I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1972 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination regarding 

exposure to hazardous substances, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2007 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ (for herself, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 

Texas, Mr. SERRANO, and Mrs. CHRISTENSEN) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to prohibit discrimination regarding exposure to hazardous substances, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Community Environ5 mental Equity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) There is a growing recognition that urban, 

9 low-income, and minority communities tend to be 

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1 overburdened with polluting facilities such as waste 

2 transfer stations, power plants, superfund sites, 

3 brownfields, and toxic release inventory sites. 

4 (2) Poor and urban neighborhoods are forced to 

5 suffer the effects associated with increased waste 

6 processing because they often lack the resources to 

7 defend their rights and cannot quantify unhealthy 

8 environmental factors. 

9 (3) Addressing the problem of contaminated 

10 surroundings impacting low-income or minority com11 munities must be a priority of this Nation. 

12 (4) Health respiratory conditions such as asth13 ma can be traced to environmental conditions im14 pacting a community such as air pollution and bio15 logical contaminants. 

16 (5) Asthma is one of the leading chronic health 

17 conditions in the United States (affecting over 15 

18 million people) and the leading chronic youth illness 

19 (affecting 6.5 million children). 

20 (6) At risk communities need resources to gath21 er information useful in planning preventive health 

22 and environmental strategies to protect residents 

23 from polluting conditions. 

24 (7) Alliances of community-based organizations 

25 and community health centers are often in the best 

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1 position to develop neighborhood health profiles to 

2 assist heath policy makers in assessing the health 

3 impact of future growth or redevelopment. 

4 (8) Federal resources can help communities 

5 protect themselves from being disproportionately ex6 posed to contaminants which can cause respiratory 

7 health complications such as asthma. 

8 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

9 (1) to prevent any individual or community 

10 from being disproportionately exposed to hazardous 

11 materials; 

12 (2) to enable government agencies to protect in13 dividuals and communities from such exposure; 

14 (3) to give community-based organizations and 

15 community health centers the tools necessary to 

16 measure neighborhood impacts of environmental 

17 hazards; and 

18 (4) to enable such organizations and centers to 

19 maintain a health profile for their communities and 

20 in this manner prevent discriminatory exposure to 

21 hazardous substances. 

22 SEC. 3. DISCRIMINATION REGARDING EXPOSURE TO HAZ23 ARDOUS SUBSTANCES. 

24 The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 

25 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following title: 

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1 ‘‘TITLE XXX—DISCRIMINATION 

2 REGARDING EXPOSURE TO 

3 COVERED SUBSTANCES 

4 ‘‘SEC. 3001. DEFINITIONS. 

5 ‘‘In this title: 

6 ‘‘(1) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘covered en7 tity’ means any entity which handles, manages, 

8 treats, releases, discharges, disposes of, stores, 

9 transports, removes, moves, or delivers covered sub10 stances. 

11 ‘‘(2) COVERED SUBSTANCE.—The term ‘covered 

12 substance’ means any of the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Any contaminant identified under the 

14 Safe Drinking Water Act (title XIV of this 

15 Act). 

16 ‘‘(B) Any substance described in section 

17 201(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos18 metic Act, and any material registered pursuant 

19 to the Act referred to in paragraph (1) of such 

20 section. 

21 ‘‘(C) Any chemical listed by the National 

22 Toxicology Program of the Department of 

23 Health and Human Services as a known or 

24 probable human carcinogen. 

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1 ‘‘(D) Any substance defined in section 

2 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental 

3 Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 

4 1980 and any chemical subject to section 313 

5 of the Emergency Planning and Community 

6 Right-To-Know Act of 1986. 

7 ‘‘(E) Any material subject to the require8 ments concerning material safety data sheets 

9 for chemicals under the Occupational Safety 

10 and Health Act of 1970. 

11 ‘‘(F) Any chemical substance or mixture 

12 regulated under the Toxic Substance Control 

13 Act. 

14 ‘‘(G) Any hazardous waste identified under 

15 the Solid Waste Disposal Act. 

16 ‘‘(H) Any pesticide registered under the

17 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide 

18 Act. 

19 ‘‘(I) Any air pollutant regulated under

20 the Clean Air Act. 

