Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB903 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 903
55 To amend the Clean Air Act to establish a grant program for supporting
66 local communities in detecting, preparing for, communicating about, or
77 mitigating the environmental and public health impacts of wildfire smoke
88 and extreme heat, and for other purposes.
99 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1010 JANUARY31, 2025
1111 Mr. T
1212 HOMPSONof California (for himself, Ms. ANSARI, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms.
1313 B
1414 ROWNLEY, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. GARCIAof California, Ms. MATSUI,
1515 Mr. M
1616 ULLIN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. RUIZ, Mr.
1717 W
1818 HITESIDES, and Ms. TITUS) introduced the following bill; which was re-
1919 ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to
2020 the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be sub-
2121 sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of
2222 such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
2323 A BILL
2424 To amend the Clean Air Act to establish a grant program
2525 for supporting local communities in detecting, preparing
2626 for, communicating about, or mitigating the environ-
2727 mental and public health impacts of wildfire smoke and
2828 extreme heat, and for other purposes.
2929 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
3030 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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3434 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
3535 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Smoke and Heat 2
3636 Ready Communities Act of 2025’’. 3
3737 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
3838 In this Act: 5
3939 (1) A
4040 DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-6
4141 trator’’ means Administrator of the Environmental 7
4242 Protection Agency. 8
4343 (2) E
4444 XTREME HEAT .—The term ‘‘extreme 9
4545 heat’’ has the meaning given the term through a 10
4646 rulemaking of the Administrator, in consultation 11
4747 with the heads of relevant Federal agencies. 12
4848 (3) I
4949 NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 13
5050 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 14
5151 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 15
5252 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 16
5353 (4) N
5454 ATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION .—The 17
5555 term ‘‘Native Hawaiian organization’’ has the mean-18
5656 ing given the term in section 6207 of the Elemen-19
5757 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 20
5858 U.S.C. 7517). 21
5959 SEC. 3. SMOKE AND EXTREME HEAT-READY COMMUNITIES. 22
6060 Part A of title I of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 23
6161 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 24
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6565 ‘‘SEC. 139. SMOKE AND EXTREME HEAT-READY COMMU-1
6666 NITIES. 2
6767 ‘‘(a) D
6868 EFINITION OFEXTREMEHEAT.—The term 3
6969 ‘extreme heat’ has the meaning given the term in section 4
7070 2 of the Smoke and Heat Ready Communities Act of 5
7171 2025. 6
7272 ‘‘(b) E
7373 STABLISHMENT.—Subject to the availability of 7
7474 appropriations, the Administrator may make grants under 8
7575 this section to air pollution control agencies to support air 9
7676 pollution control agencies in developing and implementing 10
7777 programs that support local communities in detecting, 11
7878 preparing for, communicating with the public about, or 12
7979 mitigating the environmental and public health aspects of 13
8080 wildfire smoke and extreme heat. 14
8181 ‘‘(c) E
8282 LIGIBLEACTIVITIES.—In carrying out a pro-15
8383 gram described in subsection (b), an air pollution control 16
8484 agency may use funds from a grant received under this 17
8585 section for— 18
8686 ‘‘(1) activities related to the monitoring of, the 19
8787 interpretation of, and communicating with the public 20
8888 about past, present, and future data related to ambi-21
8989 ent air quality conditions that are caused by wildfire 22
9090 smoke and extreme heat; 23
9191 ‘‘(2) conducting community outreach in areas 24
9292 that may be prone to poor air quality that is attrib-25
9393 utable to elevated levels of particulate matter, ozone, 26
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9797 and other harmful components of wildfire smoke and 1
9898 extreme heat; 2
9999 ‘‘(3) the deployment of air quality monitoring 3
100100 equipment in a manner that is sufficient to evaluate 4
101101 an increased prevalence of poor air quality that is 5
102102 attributable to elevated levels of particulate matter, 6
103103 ozone, and other harmful components of wildfire 7
104104 smoke and extreme heat; 8
105105 ‘‘(4) equipping public buildings with air filtra-9
106106 tion systems that are capable of removing particu-10
107107 late matter and other harmful components of wild-11
108108 fire smoke and extreme heat from the air so that the 12
109109 public buildings may serve as cleaner air spaces dur-13
110110 ing wildfire smoke events and extreme heat events 14
111111 and other poor air quality events; 15
112112 ‘‘(5) the purchase, storage, and distribution of 16
113113 face masks and personal protective equipment, in-17
114114 cluding N–95 filtering facepiece respirators, portable 18
115115 air filtration systems, and other masks and equip-19
116116 ment that are capable of removing or otherwise pre-20
117117 venting the inhalation of particulate matter, ozone, 21
118118 and other harmful components of wildfire smoke and 22
119119 extreme heat from the air; 23
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123123 ‘‘(6) subgrants or providing other financing to 1
124124 private or other public entities with demonstrated fi-2
125125 nancial need— 3
126126 ‘‘(A) to acquire protective gear; or 4
127127 ‘‘(B) to carry out weatherization measures 5
128128 to mitigate air infiltration; and 6
129129 ‘‘(7) such other activities that the Adminis-7
130130 trator determines to be necessary to carry out the 8
131131 purposes of this section. 9
132132 ‘‘(d) A
133133 LLOCATION OFFUNDS.— 10
134134 ‘‘(1) I
135135 N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 11
136136 the Administrator shall establish a formula to dis-12
137137 tribute grants under this section among air pollution 13
138138 control agencies. 14
139139 ‘‘(2) C
140140 ONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the 15
141141 formula required under paragraph (1), the Adminis-16
142142 trator shall consider— 17
143143 ‘‘(A) the vulnerability of communities with-18
