U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of Arizona have introduced a bill that would require the federal government to study the economic impacts of extreme heat.
Heat kills more people in the U.S. each year than any other type of weather-related disaster. In Arizona, there were 975 heat-related deaths and nearly 6,000 heat-related emergency room visits in 2024, according to provisional data from the state health department.
“It’s a lot of folks that show up in the emergency room, that leads to lost wages, breakdown in infrastructure, and we don’t measure the financial costs of this,” Kelly told KJZZ.
Kelly and Gallego’s Extreme Heat Economic Study Act would authorize $3.5 million for the National Integrated Heat Health Information System to conduct a study within the next four years to quantify the costs of extreme heat nationally. The study would consider the impacts of heat on health care costs, business interruptions, energy costs, infrastructure damage and agricultural losses.
The Democrat-backed bill faces long odds in the Republican-controlled Congress. And it comes shortly after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it would stop tracking costs of other disasters like floods and hurricanes, in response to Trump administration priorities and changes to staffing and funding.
“Their strategy is, ‘let me dig a hole and bury my head in the sand and hope the problem will go away.’ The problem is not going to go away,” Kelly said.
Kelly argues the federal government needs more data so that it is better positioned to respond to the challenges posed by rising temperatures.
-
The victim was an older adult male, but officials have not released any additional details about the case. Temperatures this spring have been much hotter than average. -
According to National Weather Service data, temperatures have averaged about 8.3 degrees above-normal so far this month – the third-hottest start to April on record in Phoenix. -
The Industrial Commission of Arizona voted to adopt heat safety guidelines for workplaces in the state. But labor groups still hope for enforceable regulations. -
Arizona labor groups are calling for state regulations to require specific protections from heat in workplaces. But actions from the state have so far fallen short of what workers have called for. -
As the Industrial Commission of Arizona considers workplace heat safety recommendations, some employers say they would welcome new heat rules, but others worry about overregulation.
