Cleaner Air Spaces Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4077 To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to pro- vide grants to air pollution control agencies to implement a cleaner air space program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 13, 2023 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. PHIL- LIPS, Ms. TITUS, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. CARAVEO, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. COSTA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. PETTERSEN, and Mr. MULLIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to provide grants to air pollution control agencies to implement a cleaner air space program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cleaner Air Spaces 4 Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4077 IH SEC. 2. CLEANER AIR SPACE PROGRAM GRANT. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap- 2 propriations, the Administrator shall provide grants to air 3 pollution control agencies to implement a cleaner air space 4 program in accordance with this section. 5 (b) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.— 6 (1) AMOUNTS.—Under this section, the Admin- 7 istrator may not provide a grant to an air pollution 8 control agency in an amount that exceeds 9 $3,000,000. 10 (2) GRANTS FOR TRIBES.—The Administrator 11 shall provide at least one grant to a Tribal agency 12 that has jurisdiction over air quality. 13 (c) APPLICATION.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—To apply for a grant pro- 15 vided under this section, an air pollution control 16 agency shall submit to the Administrator an applica- 17 tion at such time, in such manner, and containing 18 such information as the Administrator determines 19 appropriate, including a proposal for the implemen- 20 tation of a cleaner air space program. 21 (2) PROPOSAL FOR CLEANER AIR SPACE PRO- 22 GRAM REQUIREMENTS.—A proposal for the imple- 23 mentation of a cleaner air space program under 24 paragraph (1) shall include the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4077 IH (A) Certification of partnering with a com- 1 munity-based organization. 2 (B) Details on the responsibilities of all 3 parties involved with the cleaner air space pro- 4 gram, including the responsibilities of— 5 (i) the air pollution control agency; 6 and 7 (ii) any community-based organiza- 8 tions for which the air pollution control 9 agency is partnering with under subpara- 10 graph (A). 11 (C) Information regarding which geo- 12 graphic population or community of covered 13 households may be receiving eligible air filtra- 14 tion units under such cleaner air space pro- 15 gram. 16 (D) Information on how the air pollution 17 control agency plans to— 18 (i) distribute educational materials re- 19 lated to eligible air filtration units; and 20 (ii) advertise the availability of clean 21 air centers. 22 (E) Information on how such air pollution 23 control agency plans to establish a clean air 24 center, including— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4077 IH (i) the facility in which a clean air 1 center may be established; and 2 (ii) the capacity and ventilation char- 3 acteristics of such facility. 4 (F) A description of the costs that may be 5 associated with the program, including any ad- 6 ministrative costs. 7 (d) CLEANER AIR SPACE PROGRAM REQUIRE- 8 MENTS.—Subject to partnership requirement under sub- 9 section (e), an air pollution control agency implementing 10 a cleaner air space program pursuant to subsection (a) 11 shall— 12 (1) establish at least one clean air center that 13 is— 14 (A) located in an area at risk of being ex- 15 posed to wildland fire smoke; 16 (B) accessible to individuals that reside in 17 covered households; 18 (C) open, accessible, and staffed during 19 wildland fire smoke events with the option of 20 being open, accessible, and staffed before or 21 after wildland fire smoke events; and 22 (2) advertise to the public— 23 (A) during a wildland fire smoke event, the 24 availability of a clean air center; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4077 IH (B) the local cleaner air space program 1 that such air pollution control agency is imple- 2 menting, including information about such local 3 cleaner air space program, the availability of 4 free air filtration units (if applicable), eligibility 5 requirements to receive such free air filtration 6 unit, and information on who to contact for 7 more information with respect to such local 8 cleaner air space program; 9 (3) at no cost to covered households— 10 (A) distribute a minimum of 1,000 eligible 11 air filtration units to such covered households; 12 and 13 (B) provide one air filter replacement for 14 each eligible air filtration unit distributed under 15 subparagraph (A); 16 (4) distribute educational materials that include 17 information on how to best utilize an eligible air fil- 