SECTION 1. There is hereby established a moratorium of the issuance of permits for the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas within the legal boundaries of the Commonwealth.

SECTION 2. (a) A school of public health within the state university of Massachusetts shall conduct a comprehensive health impact assessment following a model recommended by the centers for disease control and prevention to examine potential public health impacts that could be caused by the extraction or transportation or compression of natural gas. For the purposes of this act, health impact assessment shall mean a combination of procedures, methods, and tools by which a policy, program, or project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a population, and the distribution of those effects within the population.

(b) Prior to the commencement of such assessment, the school of public health conducting such assessment shall prepare a scoping document that will establish the parameters of the health impact assessment. The scoping document shall include the analyses contained in this act, as well as any other potential analyses to be conducted, and shall be subject to public review, comment and revision.

SECTION 3. The comprehensive health impact assessment shall be submitted, along with any recommendations or drafts of legislation, to the clerks of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the chairs of the joint committee on mental health and substance abuse not later than December 1, 2024.