th st congress session h. r. 3891 · 2020-02-08 · i 111th congress 1st session h. r. 3891 to...

I

111TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3891

To improve research on health hazards in housing, to enhance the capacity

of programs to reduce such hazards, to require outreach, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 21, 2009

Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Com-

mittees on Financial Services and Agriculture, for a period to be subse-

quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL To improve research on health hazards in housing, to en-

hance the capacity of programs to reduce such hazards,

to require outreach, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4

‘‘Safe and Healthy Housing Act of 2009’’. 5

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6

this Act is as follows: 7

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

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Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Definitions.

TITLE I—RESEARCH ON HEALTH HAZARDS IN HOUSING

Sec. 101. Health effects of housing-related health hazards.

Sec. 102. Evidence-based, cost-effective methods for assessment, prevention,

and control of housing-related health hazards.

Sec. 103. Study on sustainable building features and indoor environmental

quality in existing housing.

Sec. 104. Data collection on housing-related health hazards.

TITLE II—CAPACITY TO REDUCE HEALTH HAZARDS IN HOUSING

Sec. 201. Housing and Urban Development program capacity on housing-re-

lated health hazards.

Sec. 202. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program capacity on

housing-related health hazards.

Sec. 203. Environmental Protection Agency program capacity on housing-re-

lated health hazards.

Sec. 204. Health hazard reduction grants.

Sec. 205. Effective training on housing-related health hazards.

Sec. 206. Enforcement of lead disclosure rule.

TITLE III—EDUCATION ON HEALTH HAZARDS IN HOUSING

Sec. 301. Healthy Home Seal of Approval program.

Sec. 302. Outreach on health hazards in housing.

Sec. 303. National healthy housing media campaign.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1

Congress finds the following: 2

(1) People in the United States spend approxi-3

mately 90 percent of their time indoors, where 4

5,700,000 households live with moderate or severe 5

housing conditions, including heating, plumbing, and 6

electrical problems, and 23,000,000 households face 7

significant lead-based paint hazards. 8

(2) Housing-related health hazards can often be 9

traced back to shared causes, including moisture, 10

ventilation, comfort, pest, contaminant, and struc-11

tural issues, but further research is necessary in 12


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order to definitively understand key relationships be-1

tween the shared causes, housing-related health haz-2

ards, and resident health. 3

(3) Since many hazards have interrelated 4

causes and share common solutions, the traditional 5

approach of identifying and remedying housing-re-6

lated health hazards one-by-one is likely not cost ef-7

fective or sufficiently health-protective. 8

(4) Evidence-based, cost-effective, practical, and 9

widely accessible methods for the assessment and 10

control of housing-related health hazards are nec-11

essary in order to prevent housing-related injuries 12

and illnesses, including cancer, carbon monoxide poi-13

soning, burns, falls, rodent bites, childhood lead poi-14

soning, and asthma. 15

(5) Sustainable building features, including en-16

ergy efficiency measures, are increasingly popular, 17

and are generally presumed to have beneficial effects 18

on occupant health. However, the health effects of 19

such features need to be evaluated in a comprehen-20

sive and timely manner, lest the housing in this 21

country unintentionally revert to the conditions of 22

excessive building tightness and lack of sufficient 23

ventilation characteristic of the 1970s. 24


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(6) Data collection on housing conditions that 1

could affect occupant health, and on health out-2

comes that could be related to housing conditions, is 3

scattered and insufficient to meet current and future 4

research needs for affordable, healthy housing. A co-5

ordinated, multidata source system is necessary to 6

reduce duplication of Federal efforts, and to ensure 7

sufficient data collection of both the housing condi-8

tions and the health problems that persist in the ex-9

isting housing stock of the Nation. 10

(7) Responsibilities related to health hazards in 11

housing are not clearly delineated among Federal 12

agencies. Categorical housing, health, energy assist-13

ance, and environmental programs are narrowly de-14

fined and often ignore opportunities to address mul-15

tiple hazards simultaneously. Enabling Federal pro-16

grams to embrace a comprehensive healthy housing 17

approach will require removing unnecessary Federal 18

statutory and regulatory barriers, and creating in-19

centives to advance the complementary goals of envi-20

ronmental health, energy conservation, and housing 21

availability in relevant programs. 22

(8) Personnel who visit homes to provide serv-23

ices or perform other work (such as inspectors, 24

emergency medical technicians, home visitors, hous-25


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ing rehabilitation, construction and maintenance 1

