| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 341 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Clean Air Act to establish a grant program for supporting |
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| 6 | 6 | | local communities in detecting, preparing for, communicating about, or |
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| 7 | 7 | | mitigating the environmental and public health impacts of wildfire smoke |
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| 8 | 8 | | and extreme heat, and for other purposes. |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 10 | 10 | | JANUARY30, 2025 |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. M |
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| 12 | 12 | | ERKLEY(for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. SCHIFF, |
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| 13 | 13 | | Mr. W |
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| 14 | 14 | | YDEN, Mr. SANDERS, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following |
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| 15 | 15 | | bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment |
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| 16 | 16 | | and Public Works |
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| 17 | 17 | | A BILL |
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| 18 | 18 | | To amend the Clean Air Act to establish a grant program |
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| 19 | 19 | | for supporting local communities in detecting, preparing |
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| 20 | 20 | | for, communicating about, or mitigating the environ- |
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| 21 | 21 | | mental and public health impacts of wildfire smoke and |
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| 22 | 22 | | extreme heat, and for other purposes. |
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| 23 | 23 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 24 | 24 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 26 | 26 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Smoke and Heat 4 |
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| 27 | 27 | | Ready Communities Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 28 | 28 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:08 Feb 26, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S341.IS S341 |
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| 29 | 29 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 31 | 31 | | SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | In this Act: 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (1) A |
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| 34 | 34 | | DMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | trator’’ means Administrator of the Environmental 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | Protection Agency. 5 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (2) E |
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| 38 | 38 | | XTREME HEAT .—The term ‘‘extreme 6 |
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| 39 | 39 | | heat’’ has the meaning given the term through a 7 |
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| 40 | 40 | | rulemaking of the Administrator, in consultation 8 |
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| 41 | 41 | | with the heads of relevant Federal agencies. 9 |
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| 42 | 42 | | (3) I |
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| 43 | 43 | | NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 10 |
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| 44 | 44 | | has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 11 |
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| 45 | 45 | | Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 12 |
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| 46 | 46 | | Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 13 |
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| 47 | 47 | | (4) N |
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| 48 | 48 | | ATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION .—The 14 |
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| 49 | 49 | | term ‘‘Native Hawaiian organization’’ has the mean-15 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ing given the term in section 6207 of the Elemen-16 |
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| 51 | 51 | | tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 17 |
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| 52 | 52 | | U.S.C. 7517). 18 |
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| 53 | 53 | | SEC. 3. SMOKE AND EXTREME HEAT-READY COMMUNITIES. 19 |
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| 54 | 54 | | Part A of title I of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 20 |
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| 55 | 55 | | et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 21 |
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| 56 | 56 | | ‘‘SEC. 139. SMOKE AND EXTREME HEAT-READY COMMU-22 |
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| 57 | 57 | | NITIES. 23 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ‘‘(a) D |
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| 59 | 59 | | EFINITION OFEXTREMEHEAT.—The term 24 |
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| 60 | 60 | | ‘extreme heat’ has the meaning given the term in section 25 |
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| 62 | 62 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 63 | 63 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 64 | 64 | | 2 of the Smoke and Heat Ready Communities Act of 1 |
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| 65 | 65 | | 2025. 2 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ‘‘(b) E |
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| 67 | 67 | | STABLISHMENT.—Subject to the availability of 3 |
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| 68 | 68 | | appropriations, the Administrator may make grants under 4 |
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| 69 | 69 | | this section to air pollution control agencies to support air 5 |
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| 70 | 70 | | pollution control agencies in developing and implementing 6 |
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| 71 | 71 | | programs that support local communities in detecting, 7 |
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| 72 | 72 | | preparing for, communicating with the public about, or 8 |
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| 73 | 73 | | mitigating the environmental and public health aspects of 9 |
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| 74 | 74 | | wildfire smoke and extreme heat. 10 |
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| 75 | 75 | | ‘‘(c) E |
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| 76 | 76 | | LIGIBLEACTIVITIES.—In carrying out a pro-11 |
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| 77 | 77 | | gram described in subsection (b), an air pollution control 12 |
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| 78 | 78 | | agency may use funds from a grant received under this 13 |
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| 79 | 79 | | section for— 14 |
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| 80 | 80 | | ‘‘(1) activities related to the monitoring of, the 15 |
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| 81 | 81 | | interpretation of, and communicating with the public 16 |
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| 82 | 82 | | about past, present, and future data related to ambi-17 |
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| 83 | 83 | | ent air quality conditions that are caused by wildfire 18 |
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| 84 | 84 | | smoke and extreme heat; 19 |
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| 85 | 85 | | ‘‘(2) conducting community outreach in areas 20 |
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| 86 | 86 | | that may be prone to poor air quality that is attrib-21 |
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| 87 | 87 | | utable to elevated levels of particulate matter, ozone, 22 |
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| 88 | 88 | | and other harmful components of wildfire smoke and 23 |
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| 89 | 89 | | extreme heat; 24 |
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| 91 | 91 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 |
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| 92 | 92 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 93 | 93 | | ‘‘(3) the deployment of air quality monitoring 1 |
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| 94 | 94 | | equipment in a manner that is sufficient to evaluate 2 |
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| 95 | 95 | | an increased prevalence of poor air quality that is 3 |
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| 96 | 96 | | attributable to elevated levels of particulate matter, 4 |
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| 97 | 97 | | ozone, and other harmful components of wildfire 5 |
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| 98 | 98 | | smoke and extreme heat; 6 |
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| 99 | 99 | | ‘‘(4) equipping public buildings with air filtra-7 |
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| 100 | 100 | | tion systems that are capable of removing particu-8 |
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| 101 | 101 | | late matter and other harmful components of wild-9 |
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| 102 | 102 | | fire smoke and extreme heat from the air so that the 10 |
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| 103 | 103 | | public buildings may serve as cleaner air spaces dur-11 |
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| 104 | 104 | | ing wildfire smoke events and extreme heat events 12 |
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| 105 | 105 | | and other poor air quality events; 13 |
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| 106 | 106 | | ‘‘(5) the purchase, storage, and distribution of 14 |
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| 107 | 107 | | face masks and personal protective equipment, in-15 |
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| 108 | 108 | | cluding N–95 filtering facepiece respirators, portable 16 |
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| 109 | 109 | | air filtration systems, and other masks and equip-17 |
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| 110 | 110 | | ment that are capable of removing or otherwise pre-18 |
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| 111 | 111 | | venting the inhalation of particulate matter, ozone, 19 |
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| 112 | 112 | | and other harmful components of wildfire smoke and 20 |
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| 113 | 113 | | extreme heat from the air; 21 |
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| 114 | 114 | | ‘‘(6) subgrants or providing other financing to 22 |
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| 115 | 115 | | private or other public entities with demonstrated fi-23 |
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| 116 | 116 | | nancial need— 24 |
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| 117 | 117 | | ‘‘(A) to acquire protective gear; or 25 |
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| 119 | 119 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 |
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| 120 | 120 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 121 | 121 | | ‘‘(B) to carry out weatherization measures 1 |
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| 122 | 122 | | to mitigate air infiltration; and 2 |
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| 123 | 123 | | ‘‘(7) such other activities that the Adminis-3 |
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| 124 | 124 | | trator determines to be necessary to carry out the 4 |
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| 125 | 125 | | purposes of this section. 5 |
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| 126 | 126 | | ‘‘(d) A |
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| 127 | 127 | | LLOCATION OFFUNDS.— 6 |
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| 128 | 128 | | ‘‘(1) I |
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| 129 | 129 | | N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 7 |
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| 130 | 130 | | the Administrator shall establish a formula to dis-8 |
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| 131 | 131 | | tribute grants under this section among air pollution 9 |
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| 132 | 132 | | control agencies. 10 |
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| 133 | 133 | | ‘‘(2) C |
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| 134 | 134 | | ONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing the 11 |
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| 135 | 135 | | formula required under paragraph (1), the Adminis-12 |
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| 136 | 136 | | trator shall consider— 13 |
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| 137 | 137 | | ‘‘(A) the vulnerability of communities with-14 |
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| 138 | 138 | | in a State to wildfire smoke and extreme heat; 15 |
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| 139 | 139 | | and 16 |
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| 140 | 140 | | ‘‘(B) the degree to which a State is prone 17 |
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| 141 | 141 | | to poor air quality that is attributable to ele-18 |
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| 142 | 142 | | vated levels of particulate matter from wildfire 19 |
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| 143 | 143 | | smoke and extreme heat. 20 |
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| 144 | 144 | | ‘‘(e) A |
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| 145 | 145 | | UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 21 |
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| 146 | 146 | | are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec-22 |
