HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1561        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1990

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Denise Provost

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act reducing human exposure to particulate matter pollution.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1561        FILED ON: 1/16/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1990

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act reducing human exposure to particulate matter pollution.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 17 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after Section 20 the following sections:—

“particulate matter” shall mean the broad class of chemically and physically diverse substances that exist as discrete particles in air, including coarse, fine, and ultrafine particles.

“fine particles” shall mean particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter.

“ultrafine particles”  shall mean particles less than or equal to .1 micrometers in diameter (.1 micrometers is equivalent to 100 nanometers).

“nanoparticles” shall have the same meaning as “ultrafine particles.”

“black carbon” shall mean those fine particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter (also known as soot).

“high-activity roadway” shall mean any roadway that, on an average day, has traffic in excess of 50,000 vehicles.

“exposure” shall mean inhalable particulate matter that is emitted from pollution sources and which may come into contact with human respiratory systems.

“minimal exposure” shall mean indoor particulate matter levels 80% or more lower than outdoor levels.

“mitigations” are modifications to sites or structures which reduce levels of particulate matter pollution exposure. These shall include, but are not limited to: the implementation of filtration systems, location of air inlets, sound-proofing, land use buffers, vegetative or structural barriers, decking over highway, building set-backs (siting), trees, gardens, and/or parks.

“substantially reduced” shall mean particulate matter levels which meet a verifiable reduction in indoor ultrafine particle levels by 80 percent, relative to outdoor levels.

SECTION 2. This Act may be cited as the ‘Healthy Breathing Act’

SECTION 3.  Chapter 21A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 18A, as Section 18B, the following section:-

SECTION 4 (Section 18B). The department of environmental protection, in consultation with the department of public health, shall promulgate regulations for conducting indoor/outdoor assessments monitoring exposure to ultrafine, fine, and black carbon particulate matter concentrations present in the indoor air of existing and proposed buildings, based on the best available science about the health risks associated with ultrafine, fine, and black carbon particulate matter.

(a)The department of environmental protection’s regulations shall at minimum set forth standard procedures for conducting air dispersion modeling, managing air pollution, monitoring particulate matters, and estimating exposure.

(b)The department of environmental protection shall by regulation or by subregulator guidance establish standards and operating procedures for air quality verification testing.

SECTION 5. Section 4A of chapter 15D of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

(e) The department of early education and care shall issue an original license for a school age child care program, day care center, family day care system, group care facility or temporary shelter facility, family day care home or large family day care home which is not a part of a family day care system, as defined in section 1A of chapter 15D of the General Laws, and located within 500 feet of a high-activity roadway or a train station or train yard serving diesel locomotives only after the applicant has carried out the indoor/outdoor assessment described in section 18B of chapter 21A of the General Laws and the assessment results indicate the concentration of fine, ultrafine, and black carbon particles in indoor air is or will be mitigated to at least 80 percent below outdoor air concentrations.

(f) No license shall be issued until acceptable mitigation has been installed and is functioning. 

SECTION 6. Section 1A of chapter 40A of the General Laws, as so appearing is hereby amended by inserting before the definition of “permit granting authority” the following definitions:

“construction” shall mean new construction or rehabilitation up to 50 percent of assessed value.

“high-activity roadway” shall mean any roadway that, on an average day, has traffic in excess of 50,000 vehicles.

“hospital” shall mean any institution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, however named, whether conducted for charity or for profit, which is advertised, announced, established or maintained for the purpose of caring for persons admitted thereto and staying overnight for diagnosis or medical, surgical or restorative treatment which is rendered within said institution; but shall not include clinics, day surgery centers, dialysis centers, or other such health care facilities which do not admit patients overnight.

“long-term care facility” shall mean any institution whether conducted for charity or profit which is advertised, announced or maintained for the express or implied purpose of providing three or more individuals admitted thereto with long-term resident, nursing, convalescent or rehabilitative care; supervision and care incident to old age for ambulatory persons; or retirement home care for elderly persons. Long-term care facility shall include convalescent or nursing homes, rest homes, and charitable homes for the aged.

“particulate matter mitigation” shall mean strategies, structural and nonstructural, that verifiably reduce indoor ultrafine particle levels by 80 percent, relative to outdoor levels.

“publicly funded” shall mean any entity or institution which receives federal, state or municipal monies, grants, and/or subsidies.

“publicly subsidized” shall mean any project receiving any form of direct funding, loan, loan guarantee, tax credit, TIF funding, publicly bonded funds, or property tax incentives, issued or granted by any public or quasi-public entity.

“school” shall mean any public or private institution primarily engaged in the education of persons aged 18 years and younger. This definition does not include institutions of higher education.

SECTION 7. Chapter 40A of the General Laws, as so appearing is hereby amended by inserting as Section 9D the following:

No permit granting authority shall grant a building permit for any proposed residential development, hospital, school, long-term care facility, school aged child care program, day care center, family day care home or large family day care home which is not a part of a family day care system, family day care system, or group care facility or temporary shelter facility as defined in section 1A of chapter 15D of the General Laws within 500 feet of a high-activity roadway or a diesel rail yard or station, unless 

(a) the owner or applicant carries out an indoor/outdoor particulates assessment consistent with the regulations adopted pursuant to section 18B of chapter 21A of the General Laws, and

(b) the assessment results indicate that the concentration of fine, ultrafine, and black carbon particulates is or will be mitigated to at least 80 percent below outdoor concentrations.

SECTION 8: Subsection a of section 6 of chapter 70B of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after subparagraph (6) the following paragraph:-

  (7) If the school project includes structures, apart from parking structures and accessory structures, within 500 feet of a high-activity roadway as defined in Section 21 of Chapter 17 of the General Laws or a train station or train yard serving diesel locomotives, the applicant has carried out the indoor/outdoor particulates assessment described in section 18B of chapter 21A of the General Laws and the assessment results indicate that the concentration of fine, ultrafine, and black carbon particulates is or will be mitigated to at least 80 percent below outdoor concentrations.

SECTION 9: Section 51 of Chapter 111 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the second paragraph the following paragraph:

No original license shall be issued to establish a hospital so as to place structures inhabited by patients within 500 feet of a high-activity roadway or a train station or train yard serving diesel locomotives unless the developer has carried out the indoor/outdoor particulates assessment described in section 18B of chapter 21A of the General Laws and the assessment results indicate that indoor fine, ultrafine, and black carbon particulate levels are or will be mitigated to at least 80 percent below that of outdoor levels. In the case of a facility previously licensed as a hospital in which there is only a change in ownership, no such particulates assessment shall be required, in the absence of expansions or new construction.

SECTION 10: Section 71 of Chapter 111 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the second paragraph the following paragraph:-

No original license shall be issued to establish a convalescent or nursing home, rest home or charitable home for the aged so as to place residential structures within 500 feet of a high-activity roadway as defined in section 1A of chapter 40A or a train station or train yard serving diesel locomotives unless the developer has carried out the particulates assessment described in section 18B of chapter 21A of the General Laws and the assessment results indicate indoor fine, ultrafine, and black carbon particulate levels are or will be mitigated to at least 80 percent below those of outdoor levels. In the case of a facility previously licensed in which there is only a change in ownership, no such health risk assessment shall be required, in the absence of expansion or new construction.