Sponsors (10)
Introduced August 1, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress August 1, 2025
The bill centralizes federal coordination, data systems, and targeted funding to reduce heat-related illness—especially for vulnerable and environmental-justice communities—but requires substantial federal spending, relies on future appropriations, and may produce uneven access, administrative delays, and privacy and local-cost burdens.
Low-income, Tribal, and environmental-justice communities will be explicitly prioritized and receive targeted planning support and grant funding to build heat resilience (planning, projects, and technical assistance).
Improved heat forecasting, early-warning systems, and a funded, integrated heat–health information system (NIHHIS/NOAA) will give local public-health and emergency responders actionable alerts to reduce heat-related illness and deaths.
Stronger federal coordination (interagency committee, required consultation, technical assistance, and a multi-year strategy) will help state and local governments plan, share data, and implement consistent heat-preparedness measures.
The bill increases federal spending commitments (grants, NOAA/NIHHIS funding, studies) and relies on future appropriations, which raises taxpayer costs and risks underfunding if Congress does not allocate the authorized amounts.
Programs and grants may be awarded unevenly: better-resourced states, cities, or applicants are likelier to win funding, leaving some low-income, rural, or smaller jurisdictions underserved.
Broad interagency processes, new definitions, multi-year plans, and an extended National Academies study risk slowing immediate action and could lock federal thresholds that don't fit local conditions.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Creates a NOAA-led heat-health system, interagency committee, National Academies study, and a grants program to improve heat data, warnings, and local resilience, prioritizing disadvantaged communities.
Creates a NOAA-led National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) and an interagency committee to coordinate federal heat-health activities, improve heat data/forecasts/warnings, fund research, and support community heat resilience. The measure requires open data practices, a National Academies study of heat information and response (contract within 120 days; report within 3 years), and a grant/assistance program to fund local heat mitigation projects that must prioritize historically disadvantaged and low-income communities (at least 40% of assistance). Provides multi-year funding authorizations to NOAA: $20 million/year (FY2026–FY2030) for NIHHIS/committee operations, $500,000/year (FY2026–FY2028) for the National Academies study, and a tiered community resilience fund totaling $100 million across FY2026–FY2030 ($10M, $10M, $20M, $30M, $30M). The Director of NIHHIS will coordinate across federal, tribal, state, local, private, nonprofit, and health stakeholders, ensure data accessibility under FAIR/CARE principles, and run a competitive assistance program for heat mitigation and planning projects.