Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act

Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act

This bill restores an exemption for certain family farms and small businesses under the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The bill applies to the net worth of (1) a family farm on which the family resides, or (2) a small business with not more than 100 full-time or full-time equivalent employees that is owned and controlled by the family.

Prior to recent changes made to FAFSA, the net worth of these family farms and small businesses were excluded as assets when calculating a student's financial need to determine federal student aid eligibility. Beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year, the net worth of these farms and businesses will be treated as an asset and therefore included in the calculation. This bill restores the exemption to exclude such net worth from the calculation.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1250 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1250

To restore the exemption of family farms and small businesses from the 
  definition of assets under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 
                                 1965.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2023

 Mr. Mann (for himself, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Mr. 
  Moore of Alabama, Mrs. Miller of Illinois, Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer, Mr. 
 Meuser, Mrs. Cammack, Mr. Ellzey, Mr. Guest, Ms. Hageman, Mr. Moylan, 
 Mr. LaTurner, Mr. Sorensen, Mr. Bergman, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Lucas, Mr. 
Feenstra, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Bacon, Mr. C. Scott Franklin of Florida, 
Mr. Nunn of Iowa, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, Ms. Perez, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Austin 
Scott of Georgia, Mr. Steube, Mr. Valadao, and Mr. Finstad) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education 
                           and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To restore the exemption of family farms and small businesses from the 
  definition of assets under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 
                                 1965.

    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 ``Family Farm and Small Business 
Exemption Act''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTING FAMILY FARMS AND SMALL BUSINESSES FROM ASSETS UNDER 
              THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965.

    (a) In General.--Section 480(f)(2) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087vv), as amended by section 702(l)(2) of the FAFSA 
Simplification Act (title VII of division FF of Public Law 116-260; 134 
Stat. 3163), is further amended--
            (1) by striking ``net value of the'' and inserting the 
        following: ``net value of--
                    ``(A) the'';
            (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting a 
        semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) a family farm on which the family resides; or
                    ``(C) a small business with not more than 100 full-
                time or full-time equivalent employees (or any part of 
                such a small business) that is owned and controlled by 
                the family.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect as if included in the FAFSA Simplification Act (title VII 
of division FF of Public Law 116-260) and subject to the effective date 
of section 701(b) of such Act, as amended by section 102(a) of the 
FAFSA Simplification Act Technical Corrections Act (division R of 
Public Law 117-103) (including the authorization provided under section 
102(c)(1)(A) of such Act).
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