Coordinated Federal Response to Extreme Heat Act of 2025
The Coordinated Federal Response to Extreme Heat Act of 2025 would create a National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and establish a National Integrated Heat Health Information System Interagency Committee to lead a united federal approach to reducing heat-related health risks. The bill defines key terms (extreme heat, heat event, heat-health, etc.), creates a broad interagency committee with representatives from many federal agencies, and designates three co-chairs (NOAA, the Department of Health and Human Services, and FEMA) to guide the effort. A central component is a strategic 5-year plan and ongoing updates to Congress, focusing on data sharing, user needs and research, and financing for heat planning and preparedness. The bill also mandates an open-data approach for NIHHIS data, and would authorize $5 million annually for 2025–2029 to NOAA to implement the program. In short, the bill aims to improve how the federal government predicts, communicates, plans for, and responds to extreme heat by creating a centralized information system and a cross-agency coordinating body, backed by a formal strategic plan and dedicated funding.
Key Points
- 1Establishes the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) within NOAA and creates the NIHHIS Interagency Committee to coordinate federal efforts on heat-health risk reduction across many agencies.
- 2Creates a broad, multi-agency membership (including NOAA, HHS agencies, Interior, EPA, FEMA, DoD, Agriculture, HUD, Transportation, Energy, Labor, VA, Education, State, USAID, and others) and designates three co-chairs (NOAA, HHS, and FEMA) to lead the collaboration; committee members must have relevant expertise.
- 3Requires a 5-year strategic plan within 2 years of enactment, available to Congress and the public, outlining data-sharing goals, user needs research, innovative solutions, and financing mechanisms; updates to Congress every 5 years.
- 4Requires NIHHIS to improve data, forecasts, warnings, and decision-support tools for heat-health, with fully open data and metadata available for redistribution; designates National Centers for Environmental Information to manage data and to host at least one warning coordination meteorologist.
- 5Authorizes $5 million annually for fiscal years 2025–2029 to NOAA to implement Sections 3 and 4, including administrative costs for the interagency committee and NIHHIS operations.