21 ‘‘(J) Such other contaminants, chemicals, 

22 materials, wastes, and substances as the Presi23 dent, acting through the head of the appro24 priate agency, determines to be appropriate for 

25 purposes of this title. 

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1 ‘‘SEC. 3002. PROHIBITION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A covered entity shall not, on the 

3 ground of race, color, national origin, or economic status, 

4 disproportionately expose any person or community to any 

5 covered substance. 

6 ‘‘(b) COMPLIANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IDENTIFICATION.—A covered entity shall 

8 consult and work in partnership with the States, 

9 local government officials, and the Federal Govern10 ment to comply with subsection (a). 

11 ‘‘(2) ADDRESSING DISPROPORTIONATE EXPO12 SURE.—A covered entity shall address the actual or 

13 potential disproportionate exposure to covered sub14 stances of individuals or communities, on the ground 

15 of race, color, national origin, or economic status, 

16 prior to pursuing State and local administrative pro17 ceedings to obtain authorization or approval to han18 dle, manage, treat, release, discharge, dispose of, 

19 transport, remove, move, deliver or otherwise use 

20 covered substances. 

21 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall require 

23 the appropriate Federal officials to issue regulations 

24 to implement this section consistent with the provi25 sions of section 602 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

26 relating to compliance. 

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1 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT.—Compliance with this 

2 section may be effectuated (1) by the termination of 

3 or refusal to grant authorization to any covered enti4 ty to handle, manage, treat, release, discharge, dis5 pose of, store, transport, remove, move, or deliver 

6 covered substances; or (2) by any other means au7 thorized by law. With respect to any covered entity 

8 that is a recipient of Federal financial assistance, 

9 compliance may also be effectuated pursuant to sec10 tion 602 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

11 ‘‘(3) DATES CERTAIN REGARDING REGULA12 TIONS.—For purposes of carrying out this section— 

13 ‘‘(A) proposed rules shall be issued not 

14 later than 6 months after the date of the enact15 ment of the Community Environmental Equity 

16 Act; 

17 ‘‘(B) final rules shall be issued not later 

18 than 18 months after such date of enactment; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(C) such final rules shall take effect not 

21 later than 30 months after such date of enact22 ment. 

23 ‘‘(d) BIENNIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 

24 after the date on which final rules are issued pursuant 

25 to subsection (c)(3)(B), and every 2 years thereafter, the 

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1 Federal Interagency Environmental Justice Working 

2 Group (established under Executive Order 12898 (Feb3 ruary 11, 1994)) shall submit to the Congress a report 

4 on activities carried out under this section. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 3003. COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPACT PROFILE PRO6 GRAM GRANTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab8 lish a Health Impact Profile Program for the purpose of 

9 making grants to community-based organizations and 

10 community health centers to assist in the planning and 

11 development of community health impact profiles. 

12 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary may not make 

13 a grant to a community-based organization or a commu14 nity health center under this section unless the organiza15 tion or center— 

16 ‘‘(1) is located in the community in which the 

17 grant will be used; or 

18 ‘‘(2) enters into a partnership with an entity in 

19 such community for purposes of carrying out the ac20 tivities described in subsection (c). 

21 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary may not make 

22 a grant to a community-based organization or a commu23 nity health center under this section unless the organiza24 tion or center agrees to use the grant for the following: 

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1 ‘‘(1) Conducting an overall neighborhood health 

2 assessment to measure the prospective environ3 mental health consequences of— 

4 ‘‘(A) any significant proposed growth or 

5 redevelopment plan; and 

6 ‘‘(B) any exposure in the community to 

7 covered substances. 

8 ‘‘(2) Building community expertise to develop 

9 health impact profiles through community-based or10 ganizations and community health centers. 

11 ‘‘(3) Improving community ability to identify 

12 harmful environmental exposure by covered entities. 

13 ‘‘(4) Preserving a healthy and environmentally 

14 friendly community. 

15 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The Secretary may 

16 not make a grant to a community-based organization or 

17 a community health center under this section unless the 

18 organization or center agrees that, of the amount received 

19 through the grant, not more than 10 percent of such 

20 amount will be used to cover reasonable administrative 

21 costs necessary to carry out the activities described in sub22 section (c). 

23 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

24 carry out this section, there is authorized to be appro25 priated $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 

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1 2010. Funds appropriated under this section shall remain 

2 available until expended.’’. 

Æ 

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