H.R. 7701

[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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