Preventing HEAT Illness and Deaths Act of 2025
- Bill Number
- S. 2675
- Origin Chamber
- Senate
- Congress
- 119th Congress, Session 1
- Policy Area
- Health
- Status
- Introduced
- Latest Action
- 2025-08-01: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Last Updated
- 2025-12-05T21:44:48Z
AI-Generated Summary
Purpose of the Legislation
The Preventing Health Emergencies And Temperature-related Illness and Deaths Act of 2025 (Preventing HEAT Illness and Deaths Act of 2025) aims to reduce health risks from extreme heat by creating a coordinated federal system for information sharing, planning, preparedness, and response. It focuses on protecting vulnerable populations, improving data access, and funding community resilience efforts to address the growing impacts of heat events driven by climate change.
Key Provisions
- Definitions: Provides clear terms for key concepts, such as extreme heat (heat exceeding local norms in duration, intensity, season length, or frequency), heat-health (human health effects from heat exposure or vulnerability), communities with environmental justice concerns (areas with higher health or environmental risks affecting communities of color, low-income groups, or Tribal and Indigenous populations), and urban heat island (urban areas that trap more heat due to surfaces like concrete, lack of vegetation, and waste heat).
- Findings: Outlines congressional recognition of extreme heat as the leading weather-related killer in the U.S. over the past 30 years, its disproportionate impacts on vulnerable groups (e.g., older adults, pregnant people, children, low-income and urban communities, outdoor workers, and incarcerated individuals), environmental justice issues, urban heat islands, data gaps, and the need for integrated federal tools and action plans.
- National Integrated Heat Health Information System Interagency Committee:
- Establishes a committee within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to coordinate federal agencies on heat-health risks across short- and long-term scales.
- Membership includes representatives from 16+ agencies (e.g., NOAA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Defense, and others), selected for expertise in weather prediction, public health, environmental justice, and related fields.
- Responsibilities: Develop a 5-year strategic plan (due within 2 years of enactment) for data sharing, research, user needs, and financing; coordinate communications, research, and partnerships; update Congress every 5 years.
- Co-chaired by three members (one each from NOAA, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) initially), with NOAA providing administrative support.
- Requires consultation with state/local governments, Tribes, international partners, researchers, and community organizations.
- National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS):
- Establishes NIHHIS within NOAA, led by a Director, to deliver heat-related data, forecasts, warnings, and tools, especially for disproportionately affected communities.
- Responsibilities: Build partnerships with emergency responders, health providers, governments, Tribes, and vulnerable groups; collaborate internationally on heat research; enhance monitoring and analysis; educate stakeholders on risks.
- Data Management: Ensures open access to data (following federal records laws and principles like FAIR—findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable—and CARE—collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, ethics); archives data at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.
- Research Program: Funds grants for studying heat vulnerability, climate drivers, impacts, and interventions (e.g., policies, standards).
- Additional activities as directed by the Committee.
- Study on Extreme Heat Information and Response:
- Requires NOAA, via the Committee, to contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for a study (initiated within 120 days of enactment, completed within 3 years).
- Study Elements: Identify gaps in policy, research, data (e.g., air conditioning in schools/prisons, demographic impacts, discontinued federal tools like CDC's Heat and Health Tracker); recommend solutions for planning, equity, communications, compound risks (e.g., heat plus disease transmission), energy reliability, worker protections, and standardized data collection.
- Post-Study: Develop consistent definitions for heat events; report findings publicly and to key congressional committees within 90 days of completion.
- Financial Assistance for Resilience:
- Establishes a Community Heat Resilience Program administered by NIHHIS Director, providing grants, contracts, prizes, or agreements (starting within 1 year of enactment, aligned with strategic plan).
- Eligible Entities: Nonprofits, states, Tribes, local governments, workforce boards, academic institutions, and NIHHIS-designated centers of excellence.
- Eligible Projects: Heat mitigation (e.g., cool roofs, tree planting, cooling centers, grid upgrades); training for vulnerable groups; rural/urban capacity building; community engagement (e.g., awareness campaigns, research, workplace policies, emergency plans).
- Priorities: Benefits for historically disadvantaged communities; at least 40% of funds to environmental justice or low-income areas; equitable geographic distribution.
- Authorizations of Appropriations:
- For Committee and NIHHIS (Sections 4-5): $20 million annually for FY2026-2030.
- For Study (Section 6): $500,000 annually for FY2026-2028.
- For Financial Assistance (Section 7): $10 million (FY2026-2027), $20 million (FY2028), $30 million (FY2029-2030).
Significant Changes to Existing Law
This bill introduces new federal structures and programs without directly amending prior laws, but it builds on existing frameworks like the Global Change Research Act (1990) and Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act (2017). It mandates coordination among agencies that previously operated siloed efforts and calls for reinstating or preserving discontinued tools (e.g., CDC Heat and Health Tracker, National Weather Service HeatRisk portal). It also requires new data standards and a dedicated research grant program, addressing gaps in heat-specific surveillance and equity-focused planning not explicitly covered in current climate or public health laws.
Potential Impacts
- Government Agencies: Enhances interagency collaboration (e.g., NOAA, HHS, EPA, FEMA), requiring resource allocation for data sharing, research, and grants; NOAA gains primary oversight, potentially increasing its role in public health. Could strain budgets if appropriations are not fully funded but streamlines federal responses to heat events.
- Citizens: Improves access to heat forecasts, warnings, and resilience funding, potentially reducing emergency visits (over 65,000 annually from heat illnesses) and deaths; benefits vulnerable groups through targeted projects like cooling centers and worker protections, while addressing urban/rural disparities and environmental justice.
- International Relations: Promotes global partnerships for heat research and knowledge sharing, which could strengthen U.S. leadership in climate-health diplomacy but has minimal direct foreign policy effects.
Main Stakeholders Affected
- Federal Agencies: NOAA (lead), HHS/CDC, EPA, FEMA, Departments of Defense, Labor, Energy, and others involved in coordination and implementation.
- State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Eligible for funding and consultations; must integrate federal tools into planning.
- Communities and Individuals: Especially environmental justice communities, low-income groups, Tribes, Indigenous populations, older adults, pregnant people, children, outdoor workers, homeless individuals, and those in urban heat islands or without air conditioning.
- Other Groups: Nonprofits, academic institutions, workforce boards, emergency responders, healthcare providers, and private sector (e.g., energy companies for grid resilience).
Notable Legal, Constitutional, or Political Implications
- Legal: Emphasizes open data access under existing federal records laws, potentially setting precedents for interoperability in climate-health data while respecting privacy (e.g., CARE principles for Indigenous data). Authorizes new spending without mandating it, leaving implementation to appropriations.
- Constitutional: Aligns with federal roles in interstate commerce, public welfare, and environmental protection (e.g., Commerce Clause); promotes equity without infringing state authority, as it encourages voluntary partnerships and consultations with states/Tribes.
- Political: Highlights environmental justice and climate adaptation as bipartisan priorities (introduced by Democrats but references broad findings); could influence future budgets and policies on worker safety (e.g., OSHA heat standards) and disaster response, amid debates on federal overreach in local planning. No overt partisan elements, focusing on evidence-based, transdisciplinary approaches.
This summary was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the official source document for the authoritative text.
Sponsor
Cosponsors (9)
Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA], Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ], Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM], Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT], Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR], Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR], Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL], Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ], Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
Recent Actions
- 2025-08-01: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- 2025-08-01: Introduced in Senate
Bill Versions
- Preventing Health Emergencies And Temperature-related Illness and Deaths Act of 2025 — issued 2025-08-01 — PDF (37 pages)