workers, and others) can contribute to occupant 2

health by presenting and applying healthy housing 3

practices. Cost-effective training and outreach is 4

needed to equip such personnel with current knowl-5

edge about delivering and maintaining healthy hous-6

ing. 7

(9) Housing-related health hazards are often 8

complex, with causes and solutions often not readily 9

or immediately recognized by residents, property 10

owners, or the general public. In the 2007 American 11

Housing Survey, significant numbers of residents ex-12

pressed the highest level of satisfaction with their 13

homes, including 17 percent of residents in homes 14

with severe physical problems and 18 percent of resi-15

dents in homes with moderate physical problems. 16

National awareness and local outreach programs are 17

needed to encourage the public to seek and expect 18

healthy housing, to think about housing hazards 19

more comprehensively, to recognize problems, and to 20

address them in a preventative, effective, and low- 21

cost manner. 22

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 23

In this Act, the following definitions shall apply: 24


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(1) HOUSING.—The term ‘‘housing’’ means any 1

form of residence, including rental housing, home-2

ownership, group home, or supportive housing ar-3

rangement. 4

(2) HEALTHY HOUSING.—The term ‘‘healthy 5

housing’’ means housing that is designed, con-6

structed, rehabilitated, and maintained in a manner 7

that supports the health of the occupants of such 8

housing. 9

(3) HOUSING-RELATED HEALTH HAZARD.—The 10

term ‘‘housing-related health hazard’’ means any bi-11

ological, physical, or chemical source of exposure or 12

condition either in, or immediately adjacent to, hous-13

ing, that can adversely affect human health. 14

TITLE I—RESEARCH ON HEALTH 15

HAZARDS IN HOUSING 16

SEC. 101. HEALTH EFFECTS OF HOUSING-RELATED HEALTH 17

HAZARDS. 18

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In-19

stitute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Admin-20

istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall 21

evaluate the health effects of housing-related health haz-22

ards for which limited research or understanding of causes 23

or associations exists. 24


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(b) CRITERIA.—In carrying out the evaluation under 1

subsection (a), the Director of the National Institute of 2

Environmental Health Sciences and the Administrator of 3

the Environmental Protection Agency shall— 4

(1) determine the housing-related health haz-5

ards for which there exists limited understanding of 6

health effects; 7

(2) prioritize the housing-related health hazards 8

to be evaluated; 9

(3) coordinate research plans in order to avoid 10

unnecessary duplication of efforts; and 11

(4) evaluate the health risks, routes and path-12

ways of exposure, and human health effects that re-13

sult from indoor exposure to biological, physical, and 14

chemical housing-related health hazards, including 15

carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, com-16

mon residential and garden pesticides, and factors 17

that sensitize individuals to asthma. 18

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 19

are authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 20

2010 through 2012, $3,500,000 for carrying out the ac-21

tivities under this section. 22


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SEC. 102. EVIDENCE-BASED, COST-EFFECTIVE METHODS 1

FOR ASSESSMENT, PREVENTION, AND CON-2

TROL OF HOUSING-RELATED HEALTH HAZ-3

ARDS. 4

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 5

Urban Development, acting through the Director of the 6

Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, shall, 7

in consultation with the Director of the Centers for Dis-8

ease Control and Prevention, implement studies of the as-9

sessment, prevention, and control of housing-related 10

health hazards conducted under subsection (b). 11

(b) STUDY.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban 12

Development, in consultation with other Federal agencies, 13

shall initiate— 14

(1) for fiscal years 2010 through 2014, at least 15

1 study per year of the methods for assessment, pre-16

vention, or control of housing-related health hazards 17

that provide for— 18

(A) instrumentation, monitoring, and data 19

collection related to such assessment or control 20

methods; 21

(B) study of the ability of the assessment 22

and monitoring methods to predict health risks 23

and the effect of control methods on health out-24

comes; and 25


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(C) the evaluation of the cost-effectiveness 1

