I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4953 

To reduce the health risks of heat by establishing the National Integrated 

Heat Health Information System within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Integrated Heat Health Information System Interagency Committee to improve extreme heat preparedness, planning, and response, requiring a study, and establishing financial 

assistance programs to address heat effects, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2023 

Ms. BONAMICI (for herself, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, 

Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. LEE

of California, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. PETTERSEN, Mr. 

MULLIN, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. TITUS, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. SALINAS, 

Mr. LEVIN, and Mr. CA ́RDENAS) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of 

such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To reduce the health risks of heat by establishing the National Integrated Heat Health Information System within 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

and the National Integrated Heat Health Information 

System Interagency Committee to improve extreme heat 

preparedness, planning, and response, requiring a study, 

and establishing financial assistance programs to address 

heat effects, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Preventing Health 

5 Emergencies And Temperature-related Illness and Deaths 

6 Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘Preventing HEAT Illness and 

7 Deaths Act of 2023’’. 

8 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) COMMUNITY WITH ENVIRONMENTAL JUS11 TICE CONCERNS.—The term ‘‘community with envi12 ronmental justice concerns’’ means a community 

13 with significant representation of communities of 

14 color, low-income communities, or Tribal and indige15 nous communities, that experiences, or is at risk of 

16 experiencing, higher or more adverse human health 

17 or environmental effects, as compared to other com18 munities. 

19 (2) EXTREME HEAT.—The term ‘‘extreme 

20 heat’’ means heat that substantially exceeds local cli21 matological norms in terms of any combination of 

22 the following: 

23 (A) Duration. 

24 (B) Intensity. 

25 (C) Season length. 


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1 (D) Frequency. 

2 (3) HEAT.—The term ‘‘heat’’ means any com3 bination of the atmospheric parameters associated 

4 with modulating human thermal regulation, such as 

5 air temperature, humidity, solar exposure, and wind 

6 speed. 

7 (4) HEAT EVENT.—The term ‘‘heat event’’ 

8 means an occurrence of increased heat that may 

9 have heat-health implications. 

10 (5) HEAT-HEALTH.—The term ‘‘heat-health’’ 

11 means health effects to humans from heat, during or 

12 outside of heat events, including from vulnerability 

13 and exposure, or the risk of such effects. 

14 (6) PLANNING.—The term ‘‘planning’’ means 

15 activities performed across timescales (including 

16 days, weeks, months, years, and decades) with sce17 nario-based, probabilistic or deterministic informa18 tion to identify and take actions to proactively miti19 gate heat-health risks from increased frequency, du20 ration, and intensity of heat waves and increased 

21 ambient temperature. 

22 (7) PREPAREDNESS.—The term ‘‘preparedness’’ 

23 means activities performed across timescales (includ24 ing days, weeks, months, years, and decades) with 

25 probabilistic or deterministic information to manage 


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1 risk in advance of a heat event and increased ambi2 ent temperature. 

3 (8) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Tribal 

4 government’’ means the recognized governing body 

5 of any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, 

6 pueblo, village, community, component band, or com7 ponent reservation, individually identified (including 

8 parenthetically) in the list published most recently as 

9 of the date of enactment of this Act pursuant to sec10 tion 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe 

11 List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131). 

12 (9) URBAN HEAT ISLAND.—The term ‘‘urban 

13 heat island’’ means the phenomenon observed in ur14 banized areas in which heat is more extreme than in 

15 the surrounding exurban areas and heat is hetero16 geneously distributed within urbanized areas, due to 

17 factors including— 

18 (A) low albedo and impervious surfaces; 

19 (B) low vegetation coverage; and 

20 (C) waste heat produced in urban areas. 

21 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

22 Congress makes the following findings: 

23 (1) Extreme heat events have been the leading 

24 cause of weather-related death in the United States 

25 over the last 30 years, according to the Centers for 


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1 Disease Control and Prevention and the National 

2 Weather Service. 

3 (2) The fourth National Climate Assessment, 

4 mandated by the Global Change Research Act of 

5 1990 (15 U.S.C. 2921 et seq.), finds that during the 

6 next few decades, annual average temperature over 

7 the contiguous United States is projected to increase 

8 by a further 2.2°F relative to current temperatures, 

9 regardless of future scenarios. The National Climate 

10 Assessment projects that the frequency and intensity 

11 of extreme heat events will increase in the future as 

12 global temperature increases. 

