I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3146 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include service as a volunteer 
firefighter or volunteer emergency medical technician as a public service 
job for purposes of eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness 
Program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2025 
Mr. GOLDMAN of New York (for himself and Mr. FIELDS) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Work-
force 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include 
service as a volunteer firefighter or volunteer emergency 
medical technician as a public service job for purposes 
of eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness 
Program, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Emergency 
Responders Overcome Student Debt Act’’ or the ‘‘HE-
ROES Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR VOLUNTEER FIRST RE-
SPONDERS. 
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 accord-
ance with subparagraph (C).’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) 
QUALIFIED
VOLUNTEER
FIRE-
FIGHTER; 
QUALIFIED
EMERGENCY
MEDICAL 
TECHNICIAN.— 
‘‘(i) The term ‘qualified volunteer fire-
fighter’ 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 
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‘‘(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, li-
censed, or otherwise authorized under 
applicable state or local laws to pro-
vide emergency medical care, pre-hos-
pital care, or ambulance services in 
response to medical emergencies; 
‘‘(II) performs such care or serv-
ices on behalf of an ambulance serv-
ice, fire department, healthcare facil-
ity, or public safety organization; and 
‘‘(III) is not otherwise directly 
employed on a full-time basis by the 
same ambulance service, fire depart-
ment, healthcare facility, or public 
safety organization for which they 
provide such care or services. 
‘‘(iii) The Secretary shall— 
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‘‘(I) determine the minimum vol-
unteer time required for a qualified 
volunteer firefighter or a qualified vol-
unteer emergency medical technician 
to be treated as an individual em-
ployed 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 re-
quired for the qualified volunteer fire-
fighter or a qualified volunteer emer-
gency medical technician to be consid-
ered an active member of the relevant 
ambulance service, fire department, 
healthcare facility, or public safety or-
ganization. 
‘‘(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.’’. 
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SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 
The Secretary of Education shall promulgate, after 
consultation with public safety organizations (which shall 
include firefighter and emergency responder organiza-
tions), 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 in-
dividual 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. 
Æ 
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