[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7701 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7701

To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to reduce rent in public 
   housing for police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical 
                              technicians.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 2026

  Mr. Lawler introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to reduce rent in public 
   housing for police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical 
                              technicians.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Housing Rent Reduction for 
First Responders Act''.

SEC. 2. SUPPORTING AFFORDABILITY AND SAFETY FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS.

    Section 3(a) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437a(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``Except as provided in 
        paragraph (2)'' and inserting ``Except as provided in 
        paragraphs (2) and (4)''; and
            (2) in paragraph (4)--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``Occupancy by 
                police officers'' and inserting, ``Occupancy by police 
                officers, firefighters, and emergency medical 
                technicians'';
                    (B) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 
                subparagraph (D);
                    (C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the 
                following:
                    ``(C) Rental payments.--Notwithstanding paragraph 
                (1), a family of which one or more members are a police 
                officer, firefighter, or emergency medical technician 
                shall pay as rent for a dwelling unit assisted under 
                this Act the highest of the following amounts, rounded 
                to the nearest dollar:
                            ``(i) 15 per centum of the family's monthly 
                        adjusted income; or
                            ``(ii) 5 per centum of the family's monthly 
                        income''; and
                    (D) by amending subparagraph (D), as so 
                redesignated, to read as follows:
                    ``(D) Definitions.--In this paragraph:
                            ``(i) Police officer.--The term `police 
                        officer' means any person determined by a 
                        public housing agency to be, during the period 
                        of residence of that person in public housing, 
                        employed on a full-time basis as a duly 
                        licensed professional police officer by a 
                        Federal, State, or local government or by any 
                        agency thereof (including a public housing 
                        agency having an accredited police force).
                            ``(ii) Firefighter.--The term `firefighter' 
                        means any person determined by a public housing 
                        agency to be, during the period of residence of 
                        that person in public housing, employed on a 
                        full-time basis as a firefighter by a fire 
                        department or emergency medical services 
                        responder unit of the Federal Government, a 
                        State, unit of general local government, or an 
                        Indian tribal government.
                            ``(iii) Emergency medical technician.--The 
                        term `emergency medical technician' means any 
                        person determined by a public housing agency to 
                        be, during the period of residence of that 
                        person in public housing, employed on a full-
                        time basis as an emergency medical technician 
                        by a fire department or emergency medical 
                        services responder unit of the Federal 
                        Government, a State, unit of general local 
                        government, or an Indian tribal government.''.
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