119-hr4493

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4493 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4493

 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to declare a 
public health emergency in connection with health risks associated with 
 climate change, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 17, 2025

 Ms. Dexter (for herself, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Norton, Ms. Ansari, Ms. 
Randall, Ms. Barragan, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Ruiz, Mr. Schneider, Ms. Simon, 
 Mr. Tonko, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Bell, and Mr. Thanedar) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
 Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to declare a 
public health emergency in connection with health risks associated with 
 climate change, 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 ``Climate Health Emergency Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) In the past decade, the Secretary of Health and Human 
 Services has declared or renewed a public health emergency 120 
 times. Of those declarations and renewals--
        (A) 66 were related to extreme weather events;
        (B) 14 were related to COVID-19;
            (C) 2 were related to earthquakes;
            (D) 2 were related to Mpox;
        (E) 32 were related to the opioid crisis; and
        (F) 4 were related to Zika.

    (2) A preponderance of evidence shows that climate change 
 is driving or, at a minimum, exacerbating extreme weather 
 events and the transmission of infectious diseases. Therefore, 
 climate change can be linked to more than half of all public 
 health emergency declarations over the past decade.

    (3) For this reason, entities (including the World Health 
 Organization) have identified climate change as the most 
 significant health threat of the 21st century. Yet the public 
 health infrastructure of the United States remains woefully 
 unprepared to meet the increased demand that climate-related 
 public health crises continue to drive.

    (4) The United States bears a moral and strategic 
 responsibility to confront climate-related public health crises 
 with the urgency such crises demand. To protect communities in 
 the United States, and the most vulnerable individuals within 
 such communities, the Nation must mobilize Federal resources, 
 enable data sharing, exercise emergency authorities, and 
 coordinate across agencies to build a public health system that 
 is resilient to the intensifying threat of climate change.

SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.

 The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall declare a public 
health emergency under 

section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 247d) in connection with health risks associated with climate 
change.
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