New Federal Heat Plan Mandates 40% of Resilience Funds Go to Environmental Justice Communities

The new Preventing HEAT Illness and Deaths Act of 2025 is a big move by the federal government to finally treat extreme heat like the public health crisis it is. This bill doesn’t just talk about the heat; it puts money and a massive new coordination system behind the problem. It officially establishes that extreme heat is the top weather-related killer in the U.S. and sets up a whole new infrastructure to fight back.

The Federal Government Gets Coordinated on Heat

Right now, when a heat wave hits, different government agencies often operate in their own lanes—the weather people issue warnings, the health people track hospital visits, and FEMA deals with emergencies. This bill changes that by creating the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) Interagency Committee within NOAA. This committee is essentially the new heat emergency task force, pulling in representatives from nearly every major department, including NOAA, the CDC, EPA, FEMA, Labor (OSHA), and HHS. Their main job is to create a single, unified, five-year strategy to cut down on heat-related risks. Think of it as making sure that when the National Weather Service issues a forecast, the CDC and local emergency managers are already synchronized on the response plan. This coordination is critical because heat waves ripple across energy, transportation, and healthcare, requiring a unified front.

Targeting the Urban Heat Island Effect Where It Hurts Most

One of the most important parts of this bill is Section 7, which sets up the Community Heat Resilience Program. This is where the real-world impact hits home for local governments and community groups. The program authorizes up to $30 million annually by 2029 and 2030 for grants, contracts, and other financial assistance to fund local projects. This money can be used for tangible things like installing "cool roofs" and pavements, planting shade trees, setting up and maintaining cooling centers, and upgrading the power grid to handle high AC loads.

Crucially, the bill mandates that at least 40% of all financial assistance must go to projects benefitting communities with environmental justice concerns or low-income communities. This is a direct response to the finding that historical factors like redlining have created "urban heat islands" where low-income neighborhoods and communities of color often lack green space and suffer disproportionately high heat risks. For a community non-profit in a historically underserved neighborhood, this means they can apply for federal funds to finally plant the trees needed to provide shade on busy streets or retrofit a community center to serve as a reliable cooling shelter.

What This Means for Your Work and Health

The NIHHIS system created under Section 5 focuses on developing and sharing science-based tools and warnings. This isn't just about better weather forecasts; it’s about creating actionable information for everyone. The Director is specifically tasked with funding research and projects that create workplace policies to protect both indoor and outdoor workers from heat illness. If you work construction, in a warehouse, or in agriculture, this bill aims to give your employer and local government better guidance and tools to prevent heat stroke.

Furthermore, Section 6 mandates a comprehensive study by the National Academies of Sciences to find all the gaps in our current heat response. This study will specifically look at state and local policies that might increase vulnerability, like lack of AC in schools or prisons, and examine how medical facilities code heat-related illnesses to ensure we are accurately tracking the problem. The goal is to standardize data collection across all 50 states and territories, which means we’ll finally get a clear, nationwide picture of who is being affected and where resources are most needed.

This legislation is a clear signal that the federal government is moving from simply observing extreme heat to actively funding and coordinating efforts to mitigate its increasingly dangerous effects on everyday life.