I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 275 

To establish a grant program to test and mitigate radon levels in public 

schools, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 15, 2013 

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to test and mitigate radon 

levels in public schools, 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 ‘‘End Radon in Schools 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap8 propriations to carry out this Act, not later than 1 year 

9 after the date that Federal funds are first appropriated 

10 for this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental ProVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:16 Jan 16, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H275.IH H275

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1 tection Agency, in consultation with the Secretary of Edu2 cation, shall establish a program under which the Admin3 istrator may award grants to States to conduct short-term 

4 radon testing to identify and mitigate unsafe radon levels 

5 in public schools. 

6 (b) GUIDELINES.—Not later than 1 year after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall re8 view, update, revise, and publish the Radon Measurements 

9 In Schools Guidelines with current information and guid10 ance on radon testing in a public school. 

11 SEC. 3. GRANT AWARDS. 

12 In carrying out the program under this Act, the Ad13 ministrator shall— 

14 (1) provide a grant award for each State se15 lected to receive a grant under this Act to complete 

16 the testing under section 5(b); 

17 (2) in the case of a State that submits a report 

18 and is required to conduct mitigation under section 

19 5(c)(1)— 

20 (A) provide an additional grant award for 

21 the State to conduct such mitigation under such 

22 subparagraph (A) of such section; or 

23 (B) conduct such mitigation under sub24 paragraph (B) of such section; and 


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1 (3) in the case of a State that submits a report 

2 and is required to conduct reevaluation under sec3 tion 5(d), provide an additional grant award for the 

4 State to complete the reevaluation. 

5 SEC. 4. APPLICATION; PRIORITY. 

6 (a) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

7 under this Act, a State shall submit an application to the 

8 Administrator in such manner, at such time, and con9 taining such information as the Administrator may re10 quire, including a certification that the grant funds will 

11 be used to— 

12 (1) test the radon levels in public schools pursu13 ant to section 5(b); and 

14 (2) mitigate the effects of unsafe radon levels in 

15 public schools pursuant to section 5(c), determined 

16 by the test under paragraph (1). 

17 (b) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants to States under 

18 this Act, the Administrator shall— 

19 (1) determine the priority of grant awards by 

20 ranking each State that submits an application in 

21 relation to each other such State; and 

22 (2) in ranking States under paragraph (1)— 

23 (A) assign highest priority to a State with 

24 100 percent of such State’s landmass in Radon 

25 Zone 1; 


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1 (B) in a case in which multiple States have 

2 100 percent of such States’ landmasses in 

3 Radon Zone 1, assign priority among such 

4 States at the Administrator’s discretion; 

5 (C) assign second highest priority to a 

6 State with at least 50 percent of such State’s 

7 landmass in Radon Zone 1; 

8 (D) in a case in which multiple States have 

9 at least 50 percent of such States’ landmasses 

10 in Radon Zone 1, assign priority among such 

11 States at the Administrator’s discretion; and 

12 (E) in a case in which a State has less 

13 than 50 percent of such State’s landmass in 

14 Radon Zone 1, assign priority to such State at 

15 the Administrator’s discretion. 

16 SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives a grant 

18 under this Act shall— 

19 (1) follow the Radon Measurements In Schools 

20 Guidelines updated pursuant to section 2(b); 

21 (2) test radon levels in each public school pur22 suant to subsection (b); 

23 (3) if necessary, mitigate unsafe radon levels 

24 pursuant to subsection (c); and 


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1 (4) if necessary, reevaluate mitigation pursuant 

2 to subsection (d). 

3 (b) TESTING.—A State that receives a grant under 

4 this Act shall— 

5 (1) conduct testing in each public school in 

6 such State consistent with the Administrator’s 

7 Radon Measurements In Schools Guidelines updated 

8 pursuant to section 2(b); 

9 (2) submit a report to the Administrator— 

10 (A) describing the results of each test con11 ducted pursuant to paragraph (1); and 

12 (B) if necessary, estimating the funds nec13 essary to conduct an additional short-term test 

14 under paragraph (3); and 

15 (3) in the case of a school that should have ad16 ditional testing, according to initial testing con17 ducted under paragraph (1), conduct such follow-up 

18 testing consistent with the Administrator’s Radon 

19 Measurements In Schools Guidelines updated pursu20 ant to section 2(b). 

21 (c) MITIGATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a public 

23 school at which testing conducted under paragraphs 

24 (1) and (3) of subsection (b) met the recommenda25 tions for mitigation in the Administrator’s Radon 


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1 Measurements In Schools Guidelines updated pursu2 ant to section 2(b)— 

3 (A) if the State’s report under paragraph 

4 (2) includes the certification described in para5 graph (2)(A), the State shall mitigate the radon 

6 level at the public school by providing funds to 

7 the local educational agency serving such school 

8 to enable the agency to carry out the mitigation 

9 described in paragraph (3); or 

10 (B) if the State’s report under paragraph 

11 (2) does not include such certification, the Ad12 ministrator shall carry out the mitigation de13 scribed in paragraph (3), directly or by contract 

14 funded under this grant program. 