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| 147 | 147 | | essary to carry out this section.’’. 23 |
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| 149 | 149 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 |
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| 150 | 150 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 151 | 151 | | SEC. 4. RESEARCH ON WILDFIRE SMOKE AND EXTREME 1 |
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| 152 | 152 | | HEAT. 2 |
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| 153 | 153 | | (a) C |
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| 154 | 154 | | ENTERS OFEXCELLENCE.— 3 |
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| 155 | 155 | | (1) I |
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| 156 | 156 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 4 |
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| 157 | 157 | | after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-5 |
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| 158 | 158 | | trator shall establish at institutions of higher edu-6 |
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| 159 | 159 | | cation (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher 7 |
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| 160 | 160 | | Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) 4 cen-8 |
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| 161 | 161 | | ters, each of which shall be known as a ‘‘Center of 9 |
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| 162 | 162 | | Excellence for Wildfire Smoke and Extreme Heat’’, 10 |
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| 163 | 163 | | to carry out research relating to— 11 |
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| 164 | 164 | | (A) the effects on public health, including 12 |
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| 165 | 165 | | the health of outdoor workers, of— 13 |
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| 166 | 166 | | (i) smoke emissions from wildland 14 |
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| 167 | 167 | | fires; and 15 |
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| 168 | 168 | | (ii) extreme heat; and 16 |
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| 169 | 169 | | (B) means by which communities can bet-17 |
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| 170 | 170 | | ter respond to the impacts of— 18 |
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| 171 | 171 | | (i) emissions from wildland fires; and 19 |
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| 172 | 172 | | (ii) extreme heat events. 20 |
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| 173 | 173 | | (2) P |
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| 174 | 174 | | RIORITY.—In selecting institutions of 21 |
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| 175 | 175 | | higher education (as so defined) at which to estab-22 |
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| 176 | 176 | | lish a center under paragraph (1), the Administrator 23 |
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| 177 | 177 | | shall give priority to institutions of higher education 24 |
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| 178 | 178 | | (as so defined) that— 25 |
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| 180 | 180 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 7 |
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| 181 | 181 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 182 | 182 | | (A) have established expertise with respect 1 |
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| 183 | 183 | | to air quality or dedicated centers of air quality 2 |
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| 184 | 184 | | research; 3 |
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| 185 | 185 | | (B) have experience with relevant outreach 4 |
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| 186 | 186 | | and extension work; 5 |
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| 187 | 187 | | (C) have established relationships with rel-6 |
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| 188 | 188 | | evant Federal, State, and local agencies, com-7 |
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| 189 | 189 | | munity organizations, Native Hawaiian organi-8 |
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| 190 | 190 | | zations, and Indian Tribes; and 9 |
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| 191 | 191 | | (D) are located in an area that is economi-10 |
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| 192 | 192 | | cally or environmentally impacted by wildfire 11 |
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| 193 | 193 | | smoke or extreme heat. 12 |
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| 194 | 194 | | (3) A |
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| 195 | 195 | | UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 13 |
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| 196 | 196 | | There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad-14 |
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| 197 | 197 | | ministrator to carry out this subsection $10,000,000 15 |
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| 198 | 198 | | for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter. 16 |
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| 199 | 199 | | (b) R |
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| 200 | 200 | | ESEARCH.— 17 |
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| 201 | 201 | | (1) I |
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| 202 | 202 | | N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 18 |
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| 203 | 203 | | after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis-19 |
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| 204 | 204 | | trator shall begin to carry out research— 20 |
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| 205 | 205 | | (A) to study the health effects of— 21 |
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| 206 | 206 | | (i) smoke emissions from wildland 22 |
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| 207 | 207 | | fires; and 23 |
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| 208 | 208 | | (ii) extreme heat; 24 |
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| 211 | 211 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 212 | 212 | | (B) to develop and disseminate personal 1 |
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| 213 | 213 | | and community-based interventions to reduce 2 |
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| 214 | 214 | | exposure to and adverse health effects of— 3 |
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| 215 | 215 | | (i) smoke emissions from wildland 4 |
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| 216 | 216 | | fires; and 5 |
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| 217 | 217 | | (ii) extreme heat; 6 |
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| 218 | 218 | | (C) to increase the quality of smoke and 7 |
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| 219 | 219 | | extreme heat monitoring and prediction tools 8 |
