Sponsors (2)
The bill funds a national study that will give governments, health systems, workers, and farmers better data to plan for and reduce extreme-heat harms, but it risks delayed relief for hot-spot communities, possible undercounting of vulnerable groups, ethical concerns over monetizing lives, and modest federal cost.
State and local governments and communities will receive quantified estimates of extreme-heat economic damages to guide planning, budgeting, and local adaptation decisions.
Public health agencies and hospitals will get standardized metrics to improve heat-death reporting and to anticipate and manage heat-related healthcare demand.
Workers and employers (including transportation workers) could use measures of labor productivity losses to design workplace heat protections and prioritize adaptation investments.
Communities experiencing immediate extreme-heat risk (e.g., seniors and people with chronic conditions) may face delayed actionable protections because the study has a four-year deadline before public release.
If existing data gaps persist, the study could undercount harms to underserved populations, leading to weaker protections or funding for low-income communities and people with disabilities.
Putting a dollar value on loss of life and health may be ethically contentious and could influence policymaker priorities in ways some communities object to.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires NOAA to conduct and publish a nationwide economic study quantifying the financial costs of extreme heat and recommends national tracking metrics; authorizes $3.5M.
Official title: Require the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere to conduct an economic impact study of the financial costs of extreme heat, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Mark Edward Kelly · Last progress May 13, 2025
Requires NOAA (via the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere and the Climate Program Office) to lead an economic impact study that quantifies the financial costs of extreme heat across the United States, including loss of life, health care costs, property and infrastructure damage, lost labor productivity, increased cooling energy use, and crop and livestock losses. The study must solicit input from many federal and nonfederal partners, use existing data, publish results on HEAT.gov, include recommendations for national tracking metrics, may be contracted to external organizations, must be completed and made public within four years, and is authorized $3.5 million to carry out the work.