15 (2) CERTIFICATION; REPORTING.—A State that 

16 receives a grant under this Act shall— 

17 (A) if necessary, seek certification from 

18 each local educational agency that serves each 

19 public school described in paragraph (1) that 

20 such agency will, if provided funding pursuant 

21 to section 3(2)(A), complete the actions de22 scribed in paragraph (3); and 

23 (B) submit a report to the Administrator 

24 that— 


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1 (i) in the case in which a local edu2 cational agency provides certification to the 

3 State under subparagraph (A), includes 

4 such certification; 

5 (ii) describes the results of each test 

6 at such public school conducted under sub7 section (b); and 

8 (iii) if necessary, estimates the funds 

9 necessary to conduct mitigation at such 

10 public school pursuant to paragraph (3). 

11 (3) MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS.—In miti12 gating the radon levels at public schools, the Admin13 istrator or a local educational agency, as appro14 priate, shall— 

15 (A) work with a qualified radon mitigation 

16 professional to determine the most effective way 

17 to mitigate the radon at the public school; 

18 (B) create a mitigation plan within 3 

19 months after the completion of the testing 

20 under subsection (b); 

21 (C) designate a mitigation unit and imple22 ment the mitigation plan under subparagraph 

23 (B) within one year after completion of the 

24 testing under subsection (b); 


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1 (D) conduct a short-term test not less than 

2 once every two years; and 

3 (E) if necessary, conduct the reevaluation 

4 under subsection (d). 

5 (d) REEVALUATION.—If the follow-up testing under 

6 subsection (c)(3)(D) conducted after the mitigation plan 

7 is implemented results in a radon level that is still meeting 

8 the recommendations for mitigation in the Administrator’s 

9 Radon Measurements In Schools Guidelines updated pur10 suant to section 2(b), the local educational agency that 

11 serves the school shall— 

12 (1) reevaluate the mitigation plan under sub13 section (c)(3)(B) in consultation with a qualified 

14 radon mitigation professional; 

15 (2) create an alternative mitigation plan to re16 place the mitigation plan; 

17 (3) submit a report to the Administrator— 

18 (A) describing the results of such annual 

19 test; and 

20 (B) estimating the funds necessary to con21 duct reevaluation under this subsection; and 

22 (4) direct the mitigation unit to implement an 

23 alternative mitigation plan under subsection (c)(3) 

24 within 6 months after the date of the follow-up test. 


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1 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis4 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ5 mental Protection Agency. 

6 (2) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

7 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 

8 that term in section 9101 of the Elementary and 

9 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

10 (3) MITIGATION PLAN.—The term ‘‘mitigation 

11 plan’’ means the plan to mitigate radon created by 

12 the qualified radon mitigation professional in con13 sultation with the local educational agency under 

14 section 5(c)(3)(B). 

15 (4) MITIGATION UNIT.—The term ‘‘mitigation 

16 unit’’ means the individuals designated under section 

17 5(c)(3)(C) by the local educational agency to imple18 ment the mitigation plan. 

19 (5) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘public 

20 school’’ has the meaning given that term in section 

21 5145 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

22 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7217d). 

23 (6) QUALIFIED RADON MITIGATION PROFES24 SIONAL.—The term ‘‘qualified radon mitigation pro25 fessional’’ means an individual— 


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1 (A) licensed, certified, registered, or quali2 fied by a State radon program to mitigate 

3 radon; 

4 (B) certified by a national radon profes5 sional organization; or 

6 (C) approved by the Administrator to miti7 gate radon. 

8 (7) RADON MEASUREMENTS IN SCHOOLS

9 GUIDELINES.—The term ‘‘Radon Measurements In 

10 Schools Guidelines’’ means the report entitled 

11 ‘‘Radon Measurements In Schools’’ produced by the 

12 Administrator in July 1993, describing current in13 formation and guidance on radon testing in a public 

14 school. 

15 (8) RADON ZONE 1.—The term ‘‘Radon Zone 

16 1’’ means those areas with a predicted average in17 door radon screening level greater than 4 picocuries 

18 per liter. 

19 (9) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

20 the Secretary of Education. 

21 (10) SHORT-TERM TEST.—The term ‘‘short22 term test’’ means a test approved by the Adminis23 trator in which a testing device remains in an area 

24 for not less than 2 days and not more than 90 days 


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1 to determine the amount of radon in the air that is 

2 acceptable for human inhalation. 

3 (11) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

4 the several States of the United States and the Dis5 trict of Columbia. 

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