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Referenced Laws
42 U.S.C. 5302
section 501(c)(3)
Section 1
1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Excess Urban Heat Mitigation Act of 2023.
Section 2
2. Findings Congress finds the following: Heat stress is a leading weather-related cause of death in the United States, with more than 600 people killed in the United States by extreme heat every year, and many more experiencing respiratory problems and heat-related illness. Urban areas are likely to experience higher temperatures than surrounding areas due to design-related attributes of the built environment, including manmade factors such as low solar reflectance, low vegetation and tree cover, high building density, high impervious surface cover, and waste heat emissions. Underserved communities are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat. In the United States, low-income census blocks have 15.2 percent less tree cover and an average land surface temperature that is 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than high-income blocks. Studies show that in 97 percent of the largest urbanized areas in the United States, people of color live in census tracts with higher surface urban heat intensity than non-Hispanic Whites, indicating that heat exposure is unequally distributed by race. Urban heat is not only a public health threat but also an economic one, as rising heat leads to increased roadway maintenance costs, higher residential and commercial summer energy costs, and lost labor productivity, as well as the cost to patients and health care infrastructure for heat-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits. Excess urban heat causes increased energy consumption, elevated emission of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, and impaired water quality. Heat waves are expected to not only occur more frequently in the United States but also be of longer duration, lasting 10 to 20 days longer by the end of the century. Solutions exist that communities can implement now to mitigate the challenge of urban heat. One example is the planting of urban trees to offset or reverse the urban heat island effect. Studies in multiple cities in the United States have shown that urban trees can offset projected increases in heat-related mortality in 2050 by 40 to 99 percent.
Section 3
3. Definitions In this Act: The term covered census tract means a census tract with a poverty rate of not less than 20 percent, as measured by the 5-year data series available from the American Community Survey of the Bureau of the Census for the period of 2014 through 2018, including such a census tract that includes an area that was designated as hazardous or definitely declining in maps drawn by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. The term covered grant means a grant awarded under section 4(a). The term eligible entity means— a State (as defined in section 102 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)); a metropolitan planning organization; a unit of general local government (as defined in section 102 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)); an Indian tribe (as defined in section 102 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302)); a territorial government; a nonprofit organization working in coordination with an entity described in subparagraphs (A) through (E); and a consortium of nonprofit organizations. The term eligible project— means a project designed to mitigate or manage heat in an urban area by— working to mitigate the causes of higher temperatures; or managing the impacts of higher temperatures or other extreme weather events; and includes the implementation, construction, or maintenance of— tree planting and maintenance with, wherever possible, preference for— native tree species; tree species with high shade production and carbon sequestration; and tree species that are valuable for food production; cool pavements; cool roofs; green roofs; bus and other transit stop shelters; shade structures; cooling centers with, wherever possible, preference for— cooling centers that collaborate with existing community centers and spaces; cooling centers with year-round accessibility, and cooling centers that utilize renewable energy; community gardens, including agroforestry practices; outreach to communities about resources available under this section; local heat mitigation and management education efforts; urban forestry master plans; urban tree canopy assessments; arboriculture training; maintenance of existing urban trees; or other actions the Secretary determines appropriate to mitigate or manage excess urban heat. The term environmental justice means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, culture, national origin, income, and educational levels with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of protective environmental laws, regulations, and policies. The term excess urban heat effect means the phenomenon of local urban warming, resulting from manmade factors such as low solar reflectance, low tree cover, high building density, high impervious surface cover, and waste heat emissions. The term extreme heat means a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, with temperatures well above climatological normals for a given location and season. The term nonprofit organization means an organization described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section 501(a) of such Code. The term Secretary means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The term urban area has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of title 23, United States Code. The term urban forestry master plan means a strategic plan that establishes the overall vision, goals, objectives, and implementation tools to evaluate, maintain and expand the urban tree canopy with the intention of building resilience to extreme weather events, reducing the urban heat island effect, mitigating stormwater runoff, reducing nutrient runoff, addressing air quality, and preserving biodiversity. The term urban tree canopy assessment means a measure of a community’s tree canopy coverage as a percentage of the total land area that serves as a baseline for setting community tree canopy goals and measuring progress.
Section 4
4. Urban Heat Mitigation and Management Grant Program Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, acting through the Office of Community Planning and Development, in coordination with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Chief of the Forest Service, and the Director of the Climate Program Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shall establish an urban heat mitigation and management grant program to award grants to eligible entities to implement eligible projects. Not less than 75 percent of the amounts of covered grants awarded for a fiscal year shall be awarded to eligible entities to implement projects in a covered census tract. Not more than 3 percent of amounts appropriated to carry out this section may be used to provide technical assistance to eligible entities applying for or implementing a covered grant. In providing technical assistance under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give preference to eligible entities that intend to serve communities— located in a covered census tract; or with lower-tree canopy and higher maximum daytime summer temperatures compared to surrounding communities, as determined by the Secretary, based on publicly available information. Technical assistance provided under paragraph (1) may include— assistance developing a complete application; financial analysis and budget development; support for project integration; assessment of project readiness; and technical assistance implementing activities once a covered grant is received. An eligible entity desiring a covered grant shall submit to the Secretary an application, at such time and in such manner as required by the Secretary in guidance, that includes, at a minimum— how the eligible entity will use the covered grant; how the eligible projects funded will combat extreme heat or excess urban heat effects and improve quality of life for impacted communities; a robust engagement plan that— outlines how the eligible entity will meaningfully and inclusively engage with the communities in which the eligible projects take place throughout project implementation; and demonstrates how the eligible entity plans to— foster meaningful, reciprocal relationships with community-based organizations; engage in respectful, good-faith consultation with diverse community stakeholders; and empower members of the community to participate in decision making; and how the eligible entity will address the intersection between human health, environment, and built environment. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue the guidance described in paragraph (1). Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Federal share of the cost of an eligible project carried out with amounts from a covered grant shall be not more than 80 percent. The Secretary may increase the maximum Federal share described in paragraph (1) from 80 percent to 100 percent for an eligible project carried out by an eligible entity that demonstrates economic hardship, as determined by the Secretary. In awarding covered grants, the Secretary shall give priority to an eligible entity that serves— a community located in a covered census tract; or a community with lower tree canopy and higher maximum daytime summer temperatures compared to surrounding communities, as determined by the Secretary, based on publicly available information. The Secretary shall submit an annual report to Congress that identifies the recipients of covered grants and the geographic and economic distribution of those recipients. In order to ensure the effectiveness of projects that are carried out using covered grants, the Secretary shall use not more than 5 percent of any amounts appropriated to carry out this section to establish an oversight board to help— select recipients of covered grants; and review the progress made by recipients of covered grants on a yearly basis. The board established under paragraph (1) shall— develop and apply a rubric to evaluate the success of projects carried out using covered grants in reaching their objective to combat the causes and effects of excess urban heat; and serve the Secretary in an advisory capacity. Members of the board established under paragraph (1) may include— representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, particularly from the Heat Island Reduction Program; representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services, particularly from the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity; representatives from the Department of Energy, particularly from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; representatives from the Department of Agriculture, particularly from the Urban and Community Forestry Program; subject to subparagraph (B), representatives from nonprofit organizations with proven leadership in urban heat mitigation or environmental justice, as determined by the Secretary; and subject to subparagraph (B), representatives from academia and research studying the effects of and mitigation of excess urban heat, environmental justice, or related areas. In order to be a member of the board established under paragraph (1), a representative described in clause (v) or (vi) of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph shall certify that the representative does not possess any conflict of interest with respect to projects being considered for a covered grant or being carried out using a covered grant. There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2030.