Jim Matheson: “This amendment is an effort to refine the reporting of requirements in the legislation for schools that receive grants…”

“This amendment is an effort to refine the reporting of requirements in the legislation for schools that receive grants under this program relative to the flooring that is installed in these schools. Schools and local educational agencies receiving grants under this bill would report if they install flooring, whether it was low or no volatile organic compounds flooring; whether it was made from sustainable materials, and report on the cost effective nature of that decision to install that type of flooring. I just want to be clear though. This amendment is not a mandate. It doesn't require schools to install any particular type of flooring. It really is a purpose just to gather information to find out if or not this material has been used in the installation process. One of the motivations behind this amendment is to ensure that we raise this issue about the opportunity for both children and teachers who are in schools, that they are put in the best learning and teaching environment possible. The reason for that is because materials such as flooring in some schools can contain potentially unhealthy levels of volatile organic compounds that can lead to unsafe indoor air quality for both students and teachers. Again, I think this is a relatively straightforward amendment just to increase the reporting requirements to say what happened in terms of how the flooring was required.”