1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to health; requiring development of an
1.3 	environmental justice tracking system; proposing
1.4 	coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 145.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. [145.945] ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE TRACKING.
1.7 		Subdivision 1.Definitions. For purposes of this section:
1.8 	(1) "health disparities" include, but are not limited to,
1.9 	the health disparity priority areas identified under section
1.10 	145.928, subdivision 1; childhood lead poisoning; asthma;
1.11 	diabetes; cardiovascular disease; cancer; traumatic brain
1.12 	injury; birth defects; and other conditions defined by the
1.13 	commissioner of health; and 
1.14 	(2) "toxic sources" include, but are not limited to,
1.15 	Superfund sites; national priority list sites; incinerators;
1.16 	power generating plants; toxic spills and toxic emissions, as
1.17 	identified by the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right
1.18 	to Know Act or the Homeland Security and Emergency Management
1.19 	Division of the Department of Public Safety; occupational
1.20 	exposures to toxic substances, as identified by the commissioner
1.21 	of labor and industry according to the Occupational Safety and
1.22 	Health Act or by the National Institute for Occupational Safety
1.23 	and Health; and other sources as defined by the commissioner of
1.24 	the Pollution Control Agency, the commissioner of health, the
1.25 	commissioner of labor and industry according to the Occupational
2.1 	Safety and Health Act, or the National Institute for
2.2 	Occupational Safety and Health.
2.3 		Subd. 2.Environmental justice tracking system. (a) The
2.4 	commissioner of health, in cooperation with the commissioners of
2.5 	agriculture and the Pollution Control Agency, must evaluate the
2.6 	feasibility of implementing an environmental justice tracking
2.7 	system to assess and disseminate existing information on health
2.8 	disparities and information in the Department of Health's birth
2.9 	defects registry and cancer registry in relation to toxic
2.10 	sources.  The system must attempt to show, by census tract, the
2.11 	health risk, race, ethnic origin, gender, age, and income status
2.12 	for the state's population.
2.13 	(b) The commissioners must use existing geographical
2.14 	information systems (GIS) used by other state and applicable
2.15 	federal and local governmental units.  State and local agencies
2.16 	must cooperate with the commissioners within the limits of
2.17 	available funding.
2.18 	(c) The commissioners must seek available federal funding
2.19 	in developing the tracking system.
2.20 		Subd. 3.Report required. The commissioner of health
2.21 	must submit a report to the legislature by January 15, 2006, and
2.22 	every January 1 thereafter.  The report must contain an overview
2.23 	and assessment of available data; methods used to link health
2.24 	disparities with toxic sources, including bioaccumulative
2.25 	exposure; assessment of the quality and validity of the observed
2.26 	linkage; and recommendations on the most effective methods to
2.27 	communicate findings to affected populations.
2.28 		Subd. 4.Coordination. The commissioner of the Pollution
2.29 	Control Agency shall apply federal funding to expand the
2.30 	agency's environmental justice mapping project and must
2.31 	coordinate the project with the environmental justice tracking
2.32 	system under this section.

2.33 	Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.
 2.34 	Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment.