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S. 469 119th Congress Senate

Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act

Official title: 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.

Introduced: February 6, 2025 Introduced by: Joni Ernst Republican · Iowa See on congress.gov
Education Government lending and loan guaranteesRural conditions and developmentSmall businessStudent aid and college costs
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 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 6, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Feb 6, 2025
Introduced in Senate
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What's happening now February 6, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act

This bill restores an exemption for certain family farms and small businesses on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. 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 the 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 are treated as an asset and therefore included in the calculation. This bill restores the exemption to exclude such net worth from the calculation.

 Related & companion bills 1
  • HR 1131 Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act
 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
 Lobbying activity 23

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 23 filings →
 Cosponsors 13
All 13 Democratic 2 Republican 11
R
McCormick, David
Pennsylvania · Jul 27, 2026
 D
Gallego, Ruben
Arizona · Sep 2, 2025
 R
Tuberville, Tommy
Alabama · Jun 11, 2025
 R
Ricketts, Pete
Nebraska · Feb 11, 2025
 D
Bennet, Michael F.
Colorado · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Boozman, John
Arkansas · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Grassley, Chuck
Iowa · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Hoeven, John
North Dakota · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Justice, James C.
West Virginia · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Marshall, Roger
Kansas · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Moran, Jerry
Kansas · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Rounds, Mike
South Dakota · Feb 6, 2025
 R
Tillis, Thomas
North Carolina · Feb 6, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 469: Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-469/
MLA
"S. 469: Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-469/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 469, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-469/.
Markdown link
[S. 469: Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-S-469/)
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