13 (3) Exposure to extreme heat can cause acute 

14 heat-related illnesses, such as heat stroke, which al15 ready result in more than 65,000 emergency room 

16 visits each year and exacerbate respiratory and car17 diovascular illnesses. 

18 (4) Heat poses the greatest health risks for 

19 adults older than 65 years of age, pregnant people, 

20 young children, low-income communities, urban com21 munities, communities with low air conditioning 

22 prevalence, socially isolated individuals, people with 

23 mental or physical disabilities, people with under24 lying medical conditions, agricultural or other out25 door workers, workers without sufficient access to 


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1 cooling, athletes, incarcerated individuals, people ex2 periencing homelessness, and military personnel. 

3 (5) Extreme heat is significantly associated 

4 with serious adverse pregnancy outcomes across the 

5 United States. Those adverse pregnancy outcomes 

6 disproportionately impact Black mothers. 

7 (6) Heat exposure is an issue of environmental 

8 justice, as people living in low-income communities, 

9 communities of color, and Tribal nations face a 

10 number of interacting factors that render them more 

11 vulnerable to extreme heat. 

12 (7) The impacts of heat on human health are 

13 more severe in urban areas where land surface prop14 erties create an urban heat island, particularly in 

15 neighborhoods with limited availability of or access 

16 to green spaces, shade, and tree cover, due to higher 

17 density of building structures and more vehicular 

18 traffic. 

19 (8) Limited availability of tree cover and higher 

20 temperatures are correlated with low-income neigh21 borhoods in urban areas. In Richmond, Virginia, 

22 Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, DC, re23 searchers found that risk of exposure to extreme 

24 heat is disproportionately distributed to communities 


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1 of color in patterns associated with segregation and 

2 redlining. 

3 (9) Researchers have found that few commu4 nities in the United States have sufficient climate 

5 and health information, guidance, and resources for 

6 heat planning, preparedness, and response. 

7 (10) The risks associated with extreme heat 

8 have complex interactions and impacts, and the 

9 management of those risks requires a 

10 transdisciplinary approach. 

11 (11) Regions, communities, and populations 

12 that face the greatest health consequences of ex13 treme heat often may experience the lowest heat risk 

14 perceptions, have limited incentives, or have access 

15 to the fewest resources for responding to extreme 

16 heat, and as such, may be less likely to take pre17 cautions. 

18 (12) Research on the impacts of extreme heat 

19 on human health and the effectiveness of solutions 

20 under varying climate, social, and other contexts is 

21 stymied by a lack of access to reliable, timely health 

22 observations and surveillance due to proprietary data 

23 rights, expense, privacy and security concerns, incon24 sistent reporting of health outcomes and contribu25 tory factors, poor data integration and interoperVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:45 Aug 21, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4953.IH H4953

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1 ability, few incentives and little systematic coordina2 tion to address those problems, and a lack of ade3 quate climate observation, modeling, and assessment 

4 in rural, urban, indoor, and occupational settings. 

5 (13) Integrated climate and health research and 

6 information, when developed in a collaborative, 

7 transdisciplinary manner, can inform long- and me8 dium-range scenario-based planning and decision 

9 making to protect vulnerable communities and popu10 lations from extreme heat, reduce exposure to ex11 treme heat, and address factors that increase vulner12 ability. 

13 (14) Increased heat can have cascading and 

14 compounding impacts across and among sectors in15 cluding energy, food supply and quality, transpor16 tation, housing, infrastructure, hospital and 

17 healthcare delivery, and education, all of which af18 fect health and well-being. 

19 (15) Heat action plans and early warning sys20 tems can reduce heat-related morbidity and mor21 tality by clearly identifying roles and responsibilities 

22 as well as evidence-based actions and thresholds to 

23 enhance preparedness, and by promoting behavior 

24 changes and actions taken by local governments, 

25 communities, and individuals through awareness and 


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1 increased risk perception among those most vulner2 able to the health impacts of heat. 

3 SEC. 4. NATIONAL INTEGRATED HEAT HEALTH INFORMA4 TION SYSTEM INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMITTEE.—There is es6 tablished within the Office of Science and Technology Pol7 icy an interagency committee, to be known as the ‘‘Na8 tional Integrated Heat Health Information System Inter9 agency Committee’’ (in this section referred to as the 

10 ‘‘Committee’’). 

11 (b) PURPOSE.—The Committee shall coordinate, 

12 plan, and direct agencies represented on the Committee 

13 to execute, as appropriate, activities across such agencies 

14 to ensure a united Federal approach to reducing health 

15 risks from heat across timescales (including days, weeks, 

16 months, years, and decades). 

17 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to carry out and 

19 achieve the purpose described in subsection (b), the 

20 Committee shall include the following: 

21 (A) The Director of the National Inte22 grated Heat Health Information System. 

23 (B) Not fewer than 1 representative from 

24 each of the following: 


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1 (i) From the Department of Com2 merce, the following: 

3 (I) From the National Oceanic 

4 and Atmospheric Administration, the 

5 following: 

6 (aa) The National Weather 

7 Service. 

8 (bb) The Office of Oceanic 

9 and Atmospheric Research. 

10 (cc) The National Environ11 mental Satellite, Data, and Infor12 mation Service. 

13 (II) The National Institute of 

14 Standards and Technology. 

15 (III) The Bureau of the Census. 

16 (ii) From the Department of Health 

17 and Human Services, the following: 

18 (I) The Centers for Disease Con19 trol and Prevention, including the Na20 tional Institute for Occupational Safe21 ty and Health. 

22 (II) The Office of the Assistant 

23 Secretary of Health and Human Serv24 ices for Preparedness and Response. 


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1 (III) The Substance Abuse and 

2 Mental Health Services Administra3 tion. 

4 (IV) The National Institutes of 

5 Health. 

6 (V) The Indian Health Service. 

7 (iii) From the Department of the In8 terior, the following: 

9 (I) The Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

10 (II) The Bureau of Land Man11 agement. 

12 (III) The National Park Service. 

13 (iv) From the Environmental Protec14 tion Agency, the following: 

15 (I) The Office of Environmental 

16 Justice. 

17 (II) The Office of Air and Radi18 ation, if the Administrator of the En19 vironmental Protection Agency deter20 mines appropriate. 

21 (III) The Office of Research and 

22 Development, if the Administrator de23 termines appropriate. 

24 (IV) The Office of International 

25 and Tribal Affairs. 


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1 (v) The Federal Emergency Manage2 ment Agency. 

3 (vi) The Department of Defense. 

4 (vii) The Department of Agriculture. 

5 (viii) The Department of Housing and 

6 Urban Development. 

7 (ix) The Department of Transpor8 tation. 

9 (x) The Department of Energy. 

10 (xi) The Department of Labor, includ11 ing the Occupational Safety and Health 

12 Administration. 

13 (xii) The Department of Veteran Af14 fairs. 

15 (xiii) Such other Federal agencies as 

16 the Director of the Office of Science and 

17 Technology Policy considers appropriate. 

18 (2) SELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES.—The 

19 head of an agency specified in paragraph (1)(B) 

20 shall, in appointing representatives of the agency to 

21 the Committee, select representatives who have ex22 pertise in areas relevant to the responsibilities of the 

23 Committee, such as weather and climate prediction, 

24 health impacts, environmental justice, behavioral 


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1 science, public health hazard preparedness and re2 sponse, or mental health services. 

3 (3) CO-CHAIRS.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The members of the 

5 Committee shall select 2 individuals from 

6 among such members to serve as co-chairs of 

7 the Committee, subject to the approval of the 

8 Director of the Office of Science and Tech9 nology Policy. 

10 (B) SELECTION.— 

11 (i) INITIAL SELECTION.—Of the co12 chairs first selected, one co-chair shall be 

13 from the National Oceanic and Atmos14 pheric Administration, and one co-chair 

15 shall be from the Centers for Disease Con16 trol and Prevention. 

17 (ii) SUBSEQUENT SELECTION.—Sub18 sequent co-chairs shall be selected from 

19 among the members of the Committee. 