18 tration unit to create a clean air room in a home; 19 (5) collect, and provide to the Administrator, 20 information on— 21 (A) each type of eligible air filtration unit 22 distributed under such cleaner air space pro- 23 gram; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 4077 IH (B) the number of eligible air filtration 1 unit so distributed; and 2 (C) the cost of each type of eligible air fil- 3 tration unit so distributed; and 4 (6) not later than 6 months after providing an 5 eligible air filtration unit to a covered household, 6 conduct an anonymous survey of an individual of 7 such covered household that received the eligible air 8 filtration unit through the cleaner air space program 9 on— 10 (A) whether such individual understood 11 how to properly set up a clean air room and 12 how to utilize the air filtration unit; 13 (B) how often such individual utilized the 14 air filtration unit; 15 (C) the largest barriers to properly uti- 16 lizing the air filtration unit or creating a clean 17 air room; 18 (D) whether such individual reported bet- 19 ter air conditions in the clean air room of such 20 individual compared to other parts of the home 21 of such individual; and 22 (E) how the implementation of the cleaner 23 air space program could improve. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 4077 IH (e) PARTNERSHIP.—In implementing a cleaner air 1 space program under subsection (a), an air pollution con- 2 trol agency shall partner with at least one community- 3 based organization to carry out the requirements of such 4 cleaner air space program under subsection (d). 5 (f) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 6 of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall sub- 7 mit to Congress a report that includes— 8 (1) information on each cleaner air space pro- 9 gram implemented using a grant provided under 10 subsection (a), including— 11 (A) the name of the air pollution control 12 agency that received such grant; and 13 (B) the information described in subsection 14 (d)(5) collected by such air pollution control 15 agency; 16 (2) responses from the survey described in sub- 17 section (d)(6); and 18 (3) recommendations on— 19 (A) whether the cleaner air space program 20 should be expanded; and 21 (B) how the cleaner air space program can 22 be improved. 23 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 4077 IH (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 1 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 2 mental Protection Agency. 3 (2) AIR POLLUTION CONTROL AGENCY.—The 4 term ‘‘air pollution control agency’’ has the meaning 5 given such term in section 302 of the Clean Air Act 6 (42 U.S.C. 7602). 7 (3) CLEAN AIR CENTER.—The term ‘‘clean air 8 center’’ means one or more clean air rooms in a pub- 9 licly accessible building. 10 (4) CLEAN AIR ROOM.—The term ‘‘clean air 11 room’’ means a room that is designed to keep levels 12 of harmful air pollutants as low as possible during 13 wildland fire smoke events. 14 (5) COVERED HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘‘covered 15 household’’ means a household that— 16 (A) is located in a low-income community; 17 and 18 (B) includes a person who— 19 (i) is at high-risk of experiencing a 20 wildland fire smoke event; and 21 (ii) is vulnerable to negative health ef- 22 fects caused by wildland fire smoke due to 23 factors such as an underlying health condi- 24 tion, a disability, or age. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 4077 IH (6) ELIGIBLE AIR FILTRATION UNIT.—The 1 term ‘‘eligible air filtration unit’’ means an air filtra- 2 tion unit that— 3 (A) is certified by Association of Home Ap- 4 pliance Manufacturers to have a Clean Air De- 5 livery Rate of at least 97 for smoke; 6 (B) is certified under the Energy Star pro- 7 gram established by section 324A of the Energy 8 Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 9 6294a); 10 (C) does not emit ozone; and 11 (D) uses a true high-efficiency particulate 12 air filter rated to remove 99.97 percent of par- 13 ticles measuring 0.3 micrometers or greater. 14 (7) LOW-INCOME COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘low- 15 income community’’ has the meaning given such 16 term in section 45D of the Internal Revenue Code 17 (26 U.S.C. 45D). 18 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 20 appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this 21 section $30,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 22 2024 through 2026. 23 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the funds 24 made available under paragraph (1), the Adminis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 4077 IH trator may use not more than 10 percent of such 1 funds on expenses relating to administering the 2 cleaner air space program. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4077.IH H4077 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB