YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyWorkers & JobsEnvironmental health workers would count for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and HHS would draft model licensing rules.
Your Money
Full-time environmental health workers who are licensed or certified would be named as public service workers for loan forgiveness. After 120 monthly payments, the rest of their federal Direct Loans could be canceled. Many may already qualify through government or public health jobs.
Workers & Jobs
HHS would write sample rules states could use to license environmental health workers, then help state, local, and tribal governments put them in place. States would not have to adopt them.
More about this bill
If you work in environmental health, your federal student loans could be forgiven under this bill. These are health workers who check for hazards around us and enforce rules to control them. The bill adds full-time workers in this field to the jobs that count for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. That program wipes out what you still owe on federal Direct Loans after 120 monthly payments in a public service job. To count, you would need to be licensed or certified as state law requires. Many of these workers may already qualify through a government or public health job. The bill names them outright. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would also write model rules for licensing these workers. It would have 1 year. It would share them with state, local, and tribal governments and help them set up licensing. Within 2 years, HHS would send Congress a plan to grow this workforce. Congress's watchdog office would study training and licensing rules in 6 states.
Congressional Summary
Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2026 This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out certain activities related to the environmental-health workforce. It also requires the Government Accountability Office to report on state-based practices for training and credentialing environmental-health workers. Specifically, HHS must develop model standards and guidelines for credentialing environmental-health workers and a plan to ensure its programs and activities meet the future needs of the environmental-health workforce. The bill also specifies that environmental-health workers are eligible for public-service loan forgiveness for educational loans.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2026-07-30
- Date Added
- 2026-10-07
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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