Sponsors (16)
The bill creates a public, data-driven screening tool that improves identification, targeting, and transparency for communities facing environmental and health burdens, at the cost of taxpayer-funded implementation, potential privacy and stigma harms, resource trade-offs, and disputes over classifications.
Low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities will be more likely to be identified for and receive targeted environmental reviews, remediation, and federal resources.
Public health planning will improve because the tool highlights areas with high rates of asthma, diabetes, maternal mortality, and other health indicators, enabling better-targeted interventions.
Federal agencies gain a consistent, data-driven method to prioritize investments, enforcement, and climate and environmental actions across jurisdictions.
Taxpayers could face nontrivial costs to develop, maintain, and run the screening tool, and federal adoption may redirect agency resources or increase administrative expenses.
Collecting and publishing detailed demographic and health data could raise privacy and civil liberties concerns for affected populations if safeguards are inadequate.
Labeling tracts as 'disproportionately burdened' could stigmatize neighborhoods, potentially lowering property values or deterring private investment in those areas.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires EPA to publish a public geospatial Environmental Justice Screening Tool within one year, with annual updates and federal agency adoption as appropriate.
Official title: To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to develop a geospatial mapping tool to identify disproportionately burdened communities, and for other purposes.
Introduced December 17, 2025 by Luz M. Rivas · Last progress December 17, 2025
Requires the EPA to build and publish a public, geospatial Environmental Justice Screening Tool within one year that maps census tracts identified as disproportionately burdened across environmental, climate, health, economic, social, and other factors. The tool must use category-specific thresholds (set with input from universities, nonprofits, community groups, and state, local, and tribal officials), be reviewed and updated annually, and trigger an annual report to specific congressional committees listing tracts added or removed. Federal agencies are directed to begin using the tool within one year of its publication to help identify and prioritize resources where appropriate.