[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4077 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4077

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 13, 2023

   Mr. Peters (for himself, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. 
    Phillips, Ms. Titus, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Crockett, Ms. 
   Caraveo, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Costa, Ms. 
 Velazquez, 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cleaner Air Spaces Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. CLEANER AIR SPACE PROGRAM GRANT.

    (a) In General.--Subject to the availability of appropriations, the 
Administrator shall provide grants to air pollution control agencies to 
implement a cleaner air space program in accordance with this section.
    (b) Grant Requirements.--
            (1) Amounts.--Under this section, the Administrator may not 
        provide a grant to an air pollution control agency in an amount 
        that exceeds $3,000,000.
            (2) Grants for tribes.--The Administrator shall provide at 
        least one grant to a Tribal agency that has jurisdiction over 
        air quality.
    (c) Application.--
            (1) In general.--To apply for a grant provided under this 
        section, an air pollution control agency shall submit to the 
        Administrator an application at such time, in such manner, and 
        containing such information as the Administrator determines 
        appropriate, including a proposal for the implementation of a 
        cleaner air space program.
            (2) Proposal for cleaner air space program requirements.--A 
        proposal for the implementation of a cleaner air space program 
        under paragraph (1) shall include the following:
                    (A) Certification of partnering with a community-
                based organization.
                    (B) Details on the responsibilities of all parties 
                involved with the cleaner air space program, including 
                the responsibilities of--
                            (i) the air pollution control agency; and
                            (ii) any community-based organizations for 
                        which the air pollution control agency is 
                        partnering with under subparagraph (A).
                    (C) Information regarding which geographic 
                population or community of covered households may be 
                receiving eligible air filtration units under such 
                cleaner air space program.
                    (D) Information on how the air pollution control 
                agency plans to--
                            (i) distribute educational materials 
                        related to eligible air filtration units; and
                            (ii) advertise the availability of clean 
                        air centers.
                    (E) Information on how such air pollution control 
                agency plans to establish a clean air center, 
                including--
                            (i) the facility in which a clean air 
                        center may be established; and
                            (ii) the capacity and ventilation 
                        characteristics of such facility.
                    (F) A description of the costs that may be 
                associated with the program, including any 
                administrative costs.
    (d) Cleaner Air Space Program Requirements.--Subject to partnership 
requirement under subsection (e), an air pollution control agency 
implementing a cleaner air space program pursuant to subsection (a) 
shall--
            (1) establish at least one clean air center that is--
                    (A) located in an area at risk of being exposed to 
                wildland fire smoke;
                    (B) accessible to individuals that reside in 
                covered households;
                    (C) open, accessible, and staffed during wildland 
                fire smoke events with the option of being open, 
                accessible, and staffed before or after wildland fire 
                smoke events; and
            (2) advertise to the public--
                    (A) during a wildland fire smoke event, the 
                availability of a clean air center;
                    (B) the local cleaner air space program that such 
                air pollution control agency is implementing, including 
                information about such local cleaner air space program, 
                the availability of free air filtration units (if 
                applicable), eligibility requirements to receive such 
                free air filtration unit, and information on who to 
                contact for more information with respect to such local 
                cleaner air space program;
            (3) at no cost to covered households--
                    (A) distribute a minimum of 1,000 eligible air 
                filtration units to such covered households; and
                    (B) provide one air filter replacement for each 
                eligible air filtration unit distributed under 
                subparagraph (A);
            (4) distribute educational materials that include 
        information on how to best utilize an eligible air filtration 
        unit to create a clean air room in a home;
            (5) collect, and provide to the Administrator, information 
        on--
                    (A) each type of eligible air filtration unit 
                distributed under such cleaner air space program;
                    (B) the number of eligible air filtration unit so 
                distributed; and
                    (C) the cost of each type of eligible air 
                filtration unit so distributed; and
            (6) not later than 6 months after providing an eligible air 
        filtration unit to a covered household, conduct an anonymous 
        survey of an individual of such covered household that received 
        the eligible air filtration unit through the cleaner air space 
        program on--
                    (A) whether such individual understood how to 
                properly set up a clean air room and how to utilize the 
                air filtration unit;
                    (B) how often such individual utilized the air 
                filtration unit;
                    (C) the largest barriers to properly utilizing the 
                air filtration unit or creating a clean air room;
                    (D) whether such individual reported better air 
                conditions in the clean air room of such individual 
                compared to other parts of the home of such individual; 
                and
                    (E) how the implementation of the cleaner air space 
                program could improve.
    (e) Partnership.--In implementing a cleaner air space program under 
subsection (a), an air pollution control agency shall partner with at 
least one community-based organization to carry out the requirements of 
such cleaner air space program under subsection (d).
    (f) Report.--Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report that 
includes--
            (1) information on each cleaner air space program 
        implemented using a grant provided under subsection (a), 
        including--
                    (A) the name of the air pollution control agency 
                that received such grant; and
                    (B) the information described in subsection (d)(5) 
                collected by such air pollution control agency;
            (2) responses from the survey described in subsection 
        (d)(6); and
            (3) recommendations on--
                    (A) whether the cleaner air space program should be 
                expanded; and
                    (B) how the cleaner air space program can be 
                improved.
    (g) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Air pollution control agency.--The term ``air pollution 
        control agency'' has the meaning given such term in section 302 
        of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7602).
            (3) Clean air center.--The term ``clean air center'' means 
        one or more clean air rooms in a publicly accessible building.
            (4) Clean air room.--The term ``clean air room'' means a 
        room that is designed to keep levels of harmful air pollutants 
        as low as possible during wildland fire smoke events.
            (5) Covered household.--The term ``covered household'' 
        means a household that--
                    (A) is located in a low-income community; and
                    (B) includes a person who--
                            (i) is at high-risk of experiencing a 
                        wildland fire smoke event; and
                            (ii) is vulnerable to negative health 
                        effects caused by wildland fire smoke due to 
                        factors such as an underlying health condition, 
                        a disability, or age.
            (6) Eligible air filtration unit.--The term ``eligible air 
        filtration unit'' means an air filtration unit that--
                    (A) is certified by Association of Home Appliance 
                Manufacturers to have a Clean Air Delivery Rate of at 
                least 97 for smoke;
                    (B) is certified under the Energy Star program 
                established by section 324A of the Energy Policy and 
                Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a);
                    (C) does not emit ozone; and
                    (D) uses a true high-efficiency particulate air 
                filter rated to remove 99.97 percent of particles 
                measuring 0.3 micrometers or greater.
            (7) Low-income community.--The term ``low-income 
        community'' has the meaning given such term in section 45D of 
        the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. 45D).
    (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
        the Administrator to carry out this section $30,000,000 for the 
        period of fiscal years 2024 through 2026.
            (2) Administrative expenses.--Of the funds made available 
        under paragraph (1), the Administrator may use not more than 10 
        percent of such funds on expenses relating to administering the 
        cleaner air space program.
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