20 (C) TERMS.—Each co-chair shall serve for 

21 a term of not more than 5 years. 

22 (D) RESPONSIBILITIES OF CO-CHAIRS.— 

23 The co-chairs of the Committee shall work with 

24 the Director of the National Integrated Heat 

25 Health Information System— 


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1 (i) to determine the agenda of the 

2 Committee, in consultation with other 

3 members of the Committee; 

4 (ii) to direct the work of the Com5 mittee; and 

6 (iii) to convene meetings of the Com7 mittee not less frequently than once each 

8 fiscal quarter. 

9 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMITTEE.—The Com10 mittee shall promote an integrated, Federal Government11 wide approach to reducing health risks and impacts of 

12 heat, including by— 

13 (1) developing the strategic plan required by 

14 subsection (e); 

15 (2) coordinating across Federal agencies on 

16 heat-health communication, research, service deliv17 ery, and workforce development; and 

18 (3) building capacity and partnerships with 

19 Federal and non-Federal entities. 

20 (e) STRATEGIC PLAN.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Committee 

23 shall submit to Congress and make available on a 

24 public website a 5-year integrated strategic plan that 

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1 cluding how the Committee will improve coordination 

2 and integration of interagency Federal actions to ad3 dress health risks of heat, including— 

4 (A) a strategy for improving and coordi5 nating existing Federal data collection and data 

6 management to include sharing of data and sta7 tistics on heat-related illnesses and mortalities 

8 and other impacts to inform heat-related activi9 ties; 

10 (B) a strategy for improving and coordi11 nating Federal activities to understand user 

12 gaps and needs, conduct research, foster inno13 vative solutions, and provide actionable infor14 mation and services; and 

15 (C) mechanisms for financing heat pre16 paredness within such agencies as the Com17 mittee considers appropriate. 

18 (2) IMPLEMENTATION PLANS.—The head of an 

19 agency represented on the Committee may imple20 ment the portions of the strategic plan required by 

21 paragraph (1) that are relevant to that agency by 

22 developing and implementing a multi-year implemen23 tation plan. 

24 (3) UPDATES.—Not later than 5 years after the 

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1 graph (1), the Committee shall submit to Congress 

2 an update of the plan, which shall include progress 

3 made toward goals outlined in the plan and new pri4 orities that emerge. 

5 (f) ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.—The Administrator 

6 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

7 shall provide technical and administrative support to the 

8 Committee, using amounts authorized to be appropriated 

9 to the Administration. 

10 (g) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the responsibil11 ities of the Committee, the Committee shall consult with 

12 relevant regional, State, Tribal, and local governments, 

13 international organizations and partners, research institu14 tions, nongovernmental organizations and associations, 

15 and medical experts with expertise in emergency response, 

16 environmental health, economic or business development, 

17 or community engagement. 

18 SEC. 5. NATIONAL INTEGRATED HEAT HEALTH INFORMA19 TION SYSTEM. 

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary of Com21 merce for Oceans and Atmosphere shall establish within 

22 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration a 

23 system, to be known as the ‘‘National Integrated Heat 

24 Health Information System’’ (NIHHIS) (in this section 

25 referred to as the ‘‘System’’). 


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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the System is to im2 prove the capacity of weather, subseasonal, and seasonal 

3 forecasts for the United States to allow the Federal Gov4 ernment and stakeholders to plan, prepare for, adapt to, 

5 and mitigate health risks of extreme heat across multiple 

6 timescales. 

7 (c) DIRECTOR.—The System shall be headed by a Di8 rector. 

9 (d) RESPONSIBILITIES.—In carrying out the purpose 

10 described in subsection (b), the Director shall— 

11 (1) develop and sustain robust relationships 

12 with Federal and non-Federal partners and decision13 makers— 

14 (A) to respond to the demand for action15 able weather- and climate-related information 

16 that reduces health risks on multiple timescales; 

17 (B) to conduct research and scientific in18 novation; and 

19 (C) to develop and deliver timely and ac20 cessible decision support services, solutions, 

21 tools, and information to inform planning, pre22 paredness, and risk-reducing actions across 

23 timescales; 

24 (2) coordinate and collaborate with the inter25 national community and global partners to conduct 


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1 research and learn from, leverage, and contribute to 

2 global knowledge as it pertains to predicting and 

3 preventing the impacts of increased heat; 

4 (3) enhance observations, surveillance, moni5 toring, and analysis necessary for the activities de6 scribed in paragraphs (1) and (2); and 

7 (4) communicate, educate, and build awareness 

8 regarding the risks and impacts of increased heat 

9 and extreme heat events to communities, educational 

10 and economic sectors, Tribal governments, and other 

11 relevant stakeholders. 