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| 220 | 220 | | and techniques; and 9 |
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| 221 | 221 | | (D) to develop implementation and com-10 |
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| 222 | 222 | | munication strategies. 11 |
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| 223 | 223 | | (2) A |
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| 224 | 224 | | UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 12 |
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| 225 | 225 | | There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad-13 |
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| 226 | 226 | | ministrator to carry out this subsection $20,000,000 14 |
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| 227 | 227 | | for fiscal year 2026 and each fiscal year thereafter. 15 |
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| 228 | 228 | | SEC. 5. COMMUNITY SMOKE AND EXTREME HEAT PLAN-16 |
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| 229 | 229 | | NING. 17 |
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| 230 | 230 | | (a) I |
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| 231 | 231 | | NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 18 |
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| 232 | 232 | | date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall es-19 |
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| 233 | 233 | | tablish a competitive grant program to assist eligible enti-20 |
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| 234 | 234 | | ties described in subsection (b) in developing and imple-21 |
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| 235 | 235 | | menting collaborative community plans for mitigating the 22 |
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| 236 | 236 | | impacts of smoke emissions from wildland fires and ex-23 |
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| 237 | 237 | | treme heat. 24 |
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| 240 | 240 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 241 | 241 | | (b) ELIGIBLEENTITIES.—An entity that is eligible 1 |
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| 242 | 242 | | to submit an application for a grant under subsection (a) 2 |
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| 243 | 243 | | is— 3 |
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| 244 | 244 | | (1) a State; 4 |
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| 245 | 245 | | (2) a unit of local government (including any 5 |
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| 246 | 246 | | special district, such as an air quality management 6 |
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| 247 | 247 | | district or a school district); 7 |
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| 248 | 248 | | (3) an Indian Tribe; or 8 |
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| 249 | 249 | | (4) a Native Hawaiian organization. 9 |
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| 250 | 250 | | (c) A |
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| 251 | 251 | | PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 10 |
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| 252 | 252 | | under subsection (a), an eligible entity described in sub-11 |
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| 253 | 253 | | section (b) shall submit to the Administrator an applica-12 |
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| 254 | 254 | | tion at such time, in such manner, and containing such 13 |
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| 255 | 255 | | information as the Administrator may require, which shall 14 |
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| 256 | 256 | | include a plan to collaborate with a public institution of 15 |
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| 257 | 257 | | higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the High-16 |
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| 258 | 258 | | er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) or other 17 |
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| 259 | 259 | | research institution that— 18 |
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| 260 | 260 | | (1) has established expertise with respect to air 19 |
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| 261 | 261 | | quality or dedicated centers of air quality research; 20 |
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| 262 | 262 | | (2) has experience with relevant outreach and 21 |
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| 263 | 263 | | extension work; 22 |
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| 264 | 264 | | (3) has established relationships with relevant 23 |
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| 265 | 265 | | Federal, State, and local agencies, community orga-24 |
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| 268 | 268 | | •S 341 IS |
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| 269 | 269 | | nizations, Native Hawaiian organizations, and In-1 |
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| 270 | 270 | | dian Tribes; and 2 |
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| 271 | 271 | | (4) is located in an area that is economically or 3 |
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| 272 | 272 | | environmentally impacted by wildfire smoke or ex-4 |
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| 273 | 273 | | treme heat. 5 |
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| 274 | 274 | | (d) T |
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| 275 | 275 | | ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Administrator 6 |
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| 276 | 276 | | may use amounts made available to carry out this section 7 |
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| 277 | 277 | | to provide to eligible entities described in subsection (b) 8 |
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| 278 | 278 | | technical assistance in— 9 |
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| 279 | 279 | | (1) submitting grant applications under sub-10 |
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| 280 | 280 | | section (c); or 11 |
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| 281 | 281 | | (2) carrying out projects using a grant under 12 |
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| 282 | 282 | | this section. 13 |
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| 283 | 283 | | (e) A |
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| 284 | 284 | | UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 14 |
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| 285 | 285 | | authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 15 |
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| 286 | 286 | | carry out this section $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 16 |
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| 287 | 287 | | and each fiscal year thereafter. 17 |
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| 288 | 288 | | Æ |
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