March 25, 2025
Mr. Nadler (for himself, Mr. Garamendi, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Magaziner, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Ms. Tokuda, Mrs. Hayes, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Norton, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Carson, Ms. Dexter, Ms. Chu, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Mr. Sorensen, and Mr. Thanedar) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
To require the Office of Children’s Health Protection to be maintained within the Environmental Protection Agency, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Children’s Health Protection Act of 2025
.
Sec. 2. Office of Children’s Health Protection
(a) In general
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall maintain, within the Agency, the Office of Children’s Health Protection.
(b) Director
(1) In general
The Office shall be headed by a Director.
(2) Appointment
The Director of the Office shall be appointed by, and report to, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. In making such appointment, the Administrator shall take into consideration the recommendations of the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee.
(3) Co-Chair of President’s Task Force
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall delegate to the Director of the Office responsibility to serve as Co-Chair, on behalf of the Administrator, of the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children established by Executive Order 13045.
(c) Duties
The Director of the Office shall—
(1)
identify and assess environmental health risks and safety risks that may disproportionately affect infants, children, and adolescents;
(2)
work to ensure that Federal policies, programs, activities, and standards address disproportionate risks to infants, children, and adolescents that result from environmental health risks or safety risks, including consideration of the unique environmental justice concerns affecting infants, children, and adolescents;
(3)
coordinate Federal research and programs, including grant programs, to advance the activities described in paragraphs (1) and (2);
(4)
advise other offices of the Environmental Protection Agency and other Federal agencies on all matters related to and concerning environmental health risks to infants, children, and adolescents;
(5)
carry out other duties as the Administrator determines appropriate, including any responsibilities of the Administrator under Executive Order 13045; and
(6)
carry out national activities to—
(A)
reduce negative environmental impacts on infants, children, and adolescents through involvement in rulemaking, policy, enforcement actions, research, and applications of science that focuses on prenatal and childhood vulnerabilities;
(B)
help protect infants, children, and adolescents through promoting and issuing guidance for safe chemicals management;
(C)
coordinate community-based programs to eliminate threats to infants’, children’s, and adolescents’ health;
(D)
increase the environmental health literacy of health care providers through support of pediatric environmental health specialty units;
(E)
evaluate and communicate trends in environmental contaminants that may contribute to childhood disease;
(F)
develop and publish resources for local educational agencies to establish, maintain, or enhance a school environmental health program; and
(G)
otherwise protect infants, children, and adolescents from environmental health risks or safety risks.
(d) Transition
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall make such changes to the Office of Children’s Health Protection of the Environmental Protection Agency, as in existence on the day before the date of enactment of this Act, as may be necessary for such Office to become the Office required by subsection (a).
(e) Authorization of appropriations
To carry out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated $7,842,000 for fiscal year 2026 and each subsequent fiscal year.
Sec. 3. Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee
(a) Establishment
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall maintain an advisory committee, to be known as the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, to—
(1)
provide advice and recommendations to the Administrator and other officials of the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the programs and activities of the Office;
(2)
advise the Administrator and other officials of the Environmental Protection Agency on regulations, research, and communications related to infant’s, children’s and adolescent’s health; and
(3)
support the Environmental Protection Agency, including the Office, in implementing Executive Order 13045 and other issues related to infants’, children’s, and adolescents’ health protection as deemed appropriate by the Administrator.
(b) Applicability of FACA
The Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee shall be subject to chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code, except that the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee shall be a permanent advisory committee and shall not terminate under section 1013 of such title.
(c) Transition
The President, acting through the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall make such changes to the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee established pursuant to Executive Order 13045 as may be necessary for such Advisory Committee to become the advisory committee required by this section.
Sec. 4. Definitions
In this Act:
(1) Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee
The term Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee means the advisory committee maintained pursuant to section 3.
(2) Executive Order 13045
The term Executive Order 13045 means Executive Order 10345 (relating to protection of children from environmental health risks and safety risks) published in the Federal Register on April 23, 1997 (62 Fed. Reg. 19885).
(3) Local educational agency
The term local educational agency has the meaning given to such term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(4) Office
The term Office means the Office of Children’s Health Protection maintained pursuant to section 2.
Sec. 5. Authorization of appropriations
To carry out this Act, there is authorized to be appropriated $13,200,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.