12 (e) DATA MANAGEMENT.— 

13 (1) AVAILABILITY.—The Director shall coordi14 nate with interagency partners to ensure that data 

15 and metadata associated with the System is fully 

16 and openly available, within the legal right to redis17 tribute, in accordance with chapter 31 of title 44, 

18 United States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Fed19 eral Records Act of 1950’’), and the Federal Evi20 dence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Public Law 

21 115–435; 132 Stat. 5529) and the amendments 

22 made by that Act, to maximize use of such data to 

23 support the goals of the System. 

24 (2) NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL

25 INFORMATION.—The Under Secretary of Commerce 


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1 for Oceans and Atmosphere shall manage, maintain, 

2 and steward archival data and metadata associated 

3 with the System within the National Centers for En4 vironmental Information. 

5 (f) RESEARCH PROGRAM.—The Director shall de6 velop and implement a climate and health research grant 

7 program, in coordination with the financial assistance pro8 gram under section 7 and other Federal programs— 

9 (1) to improve understanding of— 

10 (A) the climate epidemiology and social, 

11 behavioral, and economic drivers of heat-health 

12 vulnerability and risk; 

13 (B) the drivers of climate variability, pre14 dictability, and changes in extreme heat; and 

15 (C) the impacts of extreme heat, compound 

16 hazards, and cascading impacts across 

17 timescales; 

18 (2) to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness 

19 of risk management actions, interventions, policies, 

20 standards, codes, and guidelines; and 

21 (3) to address other topics as appropriate, in22 cluding topics outlined in the strategic plan required 

23 by section 4(e)(1) and the financial assistance pro24 gram under section 7. 


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1 (g) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES.—The Director shall 

2 carry out such other activities as the Committee considers 

3 appropriate. 

4 SEC. 6. STUDY ON EXTREME HEAT INFORMATION AND RE5 SPONSE. 

6 (a) STUDY.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

8 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

9 Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and At10 mosphere, in consultation with the National Inte11 grated Heat Health Information System Interagency 

12 Committee and the individuals and entities described 

13 in section 4(g), shall seek to enter into an agreement 

14 with the National Academies of Science, Engineer15 ing, and Medicine to conduct a study on extreme 

16 heat information and response, to be completed not 

17 later than 3 years after such date of enactment. 

18 (2) ELEMENTS.—The study described in para19 graph (1) shall— 

20 (A) identify policy and research gaps, 

21 which may include— 

22 (i) regions of the United States with 

23 the largest gaps between awareness, pre24 paredness, and capacity to address extreme 

25 heat; and 


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1 (ii) heat-related gaps in data, such 

2 as— 

3 (I) the number of schools, pris4 ons, and other public facilities that 

5 lack air conditioning; 

6 (II) the demographic breakdown 

7 of people affected by heat events, in8 cluding by race, age, gender, occupa9 tion, and income; 

10 (III) medical coding in health 

11 care facilities (such as hospitals, 

12 emergency rooms, and health centers) 

13 that indicate heat-related illnesses 

14 (such as kidney failure, dehydration, 

15 and fainting spells); and 

16 (IV) with respect to public policy 

17 at the State and community level that 

18 enhance vulnerabilities to extreme 

19 heat (such as outdoor working condi20 tions and thresholds to protect work21 ers, animals, and others susceptible to 

22 heat-related illness); 

23 (B) provide recommendations for address24 ing gaps with respect to policy, research, oper25 ations, communications, and data, including the 


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1 gaps identified under subparagraph (A), affect2 ing heat-health planning, preparedness, re3 sponse, resilience, adaptation, and environ4 mental justice and equity; 