of such assessment or control methods; and 2

(2) no fewer than 4 studies, which may run 3

concurrently. 4

(c) CRITERIA FOR STUDY.—Each study conducted 5

pursuant to subsection (b) shall, if the Secretary of Hous-6

ing and Urban Development, acting through the Director 7

of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, 8

deems it scientifically appropriate, evaluate the assess-9

ment or control method in each of the different climactic 10

regions of the United States, including— 11

(1) a hot, dry climate; 12

(2) a hot, humid climate; 13

(3) a cold climate; and 14

(4) a temperate climate (including a climate 15

with cold winters and humid summers). 16

(d) AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY.—The Secretary 17

of Housing and Urban Development may award contracts 18

or enter into interagency agreements to carry out the 19

studies required under this section. 20

(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 21

authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2010 22

through 2014, $6,000,000 for carrying out the activities 23

under this section. 24


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SEC. 103. STUDY ON SUSTAINABLE BUILDING FEATURES 1

AND INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY IN 2

EXISTING HOUSING. 3

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Envi-4

ronmental Protection Agency shall, in consultation with 5

other Federal agencies, conduct a detailed study of how 6

sustainable building features, such as energy efficiency, in 7

existing housing affect the quality of the indoor environ-8

ment, the prevalence of housing-related health hazards, 9

and the health of occupants. 10

(b) CONTENTS.—The study required under sub-11

section (a) shall— 12

(1) investigate the effect of sustainable building 13

features on the quality of the indoor environment 14

and the prevalence of housing-related health haz-15

ards; 16

(2) investigate how sustainable building fea-17

tures, such as energy efficiency, are influencing the 18

health of occupants of such housing; and 19

(3) ensure that the effects of the indoor envi-20

ronmental quality are evaluated comprehensively. 21

(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 22


through 2014, $500,000 for carrying out the activities 24



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SEC. 104. DATA COLLECTION ON HOUSING-RELATED 1

HEALTH HAZARDS. 2

(a) COMPLETION OF ANALYSIS.—The Secretary of 3

Housing and Urban Development, acting through the Di-4

rector of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard 5

Control, shall complete the analysis of data collected for 6

the National Survey on Lead and Allergens in Housing 7

and the American Healthy Housing Survey. 8

(b) EXPANSION OF MONITORING.—The Adminis-9

trator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall ex-10

pand the current indoor environmental monitoring efforts 11

of the Administrator in an effort to establish baseline lev-12

els of indoor chemical pollutants and their sources, includ-13

ing routes and pathways, in homes. 14

(c) DATA EVALUATION AND COLLECTION SYSTEM.— 15

(1) DATA EVALUATION.—The Director of the 16

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall, in 17

consultation with the Secretary of Housing and 18

Urban Development and the Administrator of the 19

Environmental Protection Agency, determine the 20

data and resources needed to establish and maintain 21

a healthy housing data collection system. 22

(2) DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM.— 23

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the 24

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25

based upon the needs determined under para-26


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graph (1), shall carry out the development and 1

operation of a healthy housing data collection 2

system that— 3

(i) draws upon existing data collection 4

systems, including those systems at other 5

Federal agencies, to the maximum extent 6

practicable; 7

(ii) conforms with the 2001 Updated 8

Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health 9

Surveillance Systems; 10

(iii) improves upon the ability of re-11

searchers to assess links between housing 12

and health characteristics; and 13

(iv) incorporates the input of potential 14

data users, to the maximum extent prac-15

ticable. 16

(B) CRITERIA.—The data collection system 17

required to be developed under subparagraph 18

(A) shall— 19

(i) be evaluated, prior to final imple-20

mentation, for overall data quality and 21

utility, level of data collection, feasibility of 22

additional data collection, and privacy con-23

siderations; 24


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(ii) develop common assessment tools 1

and integrated database applications and, 2

where possible, standardize analysis tech-3

niques; 4

(iii) develop mechanisms to facilitate 5

ongoing multidisciplinary interagency in-6

volvement; 7

(iv) create a clearinghouse to monitor 8

potential data sources; and 9

(v) develop public use datasets. 10

(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 11

are authorized to be appropriated— 12

(1) for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2012, 13

$600,000 for carrying out the activities under sub-14

section (a); and 15

(2) for each of fiscal years 2010 through 16

2014— 17

(A) $2,000,000 for carrying out the activi-18

ties under subsection (b); and 19

(B) $8,000,000 for carrying out the activi-20

ties under subsection (c). 21


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TITLE II—CAPACITY TO REDUCE 1

HEALTH HAZARDS IN HOUSING 2

SEC. 201. HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 3

CAPACITY ON HOUSING-RELATED HEALTH 4

HAZARDS. 5



Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, shall, 8

in cooperation with other Federal agencies— 9

(1) develop improved methods for evaluating 10

health hazards in housing; 11

(2) develop improved methods for preventing 12

and reducing health hazards in housing; 13

(3) support the development of objective meas-14

ures for what is considered a ‘‘healthy’’ residential 15

environment; 16

(4) evaluate the long-term cost effectiveness of 17

a healthy housing approach; 18

(5) promote the incorporation of healthy hous-19

ing principles into ongoing practices and systems, in-20

cluding housing codes, rehabilitation specifications, 21

and maintenance plans; 22

(6) promote the incorporation of health consid-23

erations into green and energy-efficient construction 24

and rehabilitation; 25


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(7) promote the use of healthy housing prin-1

