H.R. 5104 — Preventing HEAT Illness and Deaths Act of 2025

This section provides definitions for 11 terms used in the Act, including "community with environmental justice concerns" (i.e., communities of color, low-income, or Tribal and Indigenous communities experiencing disproportionate heat or environmental effects), "extreme heat," "heat event" (i.e., extreme heat lasting two or more days), "heat-health," "Native Hawaiian organization" (as defined in 20 U.S.C. 7517), "planning," "preparedness," "response," and "urban heat island."

This section states 16 congressional findings on extreme heat as the leading cause of U.S. weather-related deaths over the last 30 years; projected temperature rises of 2.2°F and increases in extreme heat frequency and intensity; over 65,000 annual emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses; disproportionate health risks to adults over 65 years old, pregnant people, young children, low-income and urban communities, outdoor workers, incarcerated individuals, people experiencing homelessness, and others; environmental justice implications; urban heat island effects; data and resource gaps; and the benefits of federal tools (e.g., CDC Heat and Health Tracker) and heat action plans.

This section establishes within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the National Integrated Heat Health Information System Interagency Committee to coordinate a united federal approach to reducing health risks from heat across timescales (days, weeks, months, years, and decades). The Committee includes the Director of the National Integrated Heat Health Information System and at least one representative from each of 15 specified federal entities (e.g., National Weather Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency) and others as designated by the NOAA Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere. Three co-chairs (initially one each from NOAA, Department of Health and Human Services, and FEMA; subsequent selections with NOAA retaining a position) serve terms of up to 5 years and are responsible for the agenda, directing work, and convening quarterly meetings. The Committee must (1) develop and submit to Congress a 5-year strategic plan within 2 years of enactment (publicly available online) to improve interagency coordination on heat-health risks; (2) coordinate federal activities on heat-health communication, research, service delivery, financial assistance, contracting, and workforce development; and (3) build capacity and partnerships with federal and non-federal entities.

This section establishes within NOAA the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS), headed by a Director, to reduce heat-related impacts by improving delivery of temperature and extreme heat data, forecasts, warnings, and projections (especially for disproportionately affected communities); developing science-based tools for heat resilience through NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research; and providing grants to centers of excellence for technical assistance. The Director shall (1) build relationships with federal, state, local, tribal, and other partners (e.g., emergency managers, health providers, environmental justice communities, and energy sector representatives) to deliver actionable weather and climate information and decision support services; (2) coordinate internationally on heat impacts research; (3) enhance related observations, surveillance, monitoring, and analysis; and (4) communicate heat risks to stakeholders. The section requires coordination for open data availability and management strategies compliant with FAIR and CARE principles and federal records laws, with archival data stewarded by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information; directs designation of at least one warning coordination meteorologist with heat expertise at those centers (as described in 15 U.S.C. 8545, which requires such meteorologists at each National Weather Service forecast office to improve user coordination on warnings); and directs development of a climate and health research grant program.

This section directs the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, in consultation with the National Integrated Heat Health Information System Interagency Committee and specified individuals and entities, to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine within 120 days of enactment for a study on extreme heat information and response, to be completed not later than three years after enactment. The study must (1) identify policy and research gaps, including regional disparities in awareness and capacity, data shortfalls on heat-affected facilities and demographics, resource shortages, medical coding for heat illnesses, state policies enhancing vulnerabilities, and impacts of discontinued federal heat-health tools (e.g., CDC Heat and Health Tracker); (2) recommend ways to address such gaps in policy, research, operations, communications, and data for heat-health planning, resilience, adaptation, and environmental justice; (3) incorporate recommendations from the National Integrated Heat Health Information System director on communicating warnings to vulnerable populations, managing compound risks, promoting community resilience and equity, addressing energy affordability and infrastructure impacts, and protecting workers from heat; and (4) consider standardizing nationwide heat illness data collection, heat preparedness financing, and local heat response effectiveness. Following the study, the Committee must develop consistent definitions for heat events, heat waves, and related terms. Not later than 90 days after study completion, the Committee must publish a report on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website and submit it to the Senate Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and the House Committees on Science, Space, and Technology; on Energy and Commerce; and on Education and Workforce.

This section directs the Director of the National Integrated Heat Health Information System—established under section 5—to establish, not later than one year after enactment, a community heat resilience program to provide financial assistance (i.e., prizes, contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements) to eligible entities for projects that reduce human health impacts from extreme heat events. Eligible entities include nonprofits, states, Indian Tribes, local governments, local workforce development boards, academic institutions, and designated centers of excellence; eligible projects encompass (1) sustainable heat mitigation such as cool roofs, urban forestry, cooling centers, building retrofits, power grid resilience, and air conditioning upgrades; (2) training on climate risks for vulnerable individuals; (3) enhancements to heat risk mitigation in rural and urban communities; (4) community-responsive efforts including public awareness, observational campaigns, research on heat gaps, risk communications, workplace policies, education, and local heat planning; and (5) other projects achieving significant heat risk reductions. The Director must prioritize projects benefiting historically disadvantaged communities and those with heat disparities by race, ethnicity, or income and must allocate not less than 40% of annual assistance to communities with environmental justice concerns or low-income communities while seeking equitable geographic distribution. Upon completion of the strategic plan required by section 4(e)(1), the Interagency Committee may revise the program for alignment.

This section authorizes appropriations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for specified heat health-related activities as follows: (1) $20 million annually for FY2026 through FY2030 to carry out sections 4 and 5, including administrative costs for the National Integrated Heat Health Information System Interagency Committee and the National Integrated Heat Health Information System; (2) $500,000 annually for FY2026 through FY2028 to contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for the study required under section 6; and (3) $10 million for FY2026, $10 million for FY2027, $20 million for FY2028, $30 million for FY2029, and $30 million for FY2030 to carry out section 7 on financial assistance for resilience in addressing extreme heat and health risks.