5 (C) provide such other recommendations as 

6 the Director considers appropriate, which may 

7 include strategies for— 

8 (i) communicating warnings to and 

9 providing impact-based decision support to 

10 promote preparedness actions and resil11 ience of populations vulnerable to extreme 

12 heat; 

13 (ii) understanding compound and cas14 cading risks, and implementing alternative 

15 heat-health risk reduction interventions to 

16 manage those risks collectively, such as re17 ducing risk of the transmission of infec18 tious diseases during heat waves by cre19 ating outdoor cooling locations or increas20 ing ventilation and filtration in indoor cool21 ing centers; 

22 (iii) promoting community resilience 

23 to heat events and incorporating principles 

24 of environmental justice in community re25 sponse to heat waves; 


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1 (iv) addressing the impacts of extreme 

2 heat on energy cost, affordability, and reli3 ability for residential and commercial in4 frastructure (such as weatherization, en5 ergy costs, electric power systems, and 

6 water supply and treatment systems); and 

7 (v) establishing labor and other stand8 ards for workers and heat; and 

9 (D) consider such other subjects as the 

10 Committee considers appropriate, which may in11 clude— 

12 (i) the feasibility of enhancing and 

13 standardizing existing nationwide data col14 lection on heat-related illnesses and mor15 talities to improve and ensure consistent 

16 collection of national-level heat illness data 

17 across all 50 States, territories, and local 

18 jurisdictions of the United States; 

19 (ii) mechanisms for financing heat 

20 preparedness; and 

21 (iii) the effectiveness of county- or 

22 local-level heat awareness and communica23 tion approaches, heat action, and tools, 

24 preparedness plans, or mitigation. 


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1 (3) DEVELOPMENT OF DEFINITIONS.—Fol2 lowing the study described in paragraph (1), the 

3 Committee shall work with heat experts across dis4 ciplines to comprehensively identify impacts of in5 creased heat to inform consistent and agreed upon 

6 definitions for heat events, heat waves, and other 

7 relevant terms. 

8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after com9 pleting the study described in subsection (a)(1), the Com10 mittee shall— 

11 (1) make available to the public on a Federal 

12 internet website of the National Oceanic and Atmos13 pheric Administration a report on the findings and 

14 conclusions of the study; and 

15 (2) submit the report to— 

16 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

17 and Transportation of the Senate; 

18 (B) the Committee on Health, Education, 

19 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; 

20 (C) the Committee on Science, Space, and 

21 Technology of the House of Representatives; 

22 (D) the Committee on Energy and Com23 merce of the House of Representatives; and 

24 (E) the Committee on Education and the 

25 Workforce of the House of Representatives. 


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1 SEC. 7. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR RESILIENCE IN AD2 DRESSING EXTREME HEAT AND HEALTH 

3 RISKS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year 

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Di7 rector of the National Integrated Heat Health Infor8 mation System may, in coordination with the Na9 tional Integrated Heat Health Information System 

10 Interagency Committee, establish and administer a 

11 community heat resilience program to provide finan12 cial assistance to eligible entities to carry out 

13 projects described in subsection (e) to ameliorate 

14 human health impacts of extreme heat events. 

15 (2) REVISION.—Upon completion of the stra16 tegic plan required by section 4(e)(1), the Com17 mittee may revise the community heat resilience pro18 gram to ensure the program aligns with the strategic 

19 plan and is administered in accordance with the 

20 plan. 

21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the financial assist22 ance provided under this section is to improve community 

23 resilience to heat and heat-health impacts and further sci24 entific research to address adaptation gaps and priorities. 


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1 (c) FORMS OF ASSISTANCE.—Financial assistance 

2 provided under this section may be in the form of prizes, 

3 contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements. 

4 (d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Entities eligible to receive 

5 financial assistance under this section to carry out 

6 projects described in subsection (e) include— 

7 (1) nonprofit entities; 

8 (2) States; 

9 (3) Tribal governments; 

10 (4) local governments; 

11 (5) local workforce development boards; and 

12 (6) academic institutions. 

