Bill > HR3702

This bill requires the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (primarily through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA) to conduct a comprehensive economic impact study on the financial costs of extreme heat. The study will involve a multi-agency effort to quantify the wide-ranging economic consequences of extreme heat, including evaluating health impacts like mortality and morbidity, property damage, medical expenses, insurance claims, labor productivity losses, infrastructure disruptions, energy costs, and agricultural impacts. The Under Secretary will solicit feedback from over 20 federal agencies and other partners, and may utilize external organizations like the National Academies of Sciences to conduct the research. The study must include recommendations for tracking and publicly reporting heat-related costs, improving heat death reporting, and measuring labor productivity losses. Within four years of the Act's enactment, the findings will be published on HEAT.gov and in an open-access peer-reviewed journal. The bill authorizes $3.5 million to fund this comprehensive economic analysis of extreme heat's financial implications. The goal is to create a more comprehensive understanding of the economic burden posed by increasingly frequent and severe heat events.

Business and Industry

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3702/all-info