A Quarter of States
Have Advanced Healthy Indoor Air Legislation – But Action Still Falls Short
By Huyen
Nguyen, Georgia Lagoudas and Sabrina Chwalek DATE: August 26, 2025
Toward Cleaner Indoor Air: Mapping State Legislative Progress
Clean indoor air is essential to protecting public health. The averagee American— including children, healthcare workers, and elderly Americans— spends the majority of their time indoors, where they may be exposed to pollutants such as wildfire smoke, mold, and airborne viruses. Poor indoor air quality( IAQ) is linked to asthma, respiratory illness, absenteeism
, and long‐term agencies to health disparities. State legislation is a powerful tool for change: it can direct state set and enforce standards, allocate funding for improvements, and make IAQ a clear policy priority at the state level. Learn more about why IAQ matters.
Across the country, momentum for IAQ policy is building. In recent years, statess have begun adopting more comprehensive approaches that addresss IAQ holistically, rather than targeting only individual pollutants such as mold or radon. Thirteen states have enacted IAQ legislation in the past five years, and a summary of these laws is available in this overview of enacted IAQ legislation. These states represent a geographically and politically diverse cross‐section IAQ protections, of the country, reflecting broad recognition of the importance of advancing particularly for schools.
In 2025, Massachusetts passed S. 1516 / H. 2427, which focuses explicitly on forming a comprehensive IAQ task force and issuing regulatory guidance. Virginia’ s HB 2618 / SB 1413( 2025) requires uniform indoor air quality inspections in public schools and the use of real‐time air monitoring sensors. In Rhode Island, the 2025 bill H. 5597 / S. 0977 called for the uniform inspection and evaluation of IAQ within every school building, including HVAC systems when present. These bills reflect a growing recognition that clean indoor air is a state health priority and that regular monitoring is essential.