified volunteer first responders to qualify for public service 

loan forgiveness. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 7, 2017 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Ms. HEITKAMP) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To allow qualified volunteer first responders to qualify for 

public service loan forgiveness. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer First Re5 sponder Loan Forgiveness Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR VOLUNTEER FIRST RE7 SPONDERS. 

8 Section 455(m)(3) of the Higher Education Act of 

9 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)(3)) is amended— 

10 (1) in subparagraph (B)— 


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1 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘or’’ after the 

2 semicolon; 

3 (B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 

4 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(iii) volunteer work as a qualified 

7 volunteer first responder in accordance 

8 with subparagraph (C).’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(C) QUALIFIED VOLUNTEER FIRST RE11 SPONDER.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘quali13 fied volunteer first responder’ means an in14 dividual who— 

15 ‘‘(I) does volunteer work for a 

16 public safety organization (which may 

17 include firefighters, law enforcement 

18 officers, emergency medical personnel, 

19 or other first responders to emer20 gencies); and 

21 ‘‘(II) is certified as a firefighter, 

22 law enforcement officer, emergency 

23 medical services provider, or other re24 sponder in the State, unit of general 

25 local government, or Indian tribe in 


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1 which the individual serves as a volun2 teer. 

3 ‘‘(ii) PUBLIC SAFETY ORGANIZA4 TION.—The term ‘public safety organiza5 tion’ means any State, local, or tribal gov6 ernmental agency or nonprofit organization 

7 that has the principal purpose of pro8 tecting the safety of life, health, or prop9 erty. 

10 ‘‘(iii) FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT.—The 

11 Secretary shall— 

12 ‘‘(I) determine the minimum vol13 unteer time required for a qualified 

14 volunteer first responder to be treated 

15 as an individual employed in a full16 time job for purposes of this sub17 section; and 

18 ‘‘(II) ensure that such minimum 

19 volunteer time— 

20 ‘‘(aa) is not less than the 

21 amount of volunteer time that is 

22 required for the qualified volun23 teer first responder to be consid24 ered an active member of the relVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Dec 13, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2207.IS S2207

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1 evant public safety organization; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(bb) does not exceed the 

4 equivalent of 200 hours per 

5 year.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 

7 The Secretary of Education shall promulgate, after 

8 consultation with public safety organizations (which shall 

9 include firefighter, law enforcement officer, and emergency 

10 responder organizations), regulations to carry out the 

11 amendments made by section 2, including regulations re12 lating to— 

13 (1) the minimum volunteer time required for a 

14 qualified volunteer first responder to be treated as 

15 an individual employed in a full-time job for pur16 poses of section 455(m) of the Higher Education 

17 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)); and 

18 (2) the process of tracking and verifying that 

19 volunteer time. 

20 SEC. 4. ENGAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS. 

21 The Secretary of Education shall develop a plan re22 garding how the Department of Education will— 

23 (1) disseminate information and raise aware24 ness about eligibility for qualified volunteer first re25 sponders for public service loan forgiveness under 


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1 section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

2 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) (as amended by this Act); and 

3 (2) engage qualified volunteer first responders 

4 and public safety organizations in the process of 

5 tracking and verifying volunteer hours for purposes 

6 of public service loan forgiveness under such section. 

Æ 


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