[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2952 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2952

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a national program 
to reduce the threat to human health posed by exposure to contaminants 
              in the air indoors, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 8, 1997

 Mr. Kennedy of Massachusetts introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a national program 
to reduce the threat to human health posed by exposure to contaminants 
              in the air indoors, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Indoor Air Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. COORDINATION.

    The Administrator shall consult and coordinate with the Secretary 
of Labor, the Secretary of Energy, the Director of the National 
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Consumer Product 
Safety Commission, and other appropriate agencies in implementing this 
Act.

SEC. 3. GUIDELINES FOR IDENTIFYING, REDUCING, AND PREVENTING 
              SIGNIFICANT INDOOR AIR HEALTH RISKS.

    (a) List.--Not later than 4 years after the enactment of this Act, 
the Administrator shall, after notice and opportunity of at least 90 
days for public comment, publish a list of common significant indoor 
air health risks. In identifying a common significant indoor air health 
risk, the Administrator shall use the best reasonably available 
scientific data.
    (b) Guidelines.--Concurrently with the listing of each common 
significant indoor air health risk under subsection (a), the 
Administrator shall, after notice and opportunity of at least 90 days 
for public comment, publish voluntary guidelines for identifying, 
reducing, and preventing the common significant indoor air health risk. 
Such guidelines may include information and a range of recommendations 
for operation and maintenance of existing buildings, the design and 
construction of new buildings, building renovation, and such other 
activities as necessary to identify and reduce or prevent the common 
significant indoor air health risks listed under subsection (a). The 
guidelines shall achieve significant risk reduction, be technologically 
achievable and readily implementable, take into consideration safety, 
energy, and other relevant factors, include an assessment of their 
effectiveness and cost, and be based on available research and 
expertise and the study priorities established by the Administrator 
pursuant to subsection (e).
    (c) Review and Revision.--The Administrator shall periodically 
review and, as necessary, after notice and opportunity of at least 90 
days for public comment, revise the list of common significant indoor 
air health risks and the guidelines published under this section. At a 
minimum, a review and revision shall be completed not later than 4 
years after the initial publication of the list and guidelines.
    (d) Consistency With Indoor Air Regulations of Other Federal 
Agencies.--The Administrator shall, after consultation with the 
Secretary of Labor, insure that the guidelines under this section are 
fully consistent with any Federal workplace regulations addressing 
indoor air quality risks. The guidelines may recommend such additional 
voluntary actions as may be necessary to protect persons other than 
workers covered by such regulations from common significant indoor air 
health risks listed under subsection (a). The Administrator shall, 
after consultation with the Secretary of Energy, insure that the 
guidelines under this section are consistent with applicable energy 
conservation and efficiency laws and regulations administered by the 
Secretary.
    (e) Priority for Indoor Air Health Studies.--The Administrator 
shall, subject to the availability of appropriations and using existing 
authorities, give priority to conducting and providing financial or 
other assistance to studies concerning indoor air quality, including 
the following:
            (1) Human exposure to indoor air pollutants, including 
        baseline levels of exposure in various types of buildings.
            (2) The sources of indoor air pollutants.
            (3) The effects on human health of indoor air pollutants, 
        including additive, cumulative, and synergistic effects on the 
        general population and subpopulations particularly at risk.
            (4) Methods for identifying, reducing, and preventing 
        common significant indoor air health risks.
Appropriate studies, such as those under paragraph (1) and (3), shall 
be subject to peer review.

