H.R. 3146 — HEROES Act

This section expands eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)—which cancels the remaining balance on a borrower's Direct Loans after 120 qualifying monthly payments made while employed full-time (generally 30 hours per week) by a qualifying public service employer (i.e., government or nonprofit)—to include volunteer work as a qualified volunteer firefighter or qualified volunteer emergency medical technician. It does so by (1) adding such volunteer work to the types of service qualifying as full-time public service employment and (2) defining qualified volunteer firefighter (i.e., non-full-time employee providing firefighting, fire prevention, emergency medical, or related services for a fire department or public safety organization); qualified volunteer emergency medical technician (i.e., non-full-time employee certified to provide pre-hospital emergency medical or ambulance services for an ambulance service, fire department, healthcare facility, or public safety organization); public safety organization (i.e., state, local, tribal governmental agency or nonprofit principally protecting life, health, or property); and directing the Secretary of Education to establish minimum volunteer hours required (not less than those needed to qualify as an active member of the relevant organization).

This section directs the Secretary of Education, after consulting public safety organizations (including firefighter and emergency responder organizations), to promulgate regulations implementing the amendments made by section 2, including regulations relating to (1) the minimum volunteer time required for a qualified volunteer firefighter or emergency medical technician to be treated as employed full-time for purposes of section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (i.e., public service loan forgiveness eligibility); and (2) the process for tracking and verifying that volunteer time.