Indoor Air Quality and Healthy Schools Act of 2025

This bill sets up a national program to make the air inside buildings safer. The Environmental Protection Agency would identify key indoor pollutants and publish clear, science‑based advice to cut exposure in places like homes, schools, offices, and child care centers. The first list must at least include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, and radon. Guidance can include health‑based limits when the science supports it, with interim best practices until then, and must be reviewed and updated regularly. The agency would also work with other federal departments so advice lines up with workplace and energy rules.

It offers grants and technical help to states, Tribes, school districts, housing authorities, nonprofits, and others to test, fix, and prevent indoor air problems, with the federal share capped at 75%. It backs mold prevention and better ventilation and filtration, and supports upgrades that make buildings more resilient to extreme weather, with special attention to low‑income and disadvantaged communities. It also creates voluntary “healthy building” certifications and directs the EPA to recommend building‑code updates for ventilation and filtration within one year, with periodic reviews and a cost‑benefit check. Schools and child care buildings can earn a tailored certification, and the EPA must lead a national check‑up of indoor air in these buildings within three years, then update it at least every five years while offering tailored help to students, parents, educators, providers, and communities. Finally, it funds a study to design an Indoor Air Quality Index for the public, and authorizes $100 million per year from 2026–2030 to run the program, plus $1 million for the index work. It does not override other laws or replace workplace safety rules.

• Who is affected: States, Tribes, local governments; school districts and child care providers; housing authorities and nonprofits; building owners and the public, especially low‑income and disadvantaged communities.
• What changes: EPA guidance and a list of indoor pollutants; voluntary healthy‑building certifications; grants and technical help; model building‑code updates; school and child care assessments and certifications; an Indoor Air Quality Index study.
• When: Model building‑code recommendations in 1 year; national school/child care assessment within 3 years; updates at least every 5 years; initial pollutant list within 5 years; indoor air index report within 2 years after EPA’s agreement with the National Academy of Sciences; program funding for 2026–2030.