144144 in a State to wildfire smoke and extreme heat; 19
145145 and 20
146146 ‘‘(B) the degree to which a State is prone 21
147147 to poor air quality that is attributable to ele-22
148148 vated levels of particulate matter from wildfire 23
149149 smoke and extreme heat. 24
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153153 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1
154154 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec-2
155155 essary to carry out this section.’’. 3
156156 SEC. 4. RESEARCH ON WILDFIRE SMOKE AND EXTREME 4
157157 HEAT. 5
158158 (a) C
159159 ENTERS OFEXCELLENCE.— 6
160160 (1) I
161161 N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 7
162162 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-8
163163 trator shall establish at institutions of higher edu-9
164164 cation (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher 10
165165 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) 4 cen-11
166166 ters, each of which shall be known as a ‘‘Center of 12
167167 Excellence for Wildfire Smoke and Extreme Heat’’, 13
168168 to carry out research relating to— 14
169169 (A) the effects on public health, including 15
170170 the health of outdoor workers, of— 16
171171 (i) smoke emissions from wildland 17
172172 fires; and 18
173173 (ii) extreme heat; and 19
174174 (B) means by which communities can bet-20
175175 ter respond to the impacts of— 21
176176 (i) emissions from wildland fires; and 22
177177 (ii) extreme heat events. 23
178178 (2) P
179179 RIORITY.—In selecting institutions of 24
180180 higher education (as so defined) at which to estab-25
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184184 lish a center under paragraph (1), the Administrator 1
185185 shall give priority to institutions of higher education 2
186186 (as so defined) that— 3
187187 (A) have established expertise with respect 4
188188 to air quality or dedicated centers of air quality 5
189189 research; 6
190190 (B) have experience with relevant outreach 7
191191 and extension work; 8
192192 (C) have established relationships with rel-9
193193 evant Federal, State, and local agencies, com-10
194194 munity organizations, Native Hawaiian organi-11
195195 zations, and Indian Tribes; and 12
196196 (D) are located in an area that is economi-13
197197 cally or environmentally impacted by wildfire 14
198198 smoke or extreme heat. 15
199199 (3) A
200200 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 16
201201 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad-17
202202 ministrator to carry out this subsection $10,000,000 18
203203 for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter. 19
204204 (b) R
205205 ESEARCH.— 20
206206 (1) I
207207 N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 21
208208 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-22
209209 trator shall begin to carry out research— 23
210210 (A) to study the health effects of— 24
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214214 (i) smoke emissions from wildland 1
215215 fires; and 2
216216 (ii) extreme heat; 3
217217 (B) to develop and disseminate personal 4
218218 and community-based interventions to reduce 5
219219 exposure to and adverse health effects of— 6
220220 (i) smoke emissions from wildland 7
221221 fires; and 8
222222 (ii) extreme heat; 9
223223 (C) to increase the quality of smoke and 10
224224 extreme heat monitoring and prediction tools 11
225225 and techniques; and 12
226226 (D) to develop implementation and com-13
227227 munication strategies. 14
228228 (2) A
229229 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 15
230230 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad-16
231231 ministrator to carry out this subsection $20,000,000 17
232232 for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter. 18
233233 SEC. 5. COMMUNITY SMOKE AND EXTREME HEAT PLAN-19
234234 NING. 20
235235 (a) I
236236 NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 21
237237 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall es-22
238238 tablish a competitive grant program to assist eligible enti-23
239239 ties described in subsection (b) in developing and imple-24
240240 menting collaborative community plans for mitigating the 25
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244244 impacts of smoke emissions from wildland fires and ex-1
245245 treme heat. 2
246246 (b) E
247247 LIGIBLEENTITIES.—An entity that is eligible 3
248248 to submit an application for a grant under subsection (a) 4
249249 is— 5
250250 (1) a State; 6
251251 (2) a unit of local government (including any 7
252252 special district, such as an air quality management 8
253253 district or a school district); 9
254254 (3) an Indian Tribe; or 10
255255 (4) a Native Hawaiian organization. 11
256256 (c) A
257257 PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 12
258258 under subsection (a), an eligible entity described in sub-13
259259 section (b) shall submit to the Administrator an applica-14
260260 tion at such time, in such manner, and containing such 15
261261 information as the Administrator may require, which shall 16
262262 include a plan to collaborate with a public institution of 17
263263 higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the High-18
264264 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) or other 19
265265 research institution that— 20
266266 (1) has established expertise with respect to air 21
267267 quality or dedicated centers of air quality research; 22
268268 (2) has experience with relevant outreach and 23
269269 extension work; 24
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273273 (3) has established relationships with relevant 1
274274 Federal, State, and local agencies, community orga-2
275275 nizations, Native Hawaiian organizations, and In-3
276276 dian Tribes; and 4
277277 (4) is located in an area that is economically or 5
278278 environmentally impacted by wildfire smoke or ex-6
279279 treme heat. 7
280280 (d) T
281281 ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Administrator 8
282282 may use amounts made available to carry out this section 9
283283 to provide to eligible entities described in subsection (b) 10
284284 technical assistance in— 11
285285 (1) submitting grant applications under sub-12
286286 section (c); or 13
287287 (2) carrying out projects using a grant under 14
288288 this section. 15
289289 (e) A
290290 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 16
291291 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 17
292292 carry out this section $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 18
293293 and each fiscal year thereafter. 19
294294 Æ
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