ciples in post-disaster environments, such as the dis-2

semination of information on safe rehabilitation and 3

recovery practices; 4

(8) improve the dissemination of healthy hous-5

ing information, including best practices, to part-6

ners, grantees, the private sector, and the public; 7

and 8

(9) promote State and local level healthy hous-9

ing efforts, such as the collaboration of State and 10

local health, housing, and environment agencies, and 11

the private sector. 12

(b) AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY.—The Secretary 13

of Housing and Urban Development may award grants or 14

enter into contracts or interagency agreements to carry 15

out the activities required under this section. 16





SEC. 202. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVEN-21

TION PROGRAM CAPACITY ON HOUSING-RE-22

LATED HEALTH HAZARDS. 23

Section 317A of the Public Health Service Act (42 24

U.S.C. 247b–1) is amended— 25


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(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 1

(A) in subparagraph (A)— 2

(i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and 3

other housing-related illnesses and inju-4

ries’’ after ‘‘screening for elevated blood 5

lead levels’’; 6

(ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘referral 7

for treatment of such levels’’ and inserting 8

‘‘referral for treatment of elevated blood 9

lead levels and other housing-related ill-10

nesses and injuries’’; and 11

(iii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘inter-12

vention associated with such levels’’ and 13

inserting ‘‘intervention associated with ele-14

vated blood lead levels and other housing- 15

related illnesses and injuries’’; and 16

(B) in subparagraph (B) by inserting be-17

fore the period at the end ‘‘and other housing- 18

related illnesses and injuries’’; 19

(2) in subsection (l), by adding at the end the 20

following: 21

‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi-22

tion to any other authorization of appropriation 23

available under this Act to the Centers for Disease 24

Control and Prevention for the purpose of carrying 25


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out the lead poisoning prevention grant program, 1

there is authorized to be appropriated for each of 2

fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to the Centers for 3

Disease Control and Prevention $10,000,000 to in-4

corporate healthy housing principles into the work of 5

program staff and grantees.’’; and 6

(3) by adding at the end the following: 7

‘‘(n) HEALTHY HOUSING APPROACH.—A recipient of 8

a grant under this section is encouraged— 9

‘‘(1) in general, to work toward a transition 10

from a categorical lead-based paint approach to a 11

comprehensive healthy housing approach that fo-12

cuses on primary prevention of housing-related 13

health hazards (as that term is defined under sec-14

tion 3 of the Safe and Healthy Housing Act of 15

2009); 16

‘‘(2) to train staff in healthy housing principles; 17

‘‘(3) to promote the incorporation of healthy 18

housing principles into ongoing State and local pro-19

grams and systems; and 20

‘‘(4) to incorporate healthy housing principles 21

into education programs for parents, educators, 22

community-based organizations, local health officials, 23

health professionals, and paraprofessionals.’’. 24


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SEC. 203. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PRO-1

GRAM CAPACITY ON HOUSING-RELATED 2

HEALTH HAZARDS. 3


ronmental Protection Agency, acting through the director 5

of the Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environ-6

mental Education, shall address health hazards in the 7

home environment, with particular attention to children, 8

the elderly, and families with limited resources. 9

(b) REQUIRED ACTIONS OF OFFICE OF CHILDREN’S 10

HEALTH PROTECTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDU-11

CATION.—The director of the Office of Children’s Health 12

Protection and Environmental Education, in consultation 13

with the Director of the Office of Radiation and Indoor 14

Air and the directors of other relevant offices within the 15

Environmental Protection Agency, shall— 16

(1) monitor standards set by the Environmental 17

Protection Agency to ensure that the standards pro-18

tect against elevated risks faced by children or the 19

elderly; 20

(2) develop policies to address aggregate, cumu-21

lative, and simultaneous exposures experienced by 22

children and the elderly, with particular attention to 23

hazards in the home environment; 24

(3) coordinate healthy housing efforts across 25

the Environmental Protection Agency; 26


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(4) promote the incorporation of healthy hous-1

ing principles into ongoing practices and systems, in-2

cluding the work of State and local environment de-3

partments; 4

(5) encourage and expand healthy housing edu-5

cational efforts to partners, grantees, the private 6

sector, environmental professionals, and the public; 7

and 8

(6) designate not less than 1 representative per 9

region to coordinate children’s environmental health 10

activities, including healthy housing efforts, with 11

State and local environmental departments. 12

(c) AUTHORITY OF THE ADMINISTRATOR.—The Ad-13

ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may 14

award grants or enter into contracts or interagency agree-15

ments to carry out the activities required under this sec-16

tion. 17

(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-18

tion shall be construed to alter, invalidate, repeal, or oth-19

erwise supercede the duties assigned to any office within 20

the Environmental Protection Agency under any other 21

provision of law. 22

(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 23



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SEC. 204. HEALTH HAZARD REDUCTION GRANTS. 3



Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, shall 6

award health hazard reduction grants to enable eligible ap-7

plicants from other eligible Federal programs to reduce 8

significant structural, health, and safety hazards in the 9

home. 10

(b) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS.—Programs eligible to par-11

ticipate in the grant program established under this sec-12

tion shall be Federal assistance programs that pertain to 13

housing, as determined by the Secretary of Housing and 14

Urban Development, including— 15

(1) the Community Development Block Grant 16

program under title I of the Housing and Commu-17

nity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et 18

seq.); 19

(2) the HOME Investment Partnerships pro-20

gram under title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez Na-21

tional Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et 22

seq.); 23


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(3) the lead hazard control grants under the 1

Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act 2

of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 4851 et seq.); 3

(4) the Weatherization Assistance Program for 4

Low-Income Persons established under part A of 5

title IV of the Energy Conservation and Production 6

Act (42 U.S.C. 6861 et seq.); 7

(5) the low-income home energy assistance pro-8

gram established under the Low-Income Home En-9

ergy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621 et 10

seq.); 11

(6) rural housing assistance grants under sec-12

tion 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 13

1485); and 14

(7) any other temporary or other Federal hous-15

ing assistance programs that benefit low-income 16

households. 17

(c) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—Eligible applicants for 18

grants under this section shall be nonprofit or govern-19

mental entities that have applied for or receive primary 20

funding from an eligible program, and may include State 21

and local agencies, community action program agencies, 22

subrecipients of funds under the Weatherization Assist-23

ance Program for Low-Income Persons established under 24

part A of title IV of the Energy Conservation and Produc-25


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tion Act (42 U.S.C. 6861 et seq.), community development 1

corporations, community housing development organiza-2

tions, and other nonprofit organizations as determined by 3

the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 4

(d) AWARD OF GRANTS.— 5

(1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible program shall 6

submit a list of the recipients of the grant funds 7

awarded by the eligible program to the Secretary of 8

Housing and Urban Development, prior to publicly 9

announcing such list. 10

(2) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—The Secretary of 11

Housing and Urban Development shall award grants 12

under this section on a competitive basis. 13

(3) FUNDING CYCLES.—In the event that the 14

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development an-15

nounces the availability of grants under this section 16

prior to an eligible program’s public announcements 17

of the list of recipients of grant funds described 18

under paragraph (1), a grantee from that eligible 19

program may apply for grants under this section 20

during the next funding cycle. 21

(e) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.— 22

(1) IN GENERAL.—Grants awarded under this 23

section may be used to fund corrective and preven-24

tive measures to address housing-related health haz-25


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ards and safety hazards, and energy burden prob-1

lems, including— 2

(A) roof repair and replacement; 3

(B) structural repairs and exterior grad-4

ing; 5

(C) window repair and replacement; 6

(D) correction of combustion gas appliance 7

back-drafting and other serious ventilation 8

problems; 9

(E) provision of adequate ventilation; 10

(F) integrated pest management; and 11

(G) control of other critical housing-related 12

health and safety hazards, such as installation 13

of smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detection de-14

vices, and radon testing and mitigation. 15

(2) COVERED COSTS.—The costs of visual as-16

sessment and testing for baseline documentation of 17

problems, and eligible corrective and preventive 18

measures to address such problems, shall be allow-19

able program expenses. 20

(f) FLEXIBLE FUNDING.—Grants awarded under 21

this section shall be subject to the requirements that gov-22

ern the primary source of Federal funds supporting each 23

project. 24


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(g) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Not more than 10 1

percent of funds for each grant awarded under this section 2

may be used for administrative expenses. 3

(h) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Consistent with 4

the supplemental purpose of the grant program estab-5

lished under this section, the Secretary of Housing and 6

Urban Development shall streamline reporting and record 7

keeping requirements by building on existing reporting re-8

quirements of the eligible program. For each property re-9

ceiving treatments funded by grants under this section, 10

the grantee shall document the problems treated and the 11

amount of grant funds used, and report such information 12

to the primary awarding agency, which shall aggregate re-13

ports and supporting data and submit all such reports and 14

data to the Secretary. 15

(i) EVALUATION.— 16

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing 17

and Urban Development, acting through the Direc-18

tor of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Haz-19

ard Control, shall review the implementation of the 20

grant program established under this section during 21

the 1-year period beginning on the date of enact-22

ment of this Act. 23

(2) CONTENTS OF EVALUATION.—The review 24

under paragraph (1) shall— 25


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(A) determine how grantees use and lever-1

