Federal grants to train local cops on housing health hazards
H.R. 3099 — STOP Health Threats Act · Filed by Jim Costa (D-CA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 30, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to award grants to local governments for training local law enforcement and building code enforcement officers to recognize and respond to public health threats caused by building code violations. The grants can be used to develop training programs, partner with other jurisdictions, and coordinate with public health agencies and nonprofits.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a straightforward federal grant program to build local capacity for building-code enforcement tied to public health outcomes. It is a capacity-building measure, not a regulatory change or industry carve-out.
What the text implies
- Grant program scope depends entirely on HHS discretion in defining 'public health threats arising from violations of building codes'—no statutory definition provided, creating potential for inconsistent application across jurisdictions.
- The bill does not specify funding levels, appropriations, or timeline, meaning the program's actual reach depends on future congressional appropriations decisions.
- Training focus on 'enforcement officers' may inadvertently expand the definition of who conducts building inspections, potentially shifting responsibility from licensed inspectors to general law enforcement without explicit credential or liability standards.
- Coordination with 'nongovernmental organizations with issue area expertise' is permissive but undefined—no vetting criteria for which NGOs qualify, creating potential for mission drift or capture by advocacy groups.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens benefit from improved enforcement of building codes that protect public health—unsafe housing, mold, structural hazards, and code violations pose direct risks to residents. Training local officers to identify and respond to these threats strengthens enforcement capacity without restricting citizen rights or remedies.
Who stands to gain
- local governments (grant recipients)
- training providers and consultants (if hired by grantees)
- nonprofits with building/health expertise (if selected as partners)
Named in the bill
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), local governments, local law enforcement, building code enforcement officers, public health departments, nongovernmental organizations
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Apr 30, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 30, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $10,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 1 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Jim Costa, the sponsor, reported $855,144 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- City of Reedley — $10,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 19, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,090 characters) on May 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 19, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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