13 (e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Projects described in this 

14 subsection include the following: 

15 (1) Projects to reduce heat-health risks, includ16 ing sustainable heat reduction and mitigation solu17 tions such as for cool roofs, cool pavements, urban 

18 forestry or tree plantings and maintenance, the pro19 vision of shade, cooling and resilience centers, retro20 fitting buildings for cooling, improving the resilience 

21 of the power grid to ensure reliable air conditioning, 

22 energy efficiency, acquisitions or upgrades of filtra23 tion systems or high-efficiency air conditioning sys24 tems, and strategies to improve community level re25 sponse before and during a heat event. 


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1 (2) Training programs to support the develop2 ment and integration of education and training pro3 grams for identifying and addressing risks associ4 ated with climate change for vulnerable individuals. 

5 (3) Projects focusing on being responsive to 

6 heat-related needs from communities heard from en7 gagements at different geographic scales (national to 

8 regional to local) including— 

9 (A) to expand public awareness of heat 

10 risks; 

11 (B) to conduct community-based climate 

12 and health observational campaigns; 

13 (C) to conduct scientific research to assess 

14 gaps and priorities regarding the risks of ex15 treme heat in communities; 

16 (D) to communicate risks and warnings to 

17 isolated communities; 

18 (E) to support the establishment of work19 place policies and practices to reduce the risk of 

20 extreme heat illness among workers; 

21 (F) to educate such communities about 

22 how to respond to extreme heat events; and 

23 (G) to establish local, city, and county heat 

24 planning and heat-related emergency action 

25 plans. 


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1 (4) Other projects that the Director determines 

2 will achieve a significant reduction in heat exposure 

3 or increased resilience to increased heat or extreme 

4 heat events. 

5 (f) PRIORITIES.—In selecting eligible entities to re6 ceive financial assistance under this section, the Director 

7 shall prioritize entities that will carry out projects that 

8 provide benefits for historically disadvantaged commu9 nities and communities with significant heat disparities 

10 associated with race, ethnicity, or income. 

11 (g) DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE.— 

12 (1) COMMUNITIES WITH ENVIRONMENTAL JUS13 TICE CONCERNS AND LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES.— 

14 Not less than 40 percent of the amount of financial 

15 assistance provided under this section in any fiscal 

16 year shall be provided to eligible entities to imple17 ment projects described in subsection (e) in commu18 nities with environmental justice concerns or low-in19 come communities. 

20 (2) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—The Director 

21 shall seek to equitably distribute financial assistance 

22 provided under this section based on geographic lo23 cation or such other factors as the Director deter24 mines appropriate. 


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•HR 4953 IH

1 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) NATIONAL INTEGRATED HEAT HEALTH INFOR3 MATION SYSTEM INTERAGENCY COMMITTEE; NATIONAL

4 INTEGRATED HEAT HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM; 

5 STUDY ON EXTREME HEAT INFORMATION AND RE6 SPONSE.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the 

7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to 

8 carry out sections 4 and 5, including for any administra9 tive costs for the National Integrated Heat Health Infor10 mation System Interagency Committee and the National 

11 Integrated Heat Health Information System, the fol12 lowing: 

13 (1) For fiscal year 2024, $20,000,000. 

14 (2) For fiscal year 2025, $20,000,000. 

15 (3) For fiscal year 2026, $20,000,000. 

16 (4) For fiscal year 2027, $20,000,000. 

17 (5) For fiscal year 2028, $20,000,000. 

18 (b) STUDY ON EXTREME HEAT INFORMATION AND

19 RESPONSE.—There is authorized to be appropriated to 

20 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

21 $500,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2026 to 

22 contract with the National Academies of Science, Engi23 neering, and Medicine to carry out section 6. 

24 (c) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR RESILIENCE IN AD25 DRESSING EXTREME HEAT AND HEALTH RISKS.—There 

26 is authorized to be appropriated to the National Oceanic 


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1 and Atmospheric Administration to carry out section 7 the 

2 following: 

3 (1) For fiscal year 2024, $10,000,000. 

4 (2) For fiscal year 2025, $10,000,000. 

5 (3) For fiscal year 2026, $20,000,000. 

6 (4) For fiscal year 2027, $30,000,000. 

7 (5) For fiscal year 2028, $30,000,000. 

Æ 


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