age funds; and 2

(B) evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the 3

grant program, taking into account— 4

(i) the aggregate health, safety, en-5

ergy savings, and durability benefits from 6

measures taken; and 7

(ii) the success of the grant program 8

at leveraging and coordinating Federal in-9

vestments from other programs. 10

(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 11




SEC. 205. EFFECTIVE TRAINING ON HOUSING-RELATED 15

HEALTH HAZARDS. 16

(a) PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT AMENDMENTS.— 17

Section 317B of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 18

247b–3) is amended— 19

(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 20

following: 21

‘‘(3) TRAINING.—The Secretary, acting through 22

the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 23

Prevention, shall— 24


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‘‘(A) train lead poisoning prevention pro-1

gram staff in healthy housing principles; 2

‘‘(B) deliver training and technical assist-3

ance in the identification and control of hous-4

ing-related health hazards (as that term is de-5

fined in section 3 of the Safe and Healthy 6

Housing Act of 2009) to staff of State and 7

local public health departments and code en-8

forcement agencies, health care providers, other 9

health care delivery systems and professionals, 10

and community-based organizations; and 11

‘‘(C) provide resources and incentives to 12

State and local health departments to support 13

the wide availability of free or low-cost training 14

to prevent and control housing-related health 15

hazards.’’; and 16


‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In ad-18

dition to any other authorization of appropriation avail-19

able under this Act to the Centers for Disease Control and 20

Prevention for the purpose of carrying out lead poisoning 21

prevention education, the Interagency Task Force, tech-22

nology assessment, and epidemiology, there is authorized 23

to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2010 through 24

2014 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 25


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$8,000,000 to facilitate a transition from categorical lead 1

poisoning prevention to comprehensive healthy housing ap-2

proaches.’’. 3

(b) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.— 4

(1) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 5

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agri-6

culture, acting through the Cooperative State 7

Research, Education, and Extension Service, 8

shall establish a competitive grant program to 9

promote education and outreach on housing-re-10

lated health hazards. 11

(B) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—The Sec-12

retary of Agriculture may award grants, on a 13

competitive basis, under this subsection to land- 14

grant colleges and universities (as that term is 15

defined in section 1404 of the National Agricul-16

tural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy 17

Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)) for education and 18

extension services. 19

(C) CRITERIA FOR GRANTS.—Grants under 20

this subsection shall be awarded to address 21

housing-related health hazards through trans-22

lation of the latest research into easy-to-use 23

guidelines, development and dissemination of 24

outreach materials, and operation of training 25


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and education programs to build capacity at a 1

local level. 2

(2) EXPANDED TRAINING.—The Secretary of 3

Agriculture, acting through the Cooperative State 4

Research, Education, and Extension Service Re-5

gional Integrated Pest Management Training Cen-6

ters, shall expand training and outreach activities to 7

include structural integrated pest management top-8

ics. 9

(3) COVERAGE OF LEAD-BASED PAINT AND 10

OTHER HEALTH HAZARDS.—The Secretary of Agri-11

culture, acting through the Expanded Food and Nu-12

trition Education Program, in consultation with the 13

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Exten-14

sion Service Housing and Indoor Environments Divi-15

sion, shall ensure that food and nutrition subject 16

matter content for adults and youth includes effec-17

tive information about preventing exposure to lead- 18

based paint, pests, pesticides, mold, and, where there 19

is sufficient data, about preventing exposure to other 20

biological or chemical food safety hazards in and 21

around the home. 22

(c) EVALUATION.—Not later than 2 years after the 23

date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Centers 24

for Disease Control and Prevention and the Secretary of 25


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Agriculture shall evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the 1

training programs authorized under this section and pre-2

pare a report, the results of which shall be posted on the 3

website of each agency. 4



2010 through 2014— 7

(1) $700,000 for carrying out the activities 8

under subsection (b)(1); 9


under subsection (b)(2); and 11


under subsection (b)(3). 13

SEC. 206. ENFORCEMENT OF LEAD DISCLOSURE RULE. 14

Section 1018(a) of the Housing and Community De-15

velopment Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 4852d(a)), is amended 16

by adding at the end the following: 17

‘‘(6) AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY.— 18

‘‘(A) INVESTIGATIONS.— 19

‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 20

may— 21

‘‘(I) conduct such investigations 22

as may be necessary to carry out the 23

duties of the Secretary under this sec-24

tion; 25


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‘‘(II) administer oaths; and 1

