Congress Proposes Healthy Schools, IAQ Act

Bipartisan legislation was announced late last month to protect building occupants from poor indoor air quality (IAQ). 

Congressmen Paul Tomko (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the Indoor Air Quality and Healthy Schools Act that would address an underfunded aspect of institutional and commercial buildings, a press release said.  

IAQ emerged as more of a public concern during the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained a priority for building occupants and facility managers. Studies show that indoor contaminants can be 2-5 times and occasionally 100 times higher than outdoors.  

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Science Advisory Board continues to rank poor IAQ among the top five environmental risks to public health. According to the press release announcing the proposed legislation, more than 3 million people globally die prematurely each year from disease caused by poor IAQ. 

A fact sheet promoting the bill said that efforts to improve IAQ “have historically been underappreciated and underfunded,” especially when compared to outdoor air pollution. Unlike the Clean Air Act which addresses outdoor air, no similar laws have been passed that address IAQ. 

The proposed act would ensure that the EPA has the authority and resources to better protect public health from poor IAQ through: 

• Update, expand and codify the EPA’s Indoor Environments Division 
• Require EPA to establish and update a list of significant indoor contaminants and develop health guidelines to reduce exposure to contaminants 
• Direct EPA to develop certifications for buildings “designed, built, operated, and maintained to prevent or minimize indoor air health risks” 
• Establish regularly updated national assessment of IAQ in schools and childcare facilities and support development of technical assistance, guidelines and best practices to improve IAQ in such facilities. 

Dave Lubach is executive editor of the facilities market.  

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