SEC. 4. INDOOR AIR CONTRACTORS.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the commencement of 
fiscal year 1996, and after notice and opportunity of at least 90 days 
for public comment, the Administrator shall submit a report to Congress 
on persons operating contractor businesses engaged in the 
identification, reduction, and prevention of significant indoor air 
health risks. Such report shall identify the types or classes of 
contractors regularly engaged in identifying and reducing or preventing 
significant indoor air health risks and shall determine the need for a 
program to certify contractors engaged in 1 or more activities relating 
to the identification and reduction or prevention of significant indoor 
air health risks, taking into account costs, benefits, the availability 
of persons with adequate training, experience, and expertise, the funds 
needed for such a program, and other relevant factors. The report shall 
also consider whether such a program should be carried out by the 
Administrator directly or by contract, or by another Federal agency or 
by State or local government.
    (b) Certification.--(1) Based on the report under subsection (a), 
not later than 2 years after the report required by subsection (a) is 
submitted to Congress, and after notice and opportunity of at least 90 
days for public comment, the Administrator shall establish a program to 
provide for the certification of contractors engaged on a regular basis 
in the identification of common significant indoor air health risks. 
Based on the report under subsection (a), and after notice and 
opportunity of at least 90 days for public comment, the Administrator 
may also establish a program to certify appropriate contractors engaged 
in the reduction or prevention of common significant indoor air health 
risks.
    (2) No person may be certified under any program established under 
paragraph (1) unless, at a minimum--
            (A) such person demonstrates an ability to comply with the 
        guidelines established under section 3; and
            (B) individuals engaged in the identification, reduction, 
        or prevention of common significant indoor air health risks on 
        behalf of such person complete an appropriate course of 
        training, as defined by the Administrator.
Persons certified under this subsection shall comply with the 
guidelines under section 3 when engaged in the identification, 
reduction, or prevention of common significant indoor air health risks.
    (c) Fees.--A reasonable nondiscriminatory annual fee for the 
certification of persons under this section shall be imposed by the 
Administrator or by such other agency or contractor that operates the 
program. The fee shall be periodically established at such level as is 
necessary to cover all costs of the certification program under this 
section. Such fees shall be structured such that a person's liability 
for such fees is reasonably based on the proportion of the program's 
operating costs that relate to such person, and such person's liability 
for such fees shall not be based on the income of such person. Such 
fees, if collected by the Administrator, shall be available, subject to 
appropriations, to the Administrator to pay for such costs or to 
reimburse another Federal agency or a State or local government. The 
collection and use of fees shall be audited by the Administrator.
    (d) Suspension or Revocation.--The Administrator may suspend or 
revoke any certification issued under this section whenever the 
Administrator determines, after notice of at least 60 days to such 
person, that the holder of the certification has violated any 
requirement of this section or condition of such certification. Any 
person whose certification is proposed to be suspended or revoked, or 
whose certification is denied, by the Administrator shall be entitled 
to an administrative hearing.
    (e) Participation.--Participation in the certification program 
under this section shall be voluntary.

SEC. 5. PUBLIC AWARENESS.

    (a) Information.--The Administrator shall publish and disseminate--
            (1) the list of common significant indoor air health risks 
        under section 3,
            (2) the guidelines under section 3 for identifying, 
        reducing, and preventing common significant indoor air health 
        risks, and
            (3) the indoor air health advisories under subsection (b).
    (b) Indoor Air Health Advisories.--The Administrator shall, after 
notice and opportunity of at least 90 days for public comment, and 
after review and comment by the Science Advisory Board, publish health 
advisories addressing the health effects of common significant indoor 
air health risks. Each health advisory shall, at a minimum--
            (1) describe the adverse human health effects of a common 
        significant indoor air health risk, including the risk to 
        vulnerable subpopulations;
            (2) characterize the causes of the significant indoor air 
        health risk; and
            (3) summarize the guidelines under section 3 for 
        identifying, reducing, and preventing the significant indoor 
        air health risk.
The Administrator shall publish a health advisory for a common 
significant indoor air health risk at the same time that the 
Administrator publishes guidelines for such health risk under section 
3.

SEC. 6. HEALTHY BUILDINGS PROGRAM.

    The Administrator shall, after notice and opportunity of at least 
90 days for public comment, develop a voluntary program to provide 
Federal recognition to buildings that are operated and maintained, 
taking into consideration all uses of the building, to prevent or 
minimize common significant indoor air health risks in an exemplary 
manner while at the same time providing significant energy efficiency 
benefits and for which there are no outstanding indoor air quality 
citations by other agencies. Such recognition shall be based on 
objective, nondiscriminatory criteria.

SEC. 7. STATE AND LOCAL INDOOR AIR HEALTH GRANTS.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator may provide grants to States and 
to local governments to develop and implement programs proposed by any 
such State or local government to identify, reduce, and prevent common 
significant indoor air health risks.
    (b) Federal Share of Funding.--The Federal share of grants under 
this section shall not exceed 75 percent of the costs incurred in 
developing and implementing such programs. Such share shall be based on 
the availability of funds appropriated annually and shall 
supplement State funds for this purpose. The Administrator, in making 
such grants, shall seek to treat all States equitably.

SEC. 8. BUILDING HEALTH ASSESSMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) Authority.--The Director of the National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health shall implement a Building Assessment 
Program to provide assistance and guidance to employers and employees 
on measures to reduce significant indoor air health risks.
    (b) Selection of Buildings for Assessment.--An assessment may be 
initiated in response to a request from any employer or employee 
(including an authorized representative of the employee) submitted to 
the Director for a building assessment. In making such voluntary 
assessment, the Director shall have the authority, pursuant to such 
request, to conduct on-site assessments of individual buildings, 
including Federal, State, and municipal buildings. In selecting a 
building for assessment pursuant to such request, the Director shall 
consider (1) the seriousness and extent of significant indoor air 
health risks, and (2) the potential for the building assessment to 
expand knowledge of building assessment methods and response measures.
    (c) Assessment Elements.--Assessments shall include, at a minimum, 
identification of (1) probable significant indoor air health risks, (2) 
probable sources and health effects of identified significant indoor 
air health risks, and (3) in cases where a probable health risk has 
been identified, measures for eliminating, controlling, or reducing 
significant indoor air health risks. If there are applicable guidelines 
under section 3, the measures included in the assessment shall be 
consistent with the guidelines, unless the Director adequately explains 
otherwise.
    (d) Reports.--The Director shall prepare and provide a report to 
the employer, employees (and the authorized representative of the 
employees), and the building owner or representative as promptly as 
possible.

SEC. 9. DISCLAIMER.

    Nothing in this Act shall affect the Administrator's authority 
under other provisions of law to conduct research, development, or 
demonstration projects relating to indoor air quality or be construed 
as providing new authority to conduct research, development, or 
demonstrations. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as applying to 
motor vehicles of any kind.

SEC. 10. RELATION TO OTHER LAW.

    (a) State and Local Authority.--Nothing in this Act shall preempt 
any Federal, State, or local law or rule of law which is more 
protective of human health than this Act.
    (b) Occupational Safety and Health.--In exercising any authority 
under this Act, the Administrator shall not, for purposes of section 
4(b)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, be deemed to 
be exercising statutory authority to prescribe or enforce standards or 
regulations affecting occupational safety and health.
    (c) Relationship to Other EPA Authorities.--The Administrator shall 
insure that any action under this Act is consistent with, and does not 
duplicate, actions of the Administrator under other authority of law 
addressing indoor air quality. Except as provided in section 4, nothing 
in this Act shall be construed as authorizing the Administrator to 
exercise any authority to prescribe or enforce any standards or 
regulations regarding common significant indoor air health risks.

SEC. 11. REPORTS.

    Not later than 2 years after the commencement of fiscal year 1996 
and every 2 years thereafter, the Administrator shall submit to the 
Congress a report on the activities carried out by the Administrator 
pursuant to this Act.

SEC. 12. RISK ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION.

    (a) Goal.--It is the intent of Congress that risk assessments 
conducted under this Act be conducted in accordance with sound, 
unbiased, and objective scientific practices.
    (b) Public Documents.--The Administrator, in carrying out the 
Administrator's responsibilities under this Act, shall ensure that the 
presentation of information on significant indoor air health risks is 
unbiased and informative. To the extent feasible, documents made 
available to the general public which describe the degree of risk from 
exposure shall, at a minimum, characterize the population or 
populations addressed by any risk estimates; state the expected risk 
for the specific population; and state the reasonable range of 
uncertainty.

SEC. 13. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act:
            (1) The term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of 
        the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) The term ``significant indoor air health risk'' means a 
        level of indoor air pollutants, or a condition that may result 
        in a level of indoor air pollutants, that, based on adequate 
        scientific and technical evidence and measurement, is 
        reasonably anticipated to adversely affect human health.
            (3) The term ``indoor air pollutant'' means any substance 
        or biological organism which is emitted into, or otherwise 
        enters, air of any kind in a building, structure, or facility.
            (4) The term ``person'' includes an individual, a 
        corporation, partnership, association, State, municipality, 
        political subdivision of a State, and any agency, department, 
        or instrumentality of the executive, legislative or judicial 
        branch of the Government of the United States or of any State 
        and any officer, agent or employee thereof.
            (5) The term ``State'' includes the District of Columbia, 
        Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 
        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

SEC. 14. AUTHORIZATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this Act.
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