PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jul 30, 2026
Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2026
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out certain activities related to the environmental-health workforce. It also requires the Government Accountability Office to report on state-based practices for training and credentialing environmental-health workers.
Specifically, HHS must develop model standards and guidelines for credentialing environmental-health workers and a plan to ensure its programs and activities meet the future needs of the environmental-health workforce.
The bill also specifies that environmental-health workers are eligible for public-service loan forgiveness for educational loans.
People & committees
Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] · D–MI
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Oct 6, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.10007 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.10007 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.10007 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.10007 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2026-07-30 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposal would require federal officials to develop model standards for environmental health workers’ professional qualifications and a plan to address workforce needs. It would also require a six-state review of worker training and qualifications. Certain full-time environmental health jobs would be added to a provision of the public service loan forgiveness law, although the supplied text does not show the program’s other eligibility requirements.
shall develop model standards and guidelines for credentialing environmental health workers.
the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall develop a comprehensive and coordinated plan for such programs and activities
the Comptroller General of the United States shall examine and identify best practices in 6 States (as described in subsection (b)) related to training and credentialing requirements for environmental health workers
6. Public service loan forgiveness Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended in paragraph (3)(B)
(iii) a full-time job as an environmental health worker (as defined in section 7 of the Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2026) who is accredited, certified, or licensed in accordance with applicable law.
Section 1 would name the bill the Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2026.
This Act may be cited as the Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2026.
The bill’s findings describe workforce losses and say educating and training environmental health professionals should be a national public health goal. These statements provide Congress’s stated rationale for the proposal.
Congress finds the following:
(2) For years, State and local governmental public health agencies have reported substantial workforce losses and other challenges to the environmental health workforce.
(7) Educating and training existing and new environmental health professionals should be a national public health goal.
The bill would define environmental health workers and the environmental health workforce as public health workers who investigate and assess environmental hazards and develop, promote, and enforce measures to control them.
In this Act, the terms environmental health worker and environmental health workforce refer to public health workers who investigate and assess hazardous environmental agents in various environmental settings and develop, promote, and enforce guidelines, policies, and interventions to control such hazards.
Within one year after enactment, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would have to develop model standards and guidelines for credentialing environmental health workers. The Secretary would coordinate with appropriate national professional organizations, federal, state, local, and tribal agencies, private-sector entities, and nongovernmental entities. The findings describe a credential as an impartial, third-party endorsement of professional knowledge and experience.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in coordination with appropriate national professional organizations, Federal, State, local, and tribal governmental agencies, and private-sector and nongovernmental entities, shall develop model standards and guidelines for credentialing environmental health workers.
a credential for environmental health workers that is an impartial, third-party endorsement of an individual’s professional knowledge and experience.
The Secretary would have to give state, local, and tribal governments the model standards and guidelines, along with technical assistance for credentialing environmental health workers.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide to State, local, and tribal governments— (1) the model standards and guidelines developed under subsection (a); and (2) technical assistance in credentialing environmental health workers.
The Secretary would have to create a comprehensive, coordinated workforce plan covering the department’s programs and activities, including education, training, and payment programs. The plan would include performance measures, identify and communicate gaps between existing programs and workforce needs projected by the Health Resources and Services Administration, identify actions to address those gaps, and identify any additional statutory authority needed.
To ensure that programs and activities (including education, training, and payment programs) of the Department of Health and Human Services for developing the environmental health workforce meet national needs, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall develop a comprehensive and coordinated plan for such programs and activities
(1) includes performance measures to more clearly determine the extent to which these programs and activities are meeting the Department’s strategic goal of strengthening the environmental health workforce; (2) identifies and communicates to stakeholders any gaps between existing programs and activities and future environmental health workforce needs identified in workforce projections of the Health Resources and Services Administration; (3) identifies actions needed to address such identified gaps; and (4) identifies any additional statutory authority that is needed by the Department to implement such identified actions.
Within two years after enactment, the Secretary would have to submit the workforce plan to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and Education and Labor, as named in the bill.
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and Education and Labor of the House of Representatives, the plan developed under subsection (a).
Within two years after enactment, the Comptroller General would have to examine and identify best practices related to training and credentialing requirements in six states and report to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The report would cover worker types, education, credentials or registration, continuing-education requirements and tracking, and how often qualifying exams are reviewed and updated for consistency with current law.
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall examine and identify best practices in 6 States (as described in subsection (b)) related to training and credentialing requirements for environmental health workers and submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives a report
(1) types of environmental health workers employed at State, local, and city health departments and independent environmental health agencies; (2) educational backgrounds of environmental health workers; (3) whether environmental health workers are credentialed or registered, and what type of credential or registration each worker has received; (4) State requirements for continuing education for environmental health workers; (5) whether State, local, and city health departments and independent environmental health agencies track continuing education units for their environmental health workers; and (6) how frequently any exam required to qualify environmental health workers is updated and reviewed to ensure that the exam is consistent with current law.
The study would have to include three states with credentialing requirements and three without them. Maryland, Ohio, and Washington are examples of the first group; Indiana, Iowa, and Pennsylvania are examples of the second. The text presents these states as examples, rather than requiring their selection.
The report described in subsection (a) shall be based upon the examination of such best practices with respect to 3 States that have credentialing requirements for environmental health workers (such as Maryland, Ohio, and Washington) and 3 States that do not have such requirements (such as Indiana, Iowa, and Pennsylvania).
Section 6 would add a category to paragraph (3)(B) of the public service loan forgiveness law: a full-time job as an environmental health worker, using this bill’s definition, who is accredited, certified, or licensed under applicable law. The existing statutory language is not supplied, so the addition alone does not establish the resulting eligibility rules or entitlement to forgiveness.
6. Public service loan forgiveness Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended in paragraph (3)(B)
(3) by adding at the end the following: (iii) a full-time job as an environmental health worker (as defined in section 7 of the Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2026) who is accredited, certified, or licensed in accordance with applicable law.
The official-actions snapshot updated October 6, 2026, records introduction in the House on July 30, 2026, and referral that day to the House Committees on Energy and Commerce and Education and Workforce.
Source snapshot updated 2026-10-06T18:43:25Z.
2026-07-30: Introduced in House
2026-07-30: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2026-07-30. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified after reviewing the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials; formal earmark disclosures are not supplied.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
One occupation-specific provision warrants scrutiny as targeted treatment. This classification is limited to the supplied introduced text and does not establish an individual entitlement or improper purpose.
Section 6 would expressly add full-time environmental health workers who are accredited, certified, or licensed under applicable law as a category in paragraph (3)(B) of the public service loan forgiveness statute. The targeted treatment is the addition of this defined occupational category to that existing statutory provision, connected to the bill’s environmental health workforce purpose. Because the underlying statute is absent, the supplied text does not establish how this addition would change eligibility or whether any particular worker would receive forgiveness.
6. Public service loan forgiveness Section 455(m) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087e(m)) is amended in paragraph (3)(B)
(iii) a full-time job as an environmental health worker (as defined in section 7 of the Environmental Health Workforce Act of 2026) who is accredited, certified, or licensed in accordance with applicable law.
In this Act, the terms environmental health worker and environmental health workforce refer to public health workers who investigate and assess hazardous environmental agents in various environmental settings and develop, promote, and enforce guidelines, policies, and interventions to control such hazards.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Oct 6, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI