Recognizing that climate change poses a growing threat to public health and necessitates coordinated action to mitigate its impacts and safeguard the health and well-being of all people in the United States.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Barragán (for herself, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Schneider, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
H.Res. 568 is a non-binding House resolution that calls on federal agencies to strengthen America's response to climate change's health impacts. The resolution urges the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies to take specific actions including: making the healthcare sector more resilient to extreme weather, distributing clean energy funding to healthcare facilities, reinstating climate health offices, and requiring OSHA to create new worker heat protection standards.
Who Benefits and How
Tribal health systems, rural hospitals, and healthcare providers in historically underserved communities would benefit through prioritized access to technical assistance, capacity building, and federal funding for climate adaptation and infrastructure improvements. Clean energy contractors and electric vehicle manufacturers would gain business opportunities from the distribution of funding for energy efficiency retrofits, renewable energy installations, and clean vehicles at healthcare facilities. Workers in outdoor and industrial jobs would be protected from heat-related illness through new OSHA workplace heat standards. Community-based organizations, environmental justice groups, and public health workforce training providers would receive increased funding and authority to lead local climate resilience efforts.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Employers in high heat-exposure industries like construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and warehousing would face new compliance requirements and costs if OSHA implements the urged worker heat protection standard, including measures to regulate employees' heat exposure. Federal health and environmental agencies (HHS, CDC, NIH, EPA, NOAA, and others) would shoulder increased administrative burdens from expanded reporting, data coordination, and climate readiness activities, though these align with their public health missions. The Department of Labor would need to conduct rulemaking and develop enforcement capacity for the new heat protection standard.
Key Provisions
- Urges HHS to increase healthcare sector climate readiness by strengthening infrastructure resilience, improving supply chain continuity during extreme weather, and reducing the sector's environmental footprint
- Calls for expedited distribution of already-appropriated funding for energy efficiency retrofits, clean vehicles, and renewable energy systems at healthcare facilities, with priority for underserved communities
- Recommends full reinstatement and funding of the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity and Office of Environmental Justice within HHS to coordinate federal climate-health efforts
- Urges support for climate-related agencies including the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, NIH's Climate Change and Health Initiative, and the Indian Health Service
- Calls for OSHA to establish a comprehensive worker heat protection standard based on best available evidence to prevent heat-related illness and injury
- Recommends that federal agencies provide annual progress reports to Congress on climate resilience investments, health outcomes, and equitable resource distribution to vulnerable populations
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Resolution calling for federal action to address climate change's health impacts through increased healthcare sector climate readiness, infrastructure investments, and equitable support for vulnerable communities.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Non-binding resolution to establish House position on climate-health policy priorities and signal support for specific administrative actions without creating legal obligations"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Tribal health systems and governments
- Rural hospitals and clinics
- Historically underserved communities and healthcare providers
- Community-based organizations and environmental justice groups
- Workers in healthcare and public health sectors
- Clean energy and energy efficiency contractors
- Public health agencies and climate health offices
Likely Burden Bearers
- Employers subject to proposed heat protection standards (particularly outdoor and industrial sectors)
- Federal agencies required to provide additional reporting and coordination
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "dol"
- → Department of Labor
- "hhs"
- → Department of Health and Human Services
- "osha"
- → Occupational Safety and Health Administration (within DOL)
- "federal_agencies"
- → Multiple federal agencies with public health, healthcare, and environmental data responsibilities
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology