HR 4493 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Climate Health Emergency Act of 2025
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.
Summary
This bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency in connection with health risks associated with climate change. The bill's findings note that climate change is driving or exacerbating extreme weather events and infectious disease transmission, and that of 120 public health emergencies declared in the past decade, 66 were related to extreme weather events. The bill argues that climate change should be treated with the same urgency as other public health crises, requiring mobilization of federal resources, coordination across agencies, and development of a more resilient public health system.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Dexter, Maxine [D-OR-3] (D-OR)
17 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Ansari, Yassamin [D-AZ-3] (D-AZ)
- Rep. Barragán, Nanette Diaz [D-CA-44] (D-CA)
- Rep. Bell, Wesley [D-MO-1] (D-MO)
- Rep. Carbajal, Salud O. [D-CA-24] (D-CA)
- Rep. Green, Al [D-TX-9] (D-TX)
- Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7] (D-WA)
- Rep. McClellan, Jennifer L. [D-VA-4] (D-VA)
- Rep. Randall, Emily [D-WA-6] (D-WA)
- Rep. Ruiz, Raul [D-CA-25] (D-CA)
- Rep. Schneider, Bradley Scott [D-IL-10] (D-IL)
- Rep. Simon, Lateefah [D-CA-12] (D-CA)
- Rep. Stansbury, Melanie A. [D-NM-1] (D-NM)
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] (D-MI)
- Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-12] (D-MI)
- Rep. Tonko, Paul [D-NY-20] (D-NY)
- Rep. Velázquez, Nydia M. [D-NY-7] (D-NY)
Actions (3)
- Jul 22, 2025 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H3548-3549)
- Jul 17, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. · house
- Jul 17, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
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. <all>
Comments