OFFICE OF CHILDRENS HEALTH PROTECTION
House Bill 4026
Sponsor: Rep. Chris Kolb
Committee: Family and Children Services
Complete to 2-5-01
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4026 AS INTRODUCED 1-25-01
The bill would add a new chapter to the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA), which would establish an Office of Children's Health Protection. As used in the bill, "protecting the health of children" would include taking into account the special vulnerability of children because of their developing physiology, behavior, and intake of air, water, and food.
Office of Children's Health Protection. The office would be established in the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to do all of the following:
愛eview legislation proposed by the DEQ to determine whether it adequately protected children's health. The DEQ could not propose legislation unless the office had certified that it protected the health of children.
愛eview statutes and rules administered by the DEQ to determine whether they protected children's health, and conduct the review in order of priority, based on which environmental exposures had the greatest potential to adversely affect children's health.
愛eview, at the request of the DEQ or a member of the public, applications for permits for water resources protection, air pollution control, hazardous waste management, or solid waste management, which have been submitted to the department under Parts 31, 55, 111 or 115 of the NREPA.
[If the department couldn't determine, based on existing research, whether the legislation, statutes, rules, or permits protected children's health then it would have to identify and propose the additional research that would be required for it to make the determination.]
愛eport annually to the governor and legislature on the effects of pollution on the health of children in the state. The report would have to include both the baseline data and annual updates on the health of children, as affected by pollution; and the office's recommendations on the policies, rules, and laws that would be needed to protect children's health.
愛eview and coordinate existing research concerning the relationship between exposure to pollution and children's health.
嵯evelop and update biennially a research agenda, in conjunction with the Department of Community Health, to address unresolved scientific concerns about the relationship between exposure to pollution and children's health.
嵯evelop and coordinate a public education program to make parents, guardians, and other caregivers aware of the potential health effects to children that were caused by exposure to pollution, and of recommendations to minimize such exposure.
MCL 324.22101
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.