‘‘(III) require by subpoena the 2

production of documents, and the at-3

tendance and testimony of witnesses, 4

as the Secretary deems advisable. 5

‘‘(ii) OTHER POWERS OF ADMINIS-6

TRATOR.—Nothing contained in this sub-7

paragraph shall prevent the Administrator 8

of the Environmental Protection Agency 9

from exercising authority under the Toxic 10

Substances Control Act or this Act. 11

‘‘(B) ENFORCEMENT.— 12

‘‘(i) ORDERS.—Upon an application 13

by the Attorney General of the United 14

States, a district court of the United 15

States in which an investigation under this 16

paragraph is carried out may issue an 17

order requiring a person to permit the Sec-18

retary to enter the property of such person 19

or to comply with a subpoena issued by the 20

Secretary under this paragraph. 21

‘‘(ii) PENALTY.—A district court may 22

find a person in contempt of court for fail-23

ure to comply with an order issued under 24

clause (i).’’. 25


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TITLE III—EDUCATION ON 1

HEALTH HAZARDS IN HOUSING 2

SEC. 301. HEALTHY HOME SEAL OF APPROVAL PROGRAM. 3

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 4

the Environmental Protection Agency the following label-5

ing programs: 6

(1) PRODUCTS AND MATERIALS LABELING PRO-7

GRAM.—A voluntary labeling program to evaluate 8

consumer products intended for home use and hous-9

ing materials to determine their efficacy in fostering 10

a healthy home environment, to be known as the 11

‘‘Healthy Home Seal of Approval’’ program. 12

(2) CRITERIA FOR HOUSING LABELING PRO-13

GRAM.—A voluntary labeling program to expand 14

upon the Energy Star program established by sec-15

tion 324A of the Energy Policy and Conservation 16

Act (42 U.S.C. 6294a) to establish health-promoting 17

design and maintenance criteria for new and existing 18

housing. 19

(b) DUTIES.— 20

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 21

Environmental Protection Agency shall, in consulta-22

tion with the Secretary of Housing and Urban De-23

velopment, acting through the Director of the Office 24

of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, and 25


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the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 1

Prevention— 2

(A) promote the Healthy Home Seal of 3

Approval for consumer products and materials, 4

and for criteria for housing as the preferred op-5

tions in the marketplace for achieving optimum 6

indoor environmental quality and maximum oc-7

cupant health; 8

(B) work to enhance public awareness of 9

the Healthy Home Seal of Approval for con-10

sumer products and materials, and for criteria 11

for housing, including by providing special out-12

reach to small businesses; 13

(C) conduct research and provide sound 14

science and methods to evaluate products, ma-15

terials, and criteria for housing that preserves 16

the integrity of the Healthy Home Seal of Ap-17

proval for consumer products and materials, 18

and for criteria for housing label; 19

(D) regularly update the requirements for 20

the Healthy Home Seal of Approval for prod-21

ucts and materials, and for criteria for housing; 22

(E) solicit comments from interested par-23

ties prior to establishing or revising a Healthy 24

Home Seal of Approval, including a change to 25


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•HR 3891 IH

a product category, material category, specifica-1

tion, or criterion (or prior to effective dates for 2

any such product category, material category, 3

specification, or criterion); 4

(F) on adoption of a new or revised prod-5

uct category, material category, specification, or 6

criterion in a Healthy Home Seal of Approval, 7

provide reasonable notice to interested parties 8

of any changes (including effective dates) in 9

product categories, material categories, speci-10

fications, or criteria, along with— 11

(i) an explanation of the changes; and 12

(ii) as appropriate, responses to com-13

ments submitted by interested parties; and 14

(G) provide appropriate lead time (which 15

shall be 270 days, unless the Administrator 16

specifies otherwise) prior to the applicable effec-17

tive date for a new or a significant revision to 18

a Healthy Home Seal of Approval, including a 19

change to a product category, material cat-20

egory, specification, or criterion. 21

(2) LEAD TIME.—If a product category is re-22

vised in accordance with paragraph (1)(G), the lead 23

time shall take into account the timing requirements 24


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of the manufacturing, product marketing, and dis-1

tribution process for the specific product addressed. 2





SEC. 302. OUTREACH ON HEALTH HAZARDS IN HOUSING. 7


ronmental Protection Agency, acting through the Office 9

of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Edu-10

cation, shall provide education and outreach to the general 11

public on the— 12

(1) environmental health risks experienced by 13

the elderly; and 14

(2) low-cost methods for addressing such risks. 15

(b) FOOD QUALITY PROTECTION.—Section 303 of 16

the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 136r– 17

1) is amended— 18

(1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The Sec-19

retary’’ and inserting the following: 20

‘‘(a) PROGRAMS.— 21

‘‘(1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary’’; 22

(2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘Inte-23

grated Pest Management is’’ and inserting the fol-24

lowing: 25


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‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF INTEGRATED PEST MAN-1

AGEMENT.—In this section, the term ‘Integrated 2

Pest Management’ means’’; 3

(3) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘The Sec-4

retary’’ and inserting the following: 5

‘‘(b) FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 6

‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—The 7

Secretary’’; 8

(4) in the fourth sentence, by striking ‘‘Federal 9

agencies’’ and inserting the following: 10

‘‘(2) USE.—A Federal agency’’; and 11


‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 13


2010 through 2014 to carry out this section— 15

‘‘(1) $300,000 for use by the Secretary of Agri-16

culture; and 17

‘‘(2) $300,000 for use by the Administrator.’’. 18

(c) GRANT PROGRAM.— 19

(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing 20

and Urban Development, acting through the Direc-21

tor of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Haz-22

ard Control, shall award funds for a Health Hazards 23

Outreach competitive grant program. 24


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(2) ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS.—Eligible applicants 1

for a grant under paragraph (1) are national non-2

profit organizations, and State and local entities, in-3

cluding community-based organizations and govern-4

ment health, environmental, and housing depart-5

ments. 6

(3) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Funds awarded 7

under this subsection may be used to— 8

(A) document the need for healthy housing 9

assessments or controls in a given community 10

or communities; 11

(B) perform outreach and education with a 12

community-level focus; and 13

(C) develop policy and capacity building 14

approaches. 15

(4) COLLABORATION WITH LOCAL INSTITU-16

TIONS.—Eligible applicants under this subsection 17

are encouraged to— 18

(A) forge partnerships among State or 19

local level government and nonprofit entities; 20

and 21

(B) improve the incorporation of healthy 22

housing principles into existing State and local 23

systems where possible. 24


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2010 through 2014— 3


under subsection (a); and 5

(2) $2,000,000 for carrying out the activities 6

under subsection (c). 7

SEC. 303. NATIONAL HEALTHY HOUSING MEDIA CAMPAIGN. 8



Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, the 11

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-12

tion, and the Administrator of the Environmental Protec-13

tion Agency shall establish and maintain a national 14

healthy housing media campaign. 15

(b) REQUIREMENTS OF CAMPAIGN.—The Secretary 16

of Housing and Urban Development, acting through the 17

Director of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard 18

Control, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control 19

and Prevention, and the Administrator of the Environ-20

mental Protection Agency shall— 21

(1) determine the design of the national healthy 22

housing media campaign, including by— 23

(A) identifying the target audience; 24


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(B) formulating and packaging unified 1

messages regarding— 2

(i) how best to assess health hazards 3

in the home; and 4

(ii) how best to prevent and control 5

health hazards in the home; 6

(C) identifying ideal mechanisms for dis-7

semination; 8

(D) distributing responsibilities and estab-9

lishing an ongoing system of coordination; and 10

(E) incorporating input from the target 11

audience of the campaign; 12

(2) carry out the operation of a national 13

healthy housing media campaign that— 14

(A) draws upon existing outreach and pub-15

lic education efforts to the maximum extent 16

practicable; 17

(B) provides critical healthy housing infor-18

mation in a concise and simple manner; and 19

(C) uses multiple media strategies to reach 20

the maximum number of people in the target 21

audience as possible; and 22

(3) evaluate the performance of the campaign, 23

including by— 24


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(A) tracking the accomplishments of the 1

campaign; 2

(B) identifying changes in healthy housing 3

awareness, healthy housing activities, and the 4

healthy housing conditions among the target 5

audience of the campaign; 6

(C) assessing the cost-effectiveness of the 7

campaign in achieving the goals of the cam-8

paign; and 9

(D) preparing a final evaluation report not 10

later than 1 year after the date of the close of 11

the campaign, the results of which shall be 12

posted on the website of each such agency. 13





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th st congress session h. r. 3891 · 2020-02-08 · i 111th congress 1st session h. r. 3